The Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson
By Subject
LAND / SETTLEMENT
The time, too, is the present, before the admission of the western
States. I am very differently affected towards the new plan of opening
our land office, by dividing the lands among the States, and selling
them at vendue. It separates still more the interests of the States,
which ought to be made joint in every possible instance, in order to
cultivate the idea of our being one nation, and to multiply the
instances in which the people shall look up to Congress as their head.
And when the States get their portions, they will either fool them
away, or make a job of it to serve individuals. Proofs of both these
practices have been furnished, and by either of them that invaluable
fund is lost, which ought to pay our public debt. To sell them at
vendue, is to give them to the bidders of the day, be they many or
few. It is ripping up the hen which lays golden eggs. If sold in lots
at a fixed price, as first proposed, the best lots will be sold first;
as these become occupied, it gives a value to the interjacent ones,
and raises them, though of inferior quality, to the price of the
first.
to James Monroe, 17 June 1785
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