The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-05-08
CoNGRE ssIoNAL.
GRANT OF LAND TO ILLINOIS.
IN The Senate Of he Uxiisd Ssslss, February a. 1886
Ma BHssss msAs Ms JotleVing

consideration "A bill 10 grant 70 the State of ILL
nos certain alternate sections Of the public lands,
i to aid in the construction Of the Northern Cross
and Central Railroads, in said State" respectfully
ask leave 10 reports ~
i That similar propositions, in the form Of bills,
have been frequent subjects Of consideration by Con-
gress and in several instances, have received its
appreciation, for believed 10 be Satisfactory,
and on principles in no degree conflicting with any
constitutional provision. =
| IL will be the business Of your COMMITTEES briefly
| 10 examine those rcasons and present condensed
view Of the principles which seem 10 have con-
trolled the action Of Congress In this respect pre-
Stunning their efficacy oan, with equal proprety, be
invoked in every analogous case which may be pre-
i scented. ~ 3
In order, however, TO correct Appreciation Of
them, seems necessary to present 10 the WOW Of
the Senate, and TO prcss upon It's atisnuon, tho
anomalous condition Of the States for whose bsosAs
such grants have been made In regard tie public
| domain within themj for they arc not in the same
free condition the original States have ever been and
yet are, with regard to the lands within their respec
| tive limits.
| II Is known TO the Senate, that in the States
formed out Of coded territory, now ten in number,
and in two organized Territories, soon to become
States, the unappropriated lands within them have
always been, and yet are, under the control Of Con-
gress, the great majority of those States having
bound themselves by solemn compact not to inter
fere with the primary disposal Of the soil by Con-
gress. All the pecunary advantages OF such vast
and valuable possession have wholly accrued 10 the
benefit Of the United States they being considered
the trustee Of this immense fund, 10 be disposed Of
by Congress for the benefit OF all the States.
The original States have been, and ore, different
ly situated, in respect to the vacant lands within
their limits. BY the Congress Of ITS, the principle
was decided that the vacant and Incorporated
crown lands, by the successful issue Of the revou-
ton, would vest, not in the United States but in
each individual State within whose several limits
they might be- and this in virtue Of their own sep
arate sovereignty and independence.
This principle extended to the lands claimed by
several of the States, as within their charters but
without their settled and organized limitsi and, by
accepting cessons Of them from each State, sepa-
rately, Congress acknowledged its propriety
These claims, thus acknowledged gave rise to
much embarrassment. The jealousy Of the other
States, who had none, highly excited and a
dissolution Of the confederacy seriously apprehend-
ed. This state of things produced the resolutions
Of the sixth Of September, and the tenth of Octo-
ber $780, inducing the cessions to the United States
which speedily followed.
This right of domain in the original States, by
virtue Of their individual sovereignty and ndepend-
ence, was admitted in the fullest extent, and they
have always exercised it without CONTROL II Of
essential advantage to them; as, by it, having the
10 dispose Of all the lands within their linn
ia, without let or hindrance, for their own State
purposes, they could endow schools, colleges, and
intercourse erect charitable and other institutions
and appropriate them to the various purposes Of in
ernal improvement, without pettioning their sister
States.
This right in the original States to dispose Of the
vacant lands resulted from their sovereignty free.
dom, and Independence and the admission of the
new States northwest Of the river Ohio, into the
Union, has been preceded in each by the deca-
ration, on the part of Congress, that such
admission shall be upon an equal footing with the
original States, and with the same rights Of free
dom, sovereignty, and independence. This appears
from the resolution of the 10Th of October 1885, by
the cession from Virginia of the LIST of March, 1874,
reiterated in the resolutions of Congress Of the 23d
April ioloy;ng and sgsc Ispes,ed IN the ordi-
equal 90 ssss1sss ~Asisysr" Yet, so far as this
most important right Of soil 10 concerned. the now
, States have never been on this footing Of equality
they have never possessed such fund the origi-
nal States did, by which to construct public works;
and therefore, applications for grants for such pur
poses should not be regarded by them .unfavorably
nor with prejudice.
Ifthey possessed the lands within their limits,
there would be necessity for these applications;
and when they made to Congress, thsir destitute
condition in this respect should not be dsregarded
II was the opinion of one Of our most eminent
statesmen-of him who was, by the common judg-
ment Of his country acknowledged to have possessed
the most intimate and correct knowledge of the
powers Of the government, both under the articles
of confederation and the constitution of the United
States; who prominent actor in its formation,
and who, by his learned and able essays the "Fed.
eralist," prepared the minds of his countrymen to
adopt -that the acceptance of the session Of these
lands from the States, by the Congress of the con-
federation, was without any constitutional authority
whatever. The nation, however, has long sane
toned this usurpation of authority, if it be one;
and long acquiescence seems to have hallowed the
act, notwithstanding the manifest inequality this
possession of the lands has produced among the
States. To remove this inequality, to approximate
the condition of the new States in some degree to
that of the DID, by liberal grants for important pub
lie purposes, seems to be no less dictate of justice
than Of policy. These lands were accepted by the
United States to be disposed of for the common
benefit of all the States; and they were pledged al
once security for the payment of the revolution
airy debt, (that being considered proper disposal Of
them for the common benefit of all the States for the
time beng,) and their usefulness in this particular
caused, no doubt many good patriots and statesmen
to overlook the usurpation of power by which they
were obtained. The debt being now paid all re-
straint upon liberal grants is removed, and all tina
can be demanded Of Congress in disposing Of them
is that such disposition shall be made shall bes
promote the common benefit of all the States in the
aggregate capacity. Congress may convey the lega
title to portion of them, or to all of them, to thu
States in which they situate, provided it be bon'
fde, and, in its judgment, advancing the common
interest.
The receipt of money for them as revenue, may
be common benefit to all the States; yet there arr
other varied and multiplied considerations which
may, consistently with proper appreciation of, ant
sacred regard to this common benefit, control tn
action of Congress in their disposal, in which money
IF shall not be an element. So the Congress hs
> thought, and acted, ever since the United State
y became trustee for the States Its early and it
more recent action msnifests this. 1t is a prope
question for Congress to determine in the execution
n of this trust if the common benefit under certain
e state of circumstances, now perhaps existing, vii
l. not be best promoted by unconditional cesson
Is all the lands to the States in which they lie. di
rect pecuniary gain is not necessary element in tn
n calculation OF benefit, which may accrue to tn
d States collectively from such policy; nor would
J. be breach offath an improper execution of tn
n trust so to do.
81 By accepting this trust, an obligation rested up
n on Congress, and yet remains, to adopt such meas
e ures as should tend to make the fund valuable an
productive; for, as waste and unappropriaed lands
:, the retreat Of the savage and the wild beast the
,h,,t,