Where did metes and bounds originate5/2/2023 ![]() ![]() Hutchins was supposed to have thirteen surveyors, one from each state, but only eight showed up. ![]() In September 1785, Hutchins gathered a group of surveyors in Pittsburgh. The starting point was set on August 20, 1785. They used an instrument orientedīy observing the North Star (Polaris) and other stars. It ran due north from the the starting point they had chosen on the north side of the Ohio River. Surveyor, scientist, and instrument designer David Rittenhouse (1732–1796) of Pennsylvania and Virginia surveyor Andrew Ellicott (1754–1820) established the first survey line. ![]() The survey was conducted under the supervision of Thomas Hutchins (1730–1789), who was the first person to hold the title of U.S. The survey began on land north of the Ohio River, land that came from Virginia's cession. The Land Ordinance set a minimum purchase amount of one section (640 acres) for $640, $1 per acre. In addition, the acreage in section 16 of each township could be sold and the money used to build and maintain a school. Each township was split into 36 sections, 1 square mile (640 acres) each and numbered 1 to 36. The Land Ordinance divided land into squares measuring 6 miles by 6 miles and called the squares townships. This procedure would be used for surveying land all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Viewed by historians as one of the most important pieces of legislation ever passed in the United States, this ordinance provided a process of organized land surveys. On May 20, 1785, after discussion and some changes, Congress adopted the plan under its official title, the Land Ordinance of 1785. Jefferson's committee presented its plan to Congress. Jefferson decided on a system that closely resembled New England's practice. This system led to many boundary disputes because natural markers changed over time. Boundary points were natural markers such as trees and larger rocks. Wanted and then had the land officially surveyed along those boundaries. With this approach, buyers decided on the precise boundaries of the land they The Southern practice was called the "metes and bounds" system. The New England practice was to survey land in ordered blocks before settlement, then sell the blocks. Two systems of land survey existed in the early 1780s, one type in New England and the other in the South. The first issue the committee had to decide was how to survey, or determine the exact measurements of, the western land. Jefferson had the foresight and scientific knowledge to create a practical western land policy. Virginian Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) was appointed chairman of the committee for establishing a land policy. The money from sale of the lands would be used to help pay off the national debt, which had accumulated during the American Revolution (1775–83). Congress directed that a committee be formed to establish how western lands were to be divided and sold. When Virginia completed the cession, or turning over, of its western land claims in 1784 (see first excerpt of this chapter), Congress knew it was only a matter of time before other states holding claims would do the same. Published in Documents of American History, edited by Issued on May 20, 1785, by the Continental Congress
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