The Rectangular Land Surveys in the United States
In 1785 the Continental Congress adopted An Ordinance for ascertaining the mode of disposing of Lands in the Western Territory. This legislation, which stated, "the territory ceded by individual States to the United States, which has been purchased of the Indian inhabitants, shall be disposed of in the following manner," established a principle that land in the area over which the United States had acquired jurisdiction in the Treaty of Paris, and lying outside the borders of the existing states, would become privatized. This principle, which would guide domestic policy into the twentieth century and would be applied to other areas that subsequently became part of the United States, was effected in several steps;
The various states ceded their claims of jurisdiction, given them by the British crown, over the areas beyond their boundaries.
The United States adjudicated the claims of individuals who had settled in areas outside of the states before those areas became part of the United States under the provisions of the Treaty of Paris.
American Indian bands ceded ownership of lands in specific areas to the United States.
The United States divided the land surface, quickly and inexpensively, creating parcels of land that possessed easily recognized boundaries and a unique location - the rectangular land surveys.
The United States created the General Land Office as a federal real estate agency to administer title conveyances. The Public Domain
The United States created territorial and state governments with which it would share jurisdiction.
"The first line running north and south as aforesaid, shall begin on the river Ohio, at a point that shall be found to be due north from the termination of a line which has been run as the southern boundary of the state of Pennsylvania; and the first line running east and west shall begin at the same point, and shall extend throughout the whole territory."
"The Surveyors, ... shall proceed to divide the said territory into townships of six miles square, by lines running due north and south, and others crossing these at right angles, as near as may be, unless where the boundaries of the late Indian purchases may render the same impracticable, and then they shall depart from this rule no farther than such particular circumstances may require."
This rectangular grid spread throughout the United States and has had a lasting effect on the land surface
A significant amount of my research concerns the geography of the rectangular surveys in the United States, particularly Minnesota