Possession is nine points of the law: The political economy of early public land disposal

Early federal policies for disposal of public lands underwent significant changes in the first 40 years of their existence. Though the first policies established around 1800 called for sales of public lands based on competitive auction bidding, by the 1830s this system had been importantly supplanted by the policy of preemption, which legitimated the claims of squatters and freed them from competition for their lands. This paper examines the political economy of public land disposal from 1789 to 1830 and documents how squatters helped bring about this policy change: both by disrupting the operation of the auction system and by applying political pressure for favorable land policies. The paper also reports the results of an econometric analysis of congressional roll-call voting which provides insight into the nature of the political coalitions that formed in support of passage of the first general preemption act of 1830. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.