Land Patents:
Q. Where did the land within the United
States of America
come from?
A. The land within the came from: England, France, Spain, Mexico, Russia, Hawaii, and from the
Native American Indians
Q. How did the United
States acquire the land?
A. By purchase like with Manhattan Island, the Louisiana Purchase,
and Alaska;
By war power like with, Hawaii and much of
the Native American Indian lands;
By Treaty like, The Northwest
Territories Treaty, The Guadeloupe Hidalgo Treaty; and
By treaty as the end result
of war like the Revolutionary War for independence from
England.
The end result — regardless of how the land was acquired — a Treaty was
ultimately designed whereby the land was resolved and reserved for the proper possession
and individual ownership of the people of the United States of America. Security in
land rights was, and is, found within the Treaty. So
your land comes to you from the treaty through your Land Patent. This is critical,
the Land Patent secures the treaty to you.
Q. What is a land patent?
A.
Once land was acquired in the nation it was held by the United States until
someone proved their claim to it. Once the land was properly claimed and filed, the
General Land Office certified that the surveys were paid for. According to the
various land acts of Congress, the land was then made patent under the signature and seal
of the President of the United States of
America.
When a State enters the Union of the United
States of America, an Enabling Act is agreed
to. The Enabling Act requires that all of the un-appropriated (un-patented)
lands be forever granted to the Union for its disposition. For example, here is an
"irrevocable ordinance" from Colorado’s Enabling Act:
"That the people inhabiting said territory do
agree and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title to
the un-appropriated public lands lying within said territory, and that the same shall be
and remain at the
sole and entire disposition of the United
States."
Without such transfer of
control over the right and title to the land, there would be no effective authority in a
land patent sealed under the signature of the President. For example, with few
exceptions, United States of America land patents have no authority in the Republic of Texas because Texas never ceded its
lands to the United States. Once the land is placed in trust under the sole
disposition of the United States government it stands there until someone makes a proper
claim for it and because the Constitution forbids the United States from owning it, they
must grant it to the person that proves their proper claim to it; that is when the land is
granted to the proper claimant and that grant is made patent under the hand and seal of
the President. A land patent therefore
is a record that documents such a transfer of public land to an individual.
Q. What is the Federal Land Sale Act Established
in 1820?
The basic Federal Land Sale Act, established April 24th,1820, abolished the existing credit system that enabled settlers to make deferred payment on
their land and reduced the per acre purchase price
from $2.00 to $1.25.
The entire amount now had to be paid in cash at the time of the government land
purchase.
How it worked: The land claimant filed an "Entry"
with the land office ($3.00 fee), lived on a selected quarter of land, made improvements,
and after six months, could purchase the land. That amounted to a total outlay of $200 for
a 160 acre quarter section. The cash price of the land varied by location and better land
cost much more. The amount of land a settler could purchase varied over the years as did
the "residency" requirement. After 1890, total cash sales were limited
to 320 acres per person.
Summary - "About Land Patents":
- The Land was originally acquired within the United States of America
by some Treaty.
- Your Land Patent secures the rights of the Treaty upon
which the land was originally acquired within the territories of the United States - from the
Treaty to the individual person named on the patent.
- The patent specifically grants the described lands to the
party named on the patent and to their heirs and their assigns forever.
- The party named on the patent then passes the
inheritance, grants, or assigns the patented lands to someone else, which heir or assignee
is now named on the patent by that assignment. The documents that demonstrate such
an assignment are often called, "Deeds".
- Because the granter can not compel you to accept the
assignment it is necessary for you to take some action to signify your acceptance of the
assignment. For this reason we use Team Law's copyrighted "Declaration of Land
Patent"
.
- Once you have accepted the proper assignment of the Land
Patent with proper documentation, you are named on the physical Land Patent where it says,
"and to his heir and assigns forever".
It doesn't matter how many
times the land is reassigned. The patent by its own creation lasts "forever"
and belongs to the named party "and to their heirs and assigns forever."
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