to
the Government which they have a voice in controlling; to bring them
into market no faster than good lands are supposed to be wanted for
improvement, thereby preventing the accumulation of large tracts in few
hands; and to apply the proceeds of the sales to the general purposes of
the Government, thus diminishing the amount to be raised from the people
of the States by taxation and giving each State its portion of the
benefits to be derived from this common fund in a manner the most quiet,
and at the same time, perhaps, the most equitable, that can be devised.
These provisions, with occasional enactments in behalf of special
interests deemed entitled to the favor of the Government, have in their
execution produced results as beneficial upon the whole as could
reasonably be expected in a matter so vast, so complicated, and so
exciting. Upward of 70,000,000 acres have been sold, the greater part of
which is believed to have been purchased for actual settlement. The
population of the new States and Territories created out of the public
domain increased between 1800 and 1830 from less than 60,000 to upward
of 2,300,000 souls, constituting at the latter period about one-fifth
of the whole people of the United States. The increase since can not
be accurately known, but the whole may now be safely estimated at
over three and a half millions of souls, composing nine States, the
representatives of which constitute above one-third of the Senate and
over one-sixth of the House of Representatives of the United States.

Thus has been formed a body of free and independent landholders with a
rapidity unequaled in the history of mankind; and this great result has
been produced without leaving anything for future adjustment between
the Government and its citizens. The system under which so much has
been accomplished can not be intrinsically bad, and with occasional
modifications to correct abuses and adapt it to changes of circumstances
may, I think, be safely trusted for the future. There is in the
management of such extensive interests much virtue in stability; and
although great and obvious improvements should not be declined, changes
should never be made without the fullest examination and the clearest
demonstration of their practical utility. In the history of the past we
have an assurance that this safe rule of action will not be departed
from in relation to the public lands; nor is it believed that any
necessity exists for in