Creative Books

Relief measures passed by Congress from
time to time had extended the period of payment and made other
concessions. Now the government had to face the problem of
reconstructing its land laws or of continuing the old credit system
and relentlessly expelling the delinquent purchasers from their
hard-won homes on the public domain. Although the legal title
remained in the government, the latter alternative was so obviously
dangerous and inexpedient that Congress passed two new acts. The
first [Footnote: U. S. Statutes at Large, III., 566.] (April 24,
1820) reduced the price of land from two dollars to one dollar and
twenty-five cents per acre, abolished the system of credit, and
provided that lands might be purchased in multiples of eighty acres.
Thus the settler with one hundred dollars could secure full title to
a farm. This was followed by a relief act (March 2, 1821),
recommended by Secretary Crawford, [Footnote: Am. State Papers.,
Finance, III., 551, 718; U. S. Statutes at Large, III.


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