# United States Statutes at Large/Volume 4/21st Congress/2nd Session/Chapter 34

Chap. XXXIV.—An Act supplemental to an act, passed on the thirty-first March, one thousand eight hundred and thirty, entitled “An act for the relief of purchasers of public lands, and for the suppression of fraudulent practices at the public sales of lands of the United States.”
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all purchasers, their heirs ​Act of March 31, 1830, ch. 48. Certain purchasers entitled, in certain cases, to patents.or assignees of such of the public lands as were sold on a credit for a less price than fourteen dollars per acre, and on which a further credit has been taken under any of the laws passed for the relief of purchasers of public lands, and which lands have reverted to the United States on account of the balance due thereon not having been paid or discharged, agreeably to said relief laws, shall be entitled to patents, without further payment, in all instances where one dollar and twenty-five cents, or a greater sum, per acre, shall have been paid;In other cases to pre-emption. or where payment to that amount shall not have been heretofore made, such purchasers, their heirs or assignees, shall have the right of pre-emption until the fourth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one, by paying into the proper land office such sum in addition to the amount heretofore paid, as will, together, amount to the minimum price of the lands of the United States at the time of such payment.
Certain occupants to have pre-emption until July 4, 1831.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That all such occupants of relinquished land as are contemplated and described in the second section of the above recited act, to which this is a supplement, as are in possession of land which was sold on credit for a less sum than fourteen dollars per acre, shall have the right of pre-emption of the same lands, according to the legal subdivisions of sections, not exceeding the quantity of two quarter sections, in contiguous tracts or contiguous to other lands held by such occupants respectively, until the fourth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one,Prices. Proof of possession. upon their paying into a proper office for all land originally sold for a price not exceeding five dollars per acre, one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre; and for all lands which originally sold for more than five dollars, and not exceeding fourteen dollars per acre, the amount of the first instalment heretofore paid; such occupants first proving their possession, respectively in conformity to the provisions of the said act, to which this is a supplement, in the manner which has been prescribed by the commissioner of the general land office, pursuant to the provisions thereof:Proviso. Provided, however, That in all cases where proof of possession has been already made under said recited act, proof shall not again be required, unless the applicant choose to take other land than that to which such proof applies.
Town property.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of this act shall extend to all town property of which the government has been proprietors, and not subsequently sold, when full payment has not been made: Provided, The original purchasers, or their assignees, pay into the proper land office, on or before the fourth of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, one half of the original purchase money without interest.
Approved, February 25, 1831.