Western Land Claims

587 Words3 Pages
I believe that if the original thirteen states had not given up their Western Land Claims in 1781, the Land Ordinance and the Northwest Ordinance would have never been created by Congress. When the Articles of Confederation were finished being revised by the Second Continental Congress in November of 1777, the document was sent out to be ratified by the member states of the newly founded United States of America. By 1779, all of the states had ratified the Articles of Confederation but one: the state of Maryland. One of the main reasons that Maryland refused to ratify the Articles of Confederation was over Western Land claims, holding the belief that the state of Maryland would essentially be squeezed out of existence as the surrounding states continued to expand. Several of the states cited their original charters from the King of England, stating that they had the right to the lands initially laid out for them Maryland demanded that these claims be dropped or else it would not ratify the Articles of…show more content…
This is significant because if the states did not give up their land claims. in the time immediately after the negotiations concluded and the Treaty of Paris was signed, the states would have began to carve up the newly received land. But since the states did give up their land claims in 1781, there would be no claims to the land once the Treaty of Paris was signed, so the national government would be the owner of the lands and could chose what to do with the lands with limited influence from the personal agendas of the
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