In the summer of 1787 the Second Continental Congress wrote what is known as the Northwest Ordinance. It was in this document that the doctrine of equal footing was established.
One of the provisions in the Northwest Ordinance was to establish the policy and procedures for the admitting of new states. All states that were admitted to the Union were intended to be on equal footing. This meant that the new states would be entitled to the same rights, privileges and immunities as the original 13 states.
According to the Northwest Ordinance all land in any territory that was to become a state was to be ceded from the National government to the government of the newly created state. This Ordinance was enforced until the time that the 37th state was admitted to the Union. At that point the government of the United States stopped ceding federally owned land over to the states.
As directed in the Northwest Ordinance, 98% of the land east of Colorado was ceded over to the states.
However, in the western states less than 30% of the land is owned by individuals or the states. In California, there are 100 million acres. The Federal government maintains control over 44% of it. In Texas, the Federal government owns less than 2% of the land. Is this what you call equal footing?
This Land is Not Your Land by Laurence Vance
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