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 1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.il 
 
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 BU.WjDR y mesol utiomb 
 
 RELATIVE TO 
 FOR THE 
 
 ¥\]^rOSES OF EB\]CaT105S^, 
 
 TO THE 
 
 SENATE OFMARYILAND^ 
 
 JANUARY 30, 1821. 
 
 ^ravAsmVtted i!ov t\\e cowsideTaVioB 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LEGISLATURE OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. 
 
 COJVCORD , 
 
 S'RINTED BY HILL AND MOORE; 
 f OR THE STATE, 
 fUUfc, 1823, 
 
(J 
 
 REPORT, 5)0. 
 
 THE Committee to whom was referred s® 
 much of the Governor's mesb.,ge, as relates to ed- 
 ucation and public instruction, begleave to report— « 
 That they concur with his excellencj in be- 
 lieving education, and a general diffusion of knowl- 
 edge, in a government constituted like ours, to be 
 of great importance, and that "in proportion as 
 the structure of a government gives weight to 
 public opinion, it is essential that public opinion 
 should be enlightened." Your committee consid- 
 er our government as emphatically a^government of 
 opinion. A general diffusion of knowledge, which 
 is essential to its right administration, cannot be 
 effected, unless the people are educated. No high 
 degree of civilization, of moral power and dignity, 
 or of intellectual excellence ; no superiority in sci- 
 ence, in literature, or in liberal and eseful arts, 
 which constitutes the noblest national supremacy, 
 can be attained without the aid of seminaries of 
 learning. The establishment of literary institu- 
 tions, then, of all grades, from the common school, 
 up to the university, becomes the first duty of the 
 legislature of a free people. 
 
 Your committee are well aware of the difficul- 
 ty, in the present embarrassed state of our pecu- 
 niary concerns, of providing the means of making 
 education general. They are fully sensible, that. 
 
4 
 
 at this time, large appropriations out of the pub-^ 
 lie treasury, for this purpose, all-important as it is, 
 cannot be expected. They deem it therefore 
 their duty to recall to your notice a Report and 
 certain Kesolutions, presented to the senate at 
 the last session by a committee of a like nature 
 with the present, which has been referred to your 
 committee, as a part of the unfinished business. 
 The object of those Resolutions was to call the 
 attention of congress, and the legislatures of the 
 several states, to the Public Lands, as a fund, from 
 which appropriations for the purposes of educa- 
 tion may with justice be claimed, not or?ly by Ma- 
 ryland, but all the original states, and three of 
 the new ones. 
 
 One thirty-sixth part of all the states and terri- 
 tories, (except Kentucky,) whose waters fall into 
 the Mississippi and the Gulph of Mexico, has been 
 appropriated by Congress, wherever the Indian ti- 
 tle has been extinguished, and provisions made for 
 further appropriations, according to the same ra- 
 tio, wherever the Indian title may hereafter be ex- 
 tinguished, for the support of common schools, and 
 other large appropriations have been made for 
 the support of seminaries of a higher grade. Your 
 committee are ©f opinion, that the states, for 
 whose benefit no such iappropriations have been 
 made, are entitled to ask them of Congress, not as 
 a matter of favour, but of justice. That this may 
 more fully appear, especially as the right of those 
 states to an equal participation, with the states^ 
 
formed out of the Public Lands, in all the benefits 
 derived from them, has been doubted, your com- 
 mittee have deemed it proper to take a cursory 
 view of the manner, ia which thej have been ac- 
 quired. 
 
 Before the war ©f the revolution, and indeed 
 for some years after it, several of the states pos- 
 sessed, within their nominal limits, extensive tracts 
 of waste and unsettled lands. These states were 
 all, at that epoch, regal and not proprietary prov- 
 inces, and the crown, either directly or through 
 the medium of officers, whose authority had been 
 prescribed or assented to by the crown, was m the 
 habit of granting those lands. The right of dis- 
 posing of them Avas claimed and exercised hj the 
 crown in some form or other. They riiight there- 
 fore, with strict propriety, be called the property 
 of the crown. 
 
 A question arose soon after the declaration of 
 independence, whether those lands should belong 
 to the United States, or to the individual states, 
 within whose nominal limits they were situated. 
 
 However that question might be decided, no 
 doubt could be entertained, that the property and 
 jurisdiction of the soil were acquired by the com- 
 mon sword, purse and blood, oi all the states, uni- 
 ted in a common effort. Justice, therefore, de- 
 manded that, considered in the light of property, 
 the vacant lands should be sold to defray the ex- 
 penses, incurred in the contest, by which they 
 were obtained ; and the future harraonv of the 
 
states required, that the extent and ultimate pop- 
 ulation of the several states, should not be so dis- 
 proportionate, as they would be if their nominal 
 limits should be retained. 
 
 This state, as early as the SOth'of October 1776, 
 expressed its decided opinion^ in relation to the 
 vacant lands, by an unanimous resolution of the 
 convention, which framed our constitution and 
 form of government, in the following words, viz. 
 " Resolved w«ammo2^s/^. That it is the opinion of 
 "this convention, that the very extensive claim of 
 «' the state of Virginia to the back lands hath no 
 " foundation injustice, and that if the same, or any 
 " like claim is admitted, the freedom of the smaller 
 " states and the liberties of America may be there- 
 " by greatly endangered; this convention being 
 " firmly persuaded, that, if the dominion over thos© 
 "lands should be established by the blood and trea- 
 " sure of the United Sates, such lands ought to be 
 " considered as a common stock, to be parcelled 
 " out at proper times into convenient, free, and in- 
 " dependent governments." 
 
 In the years 1777 and 1778, the General As- 
 sembly, by resolves, and instructions to their dele- 
 gates in Congress, expressed their sentiments in 
 support of their claim to a participation in these 
 }ands, in still stronger language, and declined ac- 
 ceding to the confederation, on account of the re- 
 fusal of the states claiming them exclusively to cede 
 them to the United States. They continued to 
 decline, on the same grounds, until 1781, when to 
 
prevent the injurious impression, that dissention 
 existed among the states occasioned bj the re- 
 fusal of Maryland to join the confederation, they 
 authorised their delegates in Congress to subscribe 
 the articles ; protesting, however, at the same 
 time, against the inference, (which might other- 
 wise have been drawn,) that Maryland had relin- 
 xjuished its claim to a participation in the western 
 lands. 
 
 Most of the other states contended, on similar 
 grounds with those taken by Maryland, for a par- 
 ticipation in those lands. 
 
 By the treaty of peace in 1783, Great Britain 
 relinquished " to the United States all claim to 
 the government, property, and territorial rights of 
 the same, and every part thereof" 
 
 The justice and sound policy of ceding the un- 
 settled lands, urged with great earnestness and 
 force by those states, which had united in conquer- 
 ing them from Great Britain, strengthened by the 
 surrender, on the part of Great Britain, of her 
 rights of property and jurisdiction to the United 
 States collectively^ and aided moreover, by the el- 
 evated and patriotic spirit of disinterestedness and 
 conciliation, which then animated the whole con- 
 federation, at length made the requisite impres- 
 sion upon the states, which had exclusively claimed 
 those lands ; and each of them, with the exception 
 of Georgia, made cessions of their respective 
 claims within a {q\^ years after the peace. Those 
 states were Massachusetts,Connecticur, New York, 
 
Virginia, Norih Carolina, and South Carolma, the 
 charters of which, with the exception of New York^ 
 extended westwardly to the South Sea 'or Pacific 
 Ocean. This circumstance gave to Massachu- 
 setts and Connecticut a joint claim with Virginia^ 
 to such parts of what was then called the North 
 Western Territory, as came within the breadth of 
 their respective charters. The rest of that terri- 
 tory lay within the limits of the charter of Virgin- 
 ia. New York, indeed, had an indefinite claim to 
 a part of it. Cessions, however, from all these 
 states, at length Gompleted the title of the United 
 States, and placed it beyond all controversy. 
 
 The state of North Carolina ceded its claim to 
 the territory which now constitutes the state of 
 
 Tennessee. 
 
 Georgia, (whose charter also extended west- 
 wardly to the Pacific Ocean,) at length, in 1802j 
 ceded the territory, which now constitutes the 
 states of Mississippi and Alabama, except a small 
 part on the south side of them, which was acquired 
 imder the treaty ceding Louisiana. The condi- 
 tions of that cession were, that the United States 
 should pay one million two hundred thousand dollars 
 to Georgia, and extinguish the Indian title within 
 the limits, which she reserved. 
 
 The United States have, in this manner, acquired 
 an indisputable title to all the public^lands east of 
 the Mississippi. 
 
 All the territory west of the Mississippi, togeth- 
 er with the southern extremity of the states of 
 
9 
 
 Mississippi and Alabama, was purchased of France 
 for Jifteen millions of dollars. This sum, asTfell as 
 the sums required for the purchase of the Indian 
 title to the public lands, was paid out of the treas= 
 ury of the United States. 
 
 So far therefore as acquisition of public lands 
 has been made by purchase, it has been at the 
 common expense ;— -so far as it has been made by 
 war, it has been bj the common force — -and so far 
 as it has been made by cessions from individual 
 states, it has been upon the ground, expressly stip- 
 ulated in most of the acts or deeds of cession, that 
 the lands should be " considered," to use the words 
 of the act passed for that purpose by the state 
 which made the largest cession, "as a common 
 fund, for the vss and benefit of such of the states as 
 have become, or shall become, members of the confed- 
 eration or federal alliance of said states, according to 
 their usual respective proportions in the general 
 charge and expenditure, and shall faithfully and bo- 
 nafide be disposed of for that purpose, and for no 
 other use or purpose whatsoever.'''' 
 
 In whatever point of view therefore the public 
 lands are considered, whether as acquired by pur- 
 chase, conquest or cession, they are emphatically 
 the common property of the Union. They ought 
 to enure, therefore, to the common use and benefit 
 of all the states, in just proportions, and cannot be 
 appropriated to the use and benefit of any particu" 
 /arstate or statesj to the exclusion of the others, 
 without an infringement of the principles, upon 
 2 
 
20 
 
 which cessions from states were expressly made^ 
 and a violation of the spirit of our national com- 
 pact, as well as the principles of justice and sound 
 policy. 
 
 So far as these lands have been sold, and the 
 proceeds been received into the national treasury, 
 all the states have derived a justly proportionate 
 benefit from them :™So far as they have been ap- 
 propriated for purposes of defence, there is no 
 ground for complaint ; for the defence of every 
 part of the country is a common concern :— So far, 
 in a word, as the pioceeds have been applied to 
 NATIONAL, and not to state purposes, although the 
 expenditure may have beenlocal, the Course of the 
 general government has been consonant to the prin- 
 ciples and spirit of the Federal Constitution. But 
 so far as appropriations have been made, in favour 
 of any state or states, to the exclusion of the rest, 
 where the appropriations would have been benefi- 
 cial, and might have been extended to all alike, 
 your committee conceive there has been a depar- 
 ture from that line of policy, which impartial jus- 
 tice, so essential to the peace, harmony, and stabil- 
 ity of the union, imperiously prescribes. 
 
 Your committee then proceed to inquire, wheth- 
 er the acts of Congres, in relation to appropriations 
 of public lands, have been conformable to the dic- 
 tates of impartial justice. 
 
 By the laws relating to the survey and sale of 
 the public lands, one thirty-sixth part of them has 
 been reserved and appropriated in perpetuity for 
 
11 
 
 the support of common schools. The public lands 
 are laid off into townships, six miles square, hj 
 lines running with the cardinal points: these town- 
 ships are then divided into thirty-six sections, each 
 a mile square, and containing 640 acres, which are 
 designated by numbers. Section No. 16, which is 
 always a central section, has invariably been ap- 
 propriated, (and provision has been made by law 
 for the like appropriations in future surveys,) for 
 the support of common schools in each township. 
 
 In Tennessee, in addition to the appropriation 
 of a section in each township for common schools, 
 200,000 acres have been assigned for the endow- 
 ment of colleges and academies. Large appropri- 
 ations have also been made in Ohio, Indiana, Illi- 
 nois, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Missouri, 
 Michigan, and the North Western Territory, for 
 the erection and maintenance of seminaries of 
 learning of a higher grade than common schools. 
 Your committee have not had an opportunity of 
 ascertaining the exact amount of those appropria- 
 tions, but from such examination as they have been 
 able to make, it is believed that they bear a 
 smaller proportion to those for common schools, 
 than in Tennessee, Tennessee, in Seybert's Sta- 
 tistical Annals, is stated to contain 40,000 
 square miles, which are equal to 25,600,000 acres. 
 One 36th part of this number of acres, which is 
 the amount of appropriation for common schools? 
 is 711,111. The appropriation for colleges and 
 academies in that state, is, as above stated, SOO,, 
 
000 acres, being something less than two f tbs of 
 the common school appropriation. It is believed^ 
 that the appropriations in the other states and 
 territories for seminaries of a higher grade, do not 
 amount to more than two IGths or one 5th of the 
 appropriations for common schools. Your com-*, 
 mittee think they will not be far from the truth 
 in estimating them at that proportion. 
 
 The states and territories east of the Mississip- 
 pi, which have had appropriations made in their 
 favour for the support of literarypnstitutions ; that 
 is to say, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Mississippi, Alaba- 
 ma, Michigan, and the North Western Territory, 
 are estimated, in Seybert's Statistical Annals, t© 
 contain of unsold lands, 200,000,000 acres. 
 
 Ofiandssold, 11,697,125 
 
 To which add Tennessecj 25,600,000 
 
 And the aggregate number of 
 acres in those states and ter- 
 ritories will be 237,297,125 
 
 One 36th part of that aggre- 
 gate number, being the a- 
 mount of appropriation for 
 common schools, is 6,5915586 acres. 
 
 Add one 5th part of the com- 
 mon school appropriation as 
 the appropriation [far Col- 
 leges and Academies, 1,818,317 acres* 
 
 And the aggregate number of 
 acres appropriated for the 
 
13 
 
 purposes of education in O- 
 laio, Indiana, Illinois, Tennes- 
 see, Mississippi, Alabama, 
 Michigan, and the North- 
 Western Territory, will be 7,909,903. 
 At $2 per acre, which is less, 
 according to Seybert's Sta- 
 tistical Annals, than the ave- 
 rage price of all the public 
 lands, which Jiave hereto- 
 fore been sold, the amount 
 in money will be $15,819,806, 
 
 Seybert estimates the lands 
 
 purchased of France by the 
 
 United States in 1803, at 200,000,000 acres. 
 By the laws relating to the sur- 
 vey and sales of public lands 
 
 in Missouri and Arkansaw, 
 
 appropriations of land for 
 
 the purposes of education 
 
 have been made after the 
 
 same ratio, as in the new 
 
 states and territories on the 
 
 east of the Mississippi, and it 
 
 is presumed the same policy 
 
 will be adhered to in relation 
 
 to the whole of the public 
 
 lands on the west of that river. 
 
 On that supposition the ap- 
 propriations for common 
 
14 
 
 schools, that is, one 36th part 
 
 of i?00,000,000 acres, will be 5,555,555 acres. 
 
 for Collegfes and Acade- 
 mies one 5th part of the ap- 
 propriation for common 
 schools 1,111,111 acres. 
 
 And the aggregate number of 
 
 acres will be 6,666,6661. 
 
 At $2 per acre, the amount in 
 
 money will be 13,333,3333. 
 
 To the aggregate number of 
 acres appropriated for the 
 support of literary institu- 
 tions on the east side of the 
 Mississippi, 7,909,903. 
 
 Add the aggregate number of 
 acres, which if the system 
 heretofore followed, should 
 be, (as it ought to be) ad- 
 hered to, will ultimately be 
 appropriated to hterary 
 purposes on the west of the 
 Mississippi 6,666,666^^. 
 
 And the total of literary ap- 
 propriation in the new states 
 and territories will be 14,576,569^ acres. 
 
 AtS2 per acre, the amount in 
 
 money will be $29,153,1393. 
 
 Such is the vast amount of property, destined 
 
 for the support and encouragement of learning in 
 
15 
 
 the states and territories, carved out of the public 
 lands. These large appropriations of land, the 
 common property of the union, will enure to the 
 exclusive benefit of those states and territories. 
 They are appropriations for state, and not for 
 NATIONAL purposes ; — they are of such a nature, 
 that they might have been extended to all the 
 states ;— thev therefore ought to have been thus 
 extended. All the other states paid their full 
 share for the purchase of the region west of the 
 Mississippi, and for the extinguishment of the In- 
 dian title, on both sides of that river. Massachu- 
 setts, Connecticut, Virginia, North Carolina, South 
 Carolina and Georgia, besides paying their propor- 
 tion of those expenses, ceded all their vacant ter- 
 ritory on the east side of the Mississippi. All these 
 States, therefore, might with great propriety com- 
 plain of partiality and injustice, if their applica- 
 tions to Congress for similar appropriations for 
 like purposes should be refused. But of this refu- 
 sal they need have no apprehension, if they are 
 true to their own interests, and are united in as- 
 serting them ; for, if contrary to all reasonable ex- 
 pectation the states, which have already received 
 the benefit of literary appropriations, should be 
 opposed to the extension of them to their sister 
 states, the latter are more than two thirds in num- 
 ber of all in the United States, and have a still lar- 
 ger proportion of representatives in Congress. 
 These states an2 VeraiOnt, 2^'ew-Hampshire, 
 Maine-, Massachusetts, iihode Island, Connecticut, 
 
16 
 
 New- York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, BelaWiarej 
 Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Caroli- 
 na, Georgia and Kentucky, and together have one 
 hundred and sixty-nine representatives in Congress^ 
 The favoured stages on the contrary have only 
 seventeen representatives. The excluded states 
 have therefore an overwhelming majority in Con- 
 gress, and have it completely in their power to 
 make appropriations for the benefit of their liter- 
 ary institutions, upon the improbable supposition, 
 that the representatives of the favoured states 
 would oppose them in Congress, a supposition too 
 discreditable to their character for justice to be 
 admitted. 
 
 The magnitude of the appropriations, tha^ 
 would be required to place the states, which have 
 not yet enjoyed any for the purpose of education^ 
 upon an ei^ual footing with those, in whose favour 
 they have already been made, can afford no just 
 ground of objection. For superior as the popula* 
 tion of those states is, yet if the ratio of appropri*- 
 ation be observed with regard to them, which has 
 been adopted in relation to the others, i. e. one 
 36th part of the number of acres in the territory 
 of each for common schools, and one 5th part of 
 that one 36th for colleges and academies, thenum* 
 ber of acres required will be much less than has 
 already been given to the favoured states and ter- 
 ritories — it will indeed amount to but a very small 
 portion of the public lands: For according to Sey- 
 bert's Statistical Annals, those lands in 1813 a- 
 
tnounted. to 400,000,000 acres. The amount re^ 
 quired for all the excluded states would be less 
 than two and an half per centum of that quantity : 
 to shew which more clearly, your committee beg 
 leave to submit the following statement, founded 
 upon calculations made upon the extent of territo- 
 ry in each of those states, as laiddewn in Seybert's 
 Statistical Annals.] 
 
 New- Hampshire contains 6,074,240 acres. 
 One 36th part of that extent, 
 
 being the number of acres 
 
 of public land, to which that 
 
 state is entitled for the sup- 
 port of common schools, is 16S,728 
 One 5th part of that 36th to 
 
 which New-Hampshire is 
 
 entitled for the support of 
 
 Colleges and Academies, is 33,f45 
 
 Total for New-Hampshire, 2025473acres. 
 Vermont contains 6,551,680 acres. 
 One 36th part for common 
 
 schools, is 181,991 
 
 One 5th of one 36th for Col- 
 leges and Academies, 36,398 
 
 Total for Vermont 218,389 acres. 
 
 Massachusetts including Maine, 
 
 contains 28,990,000 acres. 
 
 One 36th part for common 
 
 schools, 805,277 ^ 
 
 One 5th of one S6th for CoU ' ' ' 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 leges and Academies, 161,055 
 
 Total for Massachusetts and Maine 966,332 acre§, 
 
 Rhode Island contains 1,011,200 acres. 
 
 One^ 36th part for common 
 
 scheois, 28,088 
 
 One fifth of one 36th for col- 
 leges, 5,617 
 
 Total for Rhode Island, 83,705 acres. 
 
 Connecticut contains 2,991,360 acres. 
 
 One 36th part for common 
 
 schools, 83,093 
 
 One 5th of one 36th for Col- 
 leges and Academies, 16,618 
 
 Total for Connecticut, 99,711 acres. 
 
 New York contains 28,800,000 acres. 
 
 One 36th part for common 
 
 schools, 800,080 
 
 One 5th of one 36th for Col- 
 leges and Academies, 160,000 
 
 Total for New York, 960,000 acres. 
 
 New Jersey contains 5,324,800 acres. 
 One 36th part for common 
 
 schools, 144,577 
 
 One 5th part ©f one 36th for 
 
 Colleges and Academies, 28,9 17 
 
 Total for New Jersey, 173,494 acres. 
 
 Pennsylvania contains 29,872,000 acres. 
 
19 
 
 One 36th part for common 
 
 schools, 829,77'3? 
 
 One 5th of one 36th for Col- 
 leges and Academies, 165,955 
 
 Total for Pennsylvania, 995,732 acres. 
 
 Delaware contains 1,356,800 acres. 
 
 One 36th part for common 
 
 schools, 37,688 
 
 One 5th of one 36th for Col- 
 leges and Academies, 7,537 
 
 Total for Delaware, 45,225 acres. 
 
 Maryland contains 8,960,000 acres. 
 
 One 36th part for common 
 schools, 248,888 
 
 One 5th of one 36th for Col- 
 leges and Academies, 49,777 
 
 Total for Marjlan^, 298,665 acres. 
 
 Virginia contains 44,800,000 acres. 
 
 One 36th part for common 
 
 schools, 1,244,444 
 
 One 5th of one 36th for Col- 
 leges and Academies, 248,888 
 
 M 
 
 Total for Virginia, 1,493,332 acres. 
 
 North Carolina contains 29,720,000 acres. 
 One 36th part for common 
 
 schools, 825,55^ 
 
 One 5th of one 36th for Col- 
 
leges and Academies, 105,111 
 
 Total for North Carolina, 980,666 acres. 
 
 South Carolina contains 15,111,200 acres. 
 One 36th part for common 
 
 schools, 428,0S8 
 
 One 5th of one 36th for Col- 
 leges and Academies^ 85,617 
 
 Total for South Carolinaj 513,705 acres« 
 
 Georgia contains 39,680,000 acres. 
 
 One 36th part for common 
 schools, 1,102,222 
 
 One 6th ©f one 36th for Col- 
 leges and Academies, 220,444 
 
 Total for Georgiaj 1,322,666 acres, 
 
 Kentucky contains 32,000,000 acres. 
 
 One 36th part for common 
 
 schools, 888,888 
 
 One 5th of one 36th for Col- 
 leges and Academies, 177,,777 
 
 Total for Kentucky, 1,066,665 acres. 
 
 Total amount of literary appro- 
 priation necessary to do jus- 
 tice to the states which have 
 not yet had any, 9,370,760 acres. 
 
 The senate will perceive from the foregoing 
 calculations, that if the ratio of appropriation for 
 the purposes of education, which has hitherto been 
 observed, be adopted with respect to the sixteen 
 
21 
 
 states, which as yet have received no appropria- 
 tions of that nature, a much smaller number of 
 acres will be required, than has already been as- 
 signed to the western region of our country ; it 
 would be an inconsiderable portion of the aggre- 
 gate of public lands; — a much less quantity, indeed, 
 than now remains unsold in any of the states, which 
 have been formed out of them, with the exception 
 perhaps of Ohio and Tennessee. The magnitude of 
 the appropriations, then, which equal justice now 
 requires, cannot be considered as a reasonable ob- 
 jection to them, and as the literary appropriations, 
 that have heretofore been made, have been grant- 
 ed for STATE and not for national purposes, accord- 
 ing to the just principle set forth in the beginning 
 of this report, similar appropriations ought to be 
 extended to all the states. 
 
 The circumstance, that the lands, which have 
 heretofore been appropriated for the purposes of 
 education, are a part of the territory of the states, 
 for whose benefit they have been assigned, can 
 furnish no reasonable ground for the preference, 
 which has been given them. The public lands 
 are not the less the common property of all the 
 states, because they are situated within the juris- 
 dictional limits of the states and territories, wbich 
 have been formed out of them. Such states have 
 no power to tax them : — they cannot interfere with 
 the primary disposal of them, or with the regula- 
 tions of Congress for securing the title to pur- 
 chasers : — it is in fact Congress alone, that can 
 
*)^ 
 
 enact laws to affect them. The interest, which & 
 citizen of an Atlantic state has in themj as a part 
 of the property ot the union, is the sarae as the 
 interest of a citizen residing in a state formed out 
 of them. But hitherto appropriations of them for 
 state purposes have only been made in favour of 
 such states ; and the citizen on the eastern side of 
 the Alleghany may well complain, that property, 
 in which he has a common interest with his fellow- 
 citizen on the western side, should be appropria- 
 ted exclusively to the use of the latter. That this 
 is the^fact in regard to that part of the public 
 lands, which have been assigned for the support of 
 literary institutions and the promotion of education, 
 cannot be denied. 
 
 Your committee do not censure the enlightened 
 policy which governed Congress in making liberal 
 appropriations of land for the encouragement of 
 learning in the west, nor do they wish to withdraw 
 one acre of them from the purposes, to which 
 they have been devoted ; but they think they ar© 
 fully justified m saying, that impartial justice re- 
 quired, that similar appropriations should have 
 been extended to all the states alike. Suppose 
 Congress should appropriate 200,000 acres of the 
 public lands for the support of Colleges and Acad- 
 emies in New-York; and Virginia, who gave up 
 and ceded a great portion of those lands to the 
 United States, on the express condition, that ^Uhey 
 should be considered as a common fund /or the use 
 and benefit of all of them, according to their usual 
 respective proportions in the general charge and ex- 
 
23 
 
 penditure,'^^ should apply for a similar grant, and 
 her application should be refused : — would she 
 not have a right to complain of the partiality of 
 such a measure, and to charge the federal gov- 
 ernment with a breach of good faith, and an in- 
 frinsrement of the conditions, on which the cession 
 was made ? It canaot be denied, that she would. 
 Congress have already made a grant of 200,000 
 acres of land for the support of Colleges and A- 
 cademies, not indeed in New- York, but in Tennes- 
 see. Would not Virginia, if she now made an ap- 
 plication for a like grant, and were refused, have 
 the same reason to complain, as if New-York, in- 
 stead of Tennessee, had been the favored state ? 
 
 Your committee beg leave to illustrate, by a- 
 nother example, the equity of the principle, 
 which it is the object of this report to establish^ 
 Foreign 'commerce and the public lands are alike 
 legitimate sources, from which the United States 
 may and do derive revenue. Foreign commerce 
 has fixed its seat in the Atlantic states. Suppose 
 Congress should pass a law, appropriating one 
 36th part of the revenue, collected from foreign 
 commerce in the ports of Baltimore, New- York, 
 Boston, Norfolk, Charleston and Savannah, to 
 the support of common schools throughout the 
 states, ia which they are situated : the other states, 
 every person will admit, vv'ould have a right to 
 complain of the partiality and injustice of such 
 an act;--and yet in what respect would an act ap- 
 pro.priating one 36tli part of the revenue, derived 
 
from foreign commerce to the use of schools m 
 the six states, in which it should be produced, be 
 more partial or unjust than an act appropriating 
 one 36th part of the public land, in Ohio, Indiana, 
 Illinois, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama, the 
 six states, in which the public lands on this side of 
 the Mississippi are chieflj situated, to their exclu- 
 sive benefit in the maintenance of their schools ? 
 
 iTour committee are aware, that it has been 
 said, that the appropriation of a part of the pub- 
 lic lands to the purposes ©f education, for the 
 benefit of the states formed out of them, has had 
 the effect of raising the value of the residue, by 
 inducing emigrants to settle upon them. Although 
 in the preambles of such of the acts on this sub- 
 ject, as have preambles, the promotion of religiori, 
 moralitj and knowledge, as necessary to good gov- 
 ernment and the happiness of mankind, have been 
 assigned as the reason for passing them, and no 
 mention has been made of the consequent increase 
 in the value of the lands, that would remain, as a 
 motive for the appropriation, yet the knowledge, 
 that provision had been made for the education 
 of children in the west, though other motives usu- 
 ally influence emigrants, might have had its weight 
 in inducing some to leave their native homes. If 
 such has been the effect, the value of the residue 
 of the lands has no doubt been increased by it 
 This increase of value however has not been an 
 exclusive benefit to the Atlantic states; but a ben-> 
 efit common to all the states, eastern and western, 
 while the latter still enjoy exclusively the advan- 
 
25 
 
 tage. derived from the appropriations of land for 
 literary purposes. The incidental advantage of 
 the increase in value of the public lands, in conse- 
 quence of emigration, if it is to be considered in 
 the light of a compensation to the old states, must 
 be shewn to be an advantage exclusively enjoyed 
 bj them. That this however is not the case is 
 perfectly obvious — because the proceeds of the 
 lands, thus raised in value by emigration, when 
 sold, go into the United States treasury, and are 
 applied, like other revenues, to the general bene- 
 fit — in other words, to national and not to state 
 purposes. 
 
 It is moreover most clear, that this increase of 
 the value of lands in consequence of emigration, 
 produces a peculiar benefit to the inhabitants of 
 the new states, in which the inhabitants ot the 
 other states, unless owners of land in the news 
 have no participation. This benefit consists m 
 the increase of the value of their own private 
 property. 
 
 On the other hand, it is undoubtedly true, that 
 emigration is injurious to the Atlantic states, and 
 to them alone. While it has had the effect of 
 raising the price of lands in the west, it has, in an 
 equal ratio at least and probably in a much great- 
 er, prevented the increase of the value of lands in 
 the states, which the emigrants have left. It is 
 an indisputable principle in political economy, that 
 the price of every object of purchase, whether 
 
 land or personal property, depends upon the rela- 
 
 4 
 
tlon, which supply bears to demand. The de- 
 mand for land would have been the same, or very 
 nearly so, for the same number of people, as aro 
 contained within the present limits of the United 
 States, if they had been confined within the limits 
 of the Atlantic states. But the supply in that case 
 would have been most materially different. Id 
 must have been so small in proportion to the de- 
 mand, as t© occasion a great rise in the value of 
 land in the Atlantic states ; for it cannot be doubt- 
 ed, that it is the inexhaustible supply of cheap and 
 good land in the west, which has kept down the 
 price of land on the eastern side of the Alleghany. 
 If the Atlantic states had been governed by an ex- 
 clusive, local and selfish policy, every impediment 
 ivould have been thrown in the way of emigra- 
 tion, which has constantly and uniformly operated 
 to prevent the growth of their numbers, wealth 
 and power; for which disadvantage the apprecia- 
 tion of their interest in the public lands, consequent 
 upon emigration, can afford no adequate compen- 
 sation. It appearing then perfectly clear to your 
 committee, that emigration is exclusively advan- 
 tageous to the new states, whose population, 
 wealth and power, are thereby increased at the 
 expense of those states, which the emigrants 
 abandoned, the inducement to emigration furnished 
 by the appropriation of public lands for the pur- 
 poses of education in the west, instead of affording 
 a reason for confining such appropriations to that 
 quarter of the Union, offers the most weighty con- 
 
27 
 
 siderations of both justice and policy, in favour of 
 extending them to the states, which have not yet 
 obtained them. 
 
 Your committee beg leave to present one fur- 
 ther reflection to the consideration of the Senate, 
 drawn from the effect produced by encouraging 
 learning in the western states alone, upon the rela- 
 tive moral power of the Atlantic and Mississippi 
 states. They are far from wishing to make any 
 objection to the augmentation of the intelligence 
 and mental improvement of the people of the west. 
 On the Contrary they sincerely desire the advance- 
 ment of their brethren in that quarter of the Union, 
 in every thing, that can strengthen, dignify and em>= 
 bellish political communities. But while they enter- 
 tain these sentiments, they cannot shut their eyes 
 to the political preponderance, which must ulti- 
 mately be the inevitable result of the superior ad- 
 vantages of education there, and they must there- 
 fore ardently desire, that the same advantages be 
 extended to the people of the Atlantic states. 
 
 Your committee are persuaded, that from the 
 views which they have thus presented, on the sub- 
 ject of appropriations of public lands for the pur- 
 poses of education, the Senate will be satisfied, 
 that Maryland, and the other states, which have 
 not yet had the benefit of any such appropriations, 
 are entitled to ask of the general government, to 
 be placed on an equal footing with the states, 
 which have already received them. They be- 
 lieve that no one, convinced of the justice of such 
 
28 
 
 a measure, can question its expediency 5 nor c&n 
 they entertain any apprehension, that an applica- 
 tion to Congress, supported by the combined influ- 
 ence of all the states, which are interested, would 
 fail of success. For the purpose therefore of 
 drawing the attention of the National Legislature 
 to this important subject, and of obtaining thfe co- 
 operation of the other states, your Committee beg 
 leave to recommend the adoption of the following 
 Resolutions i 
 
 Resolvedj by the General Assemhly of Maryland^ 
 That each of the United States has an equal right 
 to participate in the benefit of the Public Lands, 
 the common property of the Union. 
 
 Resolved, That the states, in whose favour Con** 
 gross have not made appropriations of land for the 
 purposes of education, are entitled to such appro- 
 priations as will correspond, in a just proportion, 
 with those heretofore made in favour of the oth» 
 er states. 
 
 Resolved, That his excellency the Governor, be 
 requested to transmit copies of the foregoing Re- 
 port and Resolutions to each of our Senators and 
 Representatives in Congress, with a request, that 
 they will lay the same before their respective 
 Houses, and use their endeavours to procure the 
 passage of an act to carry into effect the just prin- 
 ciple therein set forth. 
 
 Resolved, That his Excellency the Governor, 
 be also requested to transmit copies of the said 
 Report and Resolutions to the Governors of the 
 
several States of the Union, with a request, that 
 they will communicate the same to the Legisla- 
 tures thereof respectively, and solicit their co-ope- 
 ration. 
 
 All which is respectfully submitted, 
 
 V.MAXCY, Chairman. 
 
 IN SENATE, January 30th, 1821, 
 
 Kead the first time and ordered to lie on the table. 
 
 By order, J. N. WATKINS, Clk. 
 
 IN SENATE, Feb. 5, 18S1. 
 
 Read the second time and ordered to lie on the 
 table. 
 
 By order, J. N. WATKINS, Clk. 
 
 IN SENATE, Feb. 9, 1821. 
 Read the third time and assented to. 
 
 By order, J. N. WATKINS, Clk. 
 
 By the House of Delegates^ Feb. 9, 1821. 
 Read the first time and ordered to lie on the 
 table. 
 
 By order, JOHN BREWER, CIL 
 
 By the House of Delegates^ Feb. 13, 182 L 
 Read the second time and assented to. 
 
 By order, JOHN BREWER, Clk. 
 
 / certfy the foregoing to he a true copy oj the 
 Original 
 
 J. JY. WATKljyS, Clk,