93 Public Lands (1780)

The condition of the vacant western territory of America makes a very different case to that of the circumstances of trade in any of the states. Those very lands formed in contemplation the fund by which the debt of America would in a course of years be redeemed. They were considered as the common right of all and it is only till lately that any pretension of claims has been made to the contrary. In the year 1609 the South-Virginia company applied for new powers from the Crown of England which were granted them in a new patent and the boundaries of the grant enlarged. And this is the charter or patent on which some of the present Virginians ground their pretension to boundless territory. But whether the charter as it is called ought to be extinct or not cannot make a question with us. Neither the London company of adventurers, their heirs, or assigns were in possession of the exercise of this charter at the commencement of the revolution. And therefore the state of Virginia does not in point of fact succeed to and inherit from the company.

But if there was a charter which bore such an explanation and Virginia stood in succession to it, what would that be to us any more than the will of Alexander [the Great, who died in 323 BCE] had he taken it in his head to have bequeathed away the world? The claim being unreasonable in itself and standing on no ground of right but such as if true must from the quarter it is drawn be offensive, has a tendency to create disgust and sour the minds of the rest of the states. Those lands are capable under the management of the United States of repaying the charges of the war and some of which might I presume, be made an immediate advantage of.

It is only the United States and not any single state that can lay off new states and incorporate them in the union by representation. Therefore the situation which the settlers on those lands will be in, under the assumed right of Virginia, will be hazardous and distressing and they will feel themselves at last like aliens to the commonwealth. It seldom happens that the romantic schemes of extensive dominion are of any service to a government, and never to a people. They assuredly end at last in loss, trouble, division, and disappointment. And was even the title of Virginia good and the claim admissible, she would derive more lasting and real benefit by participating it than by attempting the management of an object so infinitely beyond her reach. Her share with the rest under the supremacy of the United States, which is the only authority adequate to the purpose, would be worth more to her than what the whole would produce under the management of herself alone, and that for several reasons.

First, because her claim not being admissible nor yet manageable, she cannot make a good title to the purchasers and consequently can get but little for the lands.

Secondly, because the distance the settlers will be at from her will immediately put them out of all government and protection, so far at least as relates to Virginia. And by this means she will render her frontiers a refuge to desperadoes and a hiding place from justice and the consequence will be perpetual unsafety to her own peace and that of the neighboring states.

Lastly, because she must sooner or later relinquish them and therefore to see her own interest wisely at first is preferable to the alternative of finding it out by misfortune at last.

I have already remarked that only the United States and not any particular state can lay off new states and incorporate them in the union by representation. Keeping therefore this idea in view I ask, might not a substantial fund be quickly created by laying off a new state so as to contain between twenty and thirty million of acres and opening a land office in all the countries in Europe for hard money? If twenty millions of acres of this new state be patented and sold at twenty pounds sterling per hundred acres they will produce four million pounds sterling, which if applied to continental expenses only will support the war for three years should Britain be so unwise to herself to prosecute it against her own direct interest and against the interest and policy of all Europe.

The new state which is here proposed to be laid out may send its exports down the Mississippi but its imports must come through Chesapeake Bay. And consequently Virginia will become the market for the new state because, though there is a navigation from it, there is none into it on account of the rapidity of the Mississippi. As the laying out new states will some time or other be the business of the country and as it is yet a new business to us, and as the influence of the war has scarcely afforded leisure for reflecting on distant circumstances, I shall throw together a few hints for facilitating that measure whenever it may be proper for adopting it.

The United States now standing on the line of sovereignty, the vacant territory is their property collectively. But the persons by whom it may hereafter be peopled will have an equal right with ourselves. And therefore as new states shall be laid off and incorporated with the present, they will become partakers of the remaining territory with us who are already in possession. And this consideration ought to heighten the value of lands to new emigrants because in making purchases they not only gain an immediate property but become initiated into the right and heirship of the states to a property in reserve, which is an additional advantage to what any purchasers under the late government of England enjoyed.

The setting off the boundary of any new state will naturally be the first step and as it must be supposed not to be peopled at the time it is laid off, a constitution must be formed by the United States as the rule of government in any new state for a certain term of years (perhaps ten) or until the state become peopled to a certain number of inhabitants, after which the whole and sole right of modeling their government to rest with themselves. A question may arise whether a new state should immediately possess an equal right with the present ones in all cases which may come before Congress. This, experience will best determine. But at first view of the matter it appears thus: that it ought to be immediately incorporated into the union on the ground of a family right, such a state standing in the line of a younger child of the same stock. But as new emigrants will have something to learn when they first come to America and a new state requiring aid rather than capable of giving it, it might be most convenient to admit its immediate representation into Congress; there to sit, hear, and debate on all questions and matters but not to vote on any till after the expiration of seven years.

I shall in this place take the opportunity of renewing a hint which I formerly threw out in the pamphlet Common Sense and which the several states will sooner or later see the convenience if not the necessity of adopting. Which is that of electing a Continental Convention for the purpose of forming a Continental Constitution defining and describing the powers and authority of Congress.

Thomas Paine, “The Real Question of the Public Lands” in Public Good (1780), 6-38. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/138/mode/2up