Which 1785 law laid out a plan for surveying land and admitting new states from the Northwest Territory?

Which 1785 law laid out a plan for surveying land and admitting new states from the Northwest Territory?

• A. Land Ordinance
• B. Northwest Ordinance
• C. Ordinance of 1787
• D. Land Act of 1784

Answer: (A)

Organizing land in the Northwest Territory through a standardized surveying system. The Land Ordinance of 1785 established exactly that: a grid for how public lands would be surveyed, divided, and sold. It laid out six-mile square townships, with each township containing 36 one-mile-square sections. This creates an orderly, predictable method for mapping and distributing land to settlers and for raising revenue to support the new government. While the idea of admitting new states from the Northwest Territory is a consequence of how the territories developed, the crucial feature the question highlights is the surveying plan that the 1785 law put in place. The later Northwest Ordinance is the one that more directly addresses governance and the process of statehood for new territories.

Organizing land in the Northwest Territory through a standardized surveying system. The Land Ordinance of 1785 established exactly that: a grid for how public lands would be surveyed, divided, and sold. It laid out six-mile square townships, with each township containing 36 one-mile-square sections. This creates an orderly, predictable method for mapping and distributing land to settlers and for raising revenue to support the new government. While the idea of admitting new states from the Northwest Territory is a consequence of how the territories developed, the crucial feature the question highlights is the surveying plan that the 1785 law put in place. The later Northwest Ordinance is the one that more directly addresses governance and the process of statehood for new territories.