page_49 < previous page page_49 next page > Page 49 "legislators cannot invent too many devices for subdividing property" (ibid., p. 389). During his careers as lawyer and politician, he fought to change the laws basing inheritance on primogeniture, which tended to concentrate landownership, because he believed the abolition of that practice was vital to a republican society. He disliked the possibility that a land-rich aristocracy could evolve in America as it had in Europe. Jefferson's Public Landownership Words and Deeds Jefferson first came to appreciate government ownership and management of land as governor of Virginia. Later, he became involved with public land in a greater way while serving as president of the United States. This man, who envisioned a nation of many private landowners, orchestrated what arguably could be called the most important public land purchase in the entire history of the nation. It was President Jefferson who negotiated with Napoleon for the United States' purchase of the Louisiana Territory. After that purchase, he attempted to restrict the ability of speculators and fortune-seekers to obtain this public land.3 Jefferson's interest in the ownership and use of lands west of the Appalachians surfaced long before he led the effort by the federal government to acquire the Louisiana Territory. While a member of the Congress of the Confederation, he authored a plan for mapping, administering, and reserving some mineral rights for lands of the western territory to be ceded to the new federal government by the states. This plan became the foundation of the Land Survey Ordinance of 1785, which was superseded by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. His ideas for the management, use, and privatization of public land largely "determined the development not only of the Old Northwest but of all the territories in American history" (Ellis 1986, p. 123). Jefferson understood that, in response to changing conditions, it was sometimes necessary for government to intervene in the affairs of citizens and in the use of their property (Caldwell 1973, pp. 211213). In times of warfare, he believed, the private rights of people could be sacrificed for the common good (Cunningham 1987, p. 38). For instance, during the Revolutionary War, Governor Jefferson authorized the confiscation of goods and property of private persons for the benefit of the American army. Many 3. Jefferson was eager to know how suitable these lands would be for settlement by farmers. Therefore, he commissioned Lewis and Clark to explore themforeshadowing the time to come when the federal government would have large agencies charged with inventorying and managing public lands. During Jefferson's presidency, in fact, a federal land office was established in the Treasury Department. Â < previous page page_49 next page >