.(239)

The long delay in opening the land-offices in Illinois was fatal to an
early settlement of the region, because the old states had public lands
which they offered for sale at low rates, thus depriving Illinois of a
fair chance as a competitor. In 1779 Kentucky granted to each family which
had settled before January 1, 1778, the right of preemption--four hundred
acres if no improvement had been made and one thousand acres if a hut had
been built. The preemptor, by a law of 1786, was to pay 13_s_. 4_d._ per
one hundred acres.(240) In 1781 the sheriffs of Lincoln, Fayette, and
Jefferson counties, Virginia, were authorized to survey not more than four
hundred acres for each poor family in Kentucky, for which twenty shillings
per one hundred acres should be paid within two and one-half years.(241)
In 1791 more than three and one-half millions of acres were sold in New
York at eight pence per acre, while many thousands of acres in addition
were sold for less than four shillings per acre--many for less than two
shillings.(242) Pennsylvania offered homestead claims, in 1792, at seven
pounds ten shillings per hundred acres.(243)

In December, 1796, Kentucky sheriffs were ordered to sell no more land for
taxes until directed by the legislature to do so.(244) In 1800, and again
in 1812, Kentucky offered land at twenty cents per acre, and in 1820 at
fifteen cents per acre,(245) while during the interval preemption acts
were repeatedly passed.(246) Land in Tennessee sold at from twelve and
one-half to twenty-five cents per acre in 1814, and in 1819 at fifty
cents.(247)

In 1816 various classes of claimants were given increased facilities and
an extension of time for locating their claims in Illinois. The business
of satisfying claims was to linger for years, but with the opening of the
land-offices it ceased to be a potent factor in retarding settlement.(248)

One writer says of Illinois: "The public lands have rarely sold for more
than five dollars per acre, _at auction_. Those sold at Edwardsville in
October, 1816, averaged four dollars. Private sales at the land-office are
fixed by law, at two dollars per acre. The old French locations command
various prices, from one to fifty dollars. Titles derived from the United
States government are always valid, and those from individuals rarely
false."(249) At this time emigrants were going in large numbers to
Missouri, and the Illinois river country, not yet relieved of its India