the form of land ownership for the West, but the old states, which yet had feudal tenures, changed their forms to be in accord with it.
The only question that ever arose was, whether the transfer of land from public to private ownership should be strictly for financial benefit or should be made on social considerations; that is, whether the national treasury should be enriched or whether the settler should be primarily benefitted and the government reap its returns by the early improvement of the property and its consequent rise in taxable value. The Revolutionary War debt caused the first idea to prevail for a time, but gradually the results of such a policy became apparent and there was a change to the other view and the social motive came to predominate altogether.
There were five stages to this transition. The first from 1783 to 1800, when the land was sold for cash in tracts of six hundred and forty acres upwards, with an annual sale of about 100,000 acres. The second, from 1800 to 1820, during which quarter sections at $2 an acre on four annual payments were the minimum sales, and 15,500,000 acres were finally disposed of. The third stage, from 1820 to 1841, when forty acre tracts at $1.25 cash per acre were the minimum, and 76,000,000 acres were sold. During this period there was a genuine riot of speculation in Western lands, which induced the passage of the Pre-emption Act of 1841, and ushered in the fourth stage ending in 1862. During this stage the lands were sold in limited quantities to actual settlers at $1.25 per acre, and in the twenty-one years more than 69,000,000 acres became private property. The final stage was reached in 1862, when
