Coffman Michael, Różne

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//-->The Federal Landlord—Part IWestward ExpansionMichael Coffman, Ph.D.The United States government has directownershipof over 700 million acres of land – over 30% ofthe total territory in America. Most of this is in the West where the land is being used in afeudal/manorial fashion that is destroying a century’s old way of life.Most American’s who live east of the Rocky Mountains orTo ensure that the federal government never amassed largelive in large urban/ suburban areas in the West are surprised toland holdings, our Founders allowed only three forms of federallearn that the federal government owns or controls over 30land ownership and jurisdiction in Article I Section 8 of the U.S.percent of the land area in the United States. Most of that land isConstitution: “To establish Post Offices and post Roads;” “Toin the Western States. Rural residents that make their living fromexercise exclusive Legislation…, over such District [of Columbia]federal lands are finding that Washington is enacting regulations(not to exceed ten Miles square);”…” and to exercise likethat seem more intent on bankrupting them than helping them.Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the LegislatureAn ignorant population inof the State… for thethe East is complicit byErectionofForts,default.Magazines,Arsenals,The closest form ofDock Yards, and othergovernment that describesneedful buildings.”the dominance of theWith these Consti-federal government ontutional constraints, howthe lives of those peopledid the federal govern-using federal land isment wind up with morefeudalism or manori-than 50 percent of thealism. This is a form ofland in every state westgovernment whereby anof the Rocky Mountains?all-powerful land owner,Why not the East as well?usually royalty, rents hisWhat does it mean today?land with restrictionsMost American’s have no idea that over 50 percent of the Western U.S. is owned orwith the condition ofOriginal Intentcontrolled by the federal or state governments. This creates a feudal relationshipbetween an all-powerful government and the local landowners who must use thereceiving a portion of theThe individual statesadjacent federal land to make a living. As with the feudal governments in Europecrops or other serviceswere so fearful of an all-during the middle-ages, the land is managed for the benefit of the government, notfrom the renter. Todaypowerful central govern-the landowner, using a dangerous ideology called sustainable development.ProducedbyEnvironmental Perspectives, Inc.,Bangor, ME 04401Enlarge Mapthe federal governmentment that they essentiallyreplaces the king as the landlord. This new king servesgave no power to the federal government under the Articles ofWashington special interests, usually environmentalist andConfederation. The failure of the Articles led to its replacementinternational dictates, which are contrary to the interests of theby the Constitution of the United States in 1787. The chieflocal rancher or land user. Often they are contrary tofailure of the Articles is, as George Washington put it soenvironmental health as well.succinctly, “no money.” The federal government was deeply inAs with almost everything else that has been twisted fromdebt following the Revolutionary War, but had no way under theoriginal intent, the Founders never intended there should beArticles to repaylarge federal landownership. When they wrote the Constitution,it except by printing useless paper money that had no value.feudalism and manorialism still existed in France. Our FoundersTo pay the debt, the states eventually ceded their state landwere eye-witnesses to the brutal treatment of the peasants underto the federal government in a trust. The trust limited its use tosuch a system. In 1783Thomas Jeffersoneven went so far as tothat of repaying the debt.Virginia’s 1783 “Cession of Westerninsist that all federal land should be sold as quickly as possibleLands to the United States”was the first to do so. The Act statedand, “shall never after, in any case, revert to the United States.”“…that the territory so ceded shall be…formed into states,…and1the States so formed shall be distinct republican States, andadmitted members of the Federal Union, having the same rightsof sovereignty, freedom, and independence as other States….”This was known as the “Equal Footing Doctrine,” wherebyevery state entered statehood on an equal footing with all statesalready existing.with the first thirteen. Any land in the Western territoriesretained by the federal governmentwas to be used according toArticle 1, Section 8 of the new U.S. Constitution, following itsadoption in 1789: "the following articles shall be considered asArticles of compact between the original States and the peopleand states in the said territory, and forever remain unalterable,unless by common consent...."Indeed, all future states west of the Rocky Mountains didenter the federal Union over the next 100 years on a more or lessequal footing. The federal government for the most part did notretain large blocks of land. Of the many things that happenedduring that period, the most notable are thePreEmption Acts of1830 and 1841,the Homestead Act of 1862 and the Act of 1866.The PreEmption Acts allowed U.S. citizens who hadsquatted on federal land for 14 months or more to purchase up to160 acres for a very low price before the land was put up for saleto the public. The Acts were instrumental in quickly settling theKansas and Nebraska Territories. Following the Homestead ActMap of the states and territories of the United States as it wasof 1862 the PreEmption Acts fell into disuse, and were repealedfrom August 1780 to 1790. On August 7 1989 the Northwest Territoryby Congress in 1891.was organized. On May 26 1790, the Territory South of the OhioThe Homestead Act of 1862 formerly allowed the federalRiver was organized.Made by Golbez. Used under the GNU Free DocumentationLicensegovernment to deed 160 acres to a U.S. citizen (mostlyThe ceded lands should beusedonlyfor “payment ofnortherners since the Civil War was in full swing) west of theexpenses in subduing British posts, land as payment to certainMississippi River without cost to the citizen. To Easterners, itofficers, and soldiers of the Revolutionary War…” The Virginiawas an unwarranted giveaway. To those who tried to farm orCession Act gave no wiggle room for the federal government toranch an arid 160 acre allotment it was often a recipe for failure;hold the land in perpetuity. It was to be sold as quickly asespecially to those citizens that tried to homestead west of thepossible and the funds used to repay debts or to deed lots toRockyMountains.Annualarmy officers and soldiers asKey Legislation Affecting Land Ownershipprecipitation west of the Rockies ispayment for their services in theEast of the Rocky Mountainsusually less than 15 inches withwar.Virginia-Cession of Western Lands to the United States,little to no precipitation during theThe Equal Footing Doctrine1783.Set the example for all states to cede land in westerngrowing season.was formalized with the passage ofholdings to the federal government for immediate sale to paywar debts and deed land to officers and soldiers of thethe Northwest Ordinance in 1787,Revolutionary War in payment for their services. AlsoWater was as precious as goldtowhich also created the Northwestestablished the Equal Footing Doctrine whereby new statesWestern farmers and ranchers westwill have equal rights as the old onesTerritories (now Ohio, Indiana,of the Rockies. Without water, aIllinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and aNorthwest Ordinance of 1787.Created the NorthwestTerritories north of the Ohio River and East of the Mississippilandowner could do little more thanportion of Minnesota). TheRiver. Codified the Equal Footing Doctrine and required thatadmire his bone-dry land in theNorthwest Ordinancecodified thefederal land should be sold as quickly as possible to pay warsummer. Growing a crop to harvestdebts. Provided the basis for settling what is the statesprinciple that land ceded by thesurrounding the Lake States. It provided a legal foundation forwas very problematic. If his or herstates would be used to pay the warall future states east of the Rocky Mountains to enter the160 acres contained a perennialUnion.debt and not held in perpetuity bystream, the owner could perhapsthe federal government. HistoriansPreEmption Acts of 1830 and 1841.Allowed squatters onirrigate; if he or she could affordfederal land preemption rights to buy the land very cheaply.consider the ordinance to be theThe 1841 Act limited the purchase to 160 acres. Provided thethe equipment to do it. Few did.most significant achievement underbasis for settling the Kansas and Nebraska Territories.Because life was so hard, a majorityRepealed in 1891.the Articles of Confederation. It setof Homesteads fell victim tothe form by which subsequentHomestead Act of 1862.Federal government deeded 160acres of free land to Homesteaders west of the Mississippi.speculators who bought the land atWestern territories were createdVery popular and created a land rush.steeply discounted prices.and later admitted into the Union asAct of 1866.Extremely important law; giving preemptiveTheEnlarged Homestead Actstates.rights to water and minerals to ranchers and miners activelyof 1909increased the acreage of theIn other words, Congressgrazing or mining on federal land. Led to “split estates”whereby the rancher or miner owned the water or minerals onhomestead to 320 acres. This gaveintended all future states were tofederal land being actively grazed or mined. Water andmost homesteads east of the Rockyenter statehood on an equal footingmineral rights were kept by the federal government on landMountains sufficient acreage forthat was inactive in 1866. This Act is still in effect today.2marginal dry-land farming. If the 320 acre homestead had water,a small herd of livestock could even be raised. The 1916 Stock-Raising Homestead Act increased the acreage once again to 640acres for ranching purposes. With these three Acts, most of theland east of the Rockies was quickly settled by homesteadersand very little land remained as Public Domain. However, thethree Acts still did not provide sufficient acreage forhomesteading west of the Rockies so most land remained in thePublic Domain.Ranchers owning homesteads west of the Rockies hadanother problem. Not only did they need water for theirlivestock, the parched land would not support much forage forgrazing. Theyrequired thousands of acresto graze a herd largeenough to sustain a family in even marginal comfort. The answerwasPreemptive Rights of Appropriation,where the rancher usedhis or her homestead as a base and grazed his cattle on publicland called open range (without fences).They could use, but not own the public land. The open range ledto bitter range wars when one homesteader/owner’s livestockgrazing encroached upon another.Since water was life in the west, water wars were alsocommon. They were a type of range war whereby onehomesteader would dam up a creek, usually for wateringlivestock, thereby denying water to downstream homesteaders.Even without these conflicts, water was extremely precious.Ranchers built ditches, water tanks were dug and seeps enlarged.Often these were on public lands upon which the cattle andsheep were grazed. The more water that could be developed, themore livestock that could be grazed; limited only by the forageproduced.This use of water on public land evolved into a propertyright that was codified by Congress as a “pre-existing right ofpossession” by a law, simply labeled theAct of 1866.This Actstarted what is known as the “splitestate” in which one owner, the federal government in this case,owns the land and another owner, the homesteader, owns themineral and/or water rights. The Act gave mineral rights to thoseminersactivelymining the public lSands and water rights toranchersactivelygrazing the public lands. All other mineral andwater rights remained with the federal government. Thesewaterand mineral rightswere strengthened by the Act of 1870 andespecially by the Desert Land Act of 1877.This admittedly abbreviated and simplified history glossesover the messiness and even lawlessness of the process. Inretrospect the preemption and homestead laws didn’t really workas intended. Most of the homesteads failed, and unscrupulousspeculators greatly profited at the expense of the homesteaders.Yet, some homesteaders did succeed. More importantly the landshifted from public to private ownership where it wouldeventually become the “breadbasket of the world.”Fortunately for the world, land east of the Rocky Mountainshas very little federal land today because of federal policy andConstitutional restrictions. The policy that made it happen wasto radically change in the late 1800s by keeping the public landwest of the Rockies in the hands of the federal government. Thatchange was destined to become a disaster for people who had tomake a living from that land. That will be discussed in Part II.This article in condensed form was first published in the2012 Winter Issue of Range Magazine.Dr. Coffman is President ofEnvironmental Perspectives Incorporated (epi-us.com) and CEO of Sovereignty International (sovereignty.net) in Bangor Maine. He hashad over 30 years of university teaching, research and consulting experience in forestry and environmental sciences. He produced theacclaimed DVD Global Warming or Global Governance (warmingdvd.com). His newest book,Rescuing a Broken America(rescuingamericabook.com) is receiving wide acclaim. He can be reached at 207-945-9878 or mcoffman@epi-us.com.3 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Coffman Michael, Różne

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