Viewing Legislation Category (6) found:The Northwest Ordinance (1787)The Northwest Ordinance, effective July 13, 1787, organized the Northwest Territory, and established conditions for admitting new states to the union. It set forth six articles that constituted a "compact" between the original states and the people and future states in the new territory. That "compact" guaranteed such rights as trial by jury, right to bail, freedom of worship, sanctity of contract, respect for the property and lands of Indians and, significantly, it forbade slavery in the Northwest Territory. The Organic Act (1849)The Organic Act, effective May 3, 1849, established the government of Minnesota Territory. It was incorporated in Article II, ยง1, of the 1857 Constitution. The Enabling Act (1857)The Enabling Act, effective February 26, 1857, authorized the citizens of Minnesota Territory to hold a constitutional convention, draft a constitution, and form a government preparatory for admission as a state to the union. Act of Admission (1858)The Act of Admission, effective May 11, 1858, admitted the State of Minnesota to the union. Homestead Act of 1862The Homestead Act of 1862. The Homestead Act was signed by President Lincoln on May 20, 1862. By fulfilling certain statutory requirements--filing an application, "improving" the land by actually settling on and cultivating it, and filing for a deed after five years--a settler could acquire title to 160 acres of previously undeveloped land in new states and territories. According to Paul Gates, a noted historian of the public lands, it was "one of the most important laws which have ever been enacted in the history of this country." It was repealed in 1976, although homesteading was permitted in Alaska until 1986. Preemption Act of 1841The Preemption Act of 1841 was passed by the 27th Congress on September 4, 1841. It encouraged settlement of new states and territories by permitting settlers or squatters on government land to purchase up to 160 acres for not less than $1.25 per acre before that tract was offered for sale to the public. The settlers had to reside on and improve their claim before they could buy it. The Act was a shift away from a policy of selling public lands to raise money for the federal treasury and toward one that encouraged settlement of the country. After the Homestead Act was passed in 1862, preemption claims decreased. The Preemption Act was repealed by the Land Revision Act of 1891. |