Public domain, a term used to describe the vast Federally owned lands in the western United States. For most of the nation's early history, the government sought to rid itself of this land, selling it cheaply, offering it under laws such as the Homestead Act, giving it to states for educational purposes under the Morrill Act or as grants to promote railroad building.
PublicLands, in United States law, term designating largely vacant and unappropriated lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of the United States Department of the Interior.
Land warrants were purchased for a mere fraction of their face value by speculators.
Grants of publiclands were awarded by Congress to encourage the construction of canals, wagon roads, and railroads, and to reclaim swamplands.
All lands in the publicdomain are subject to subdivision by this rectangular system of surveys, which is regulated by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
A typical French arpent land division is 2 to 4 arpents wide along the river by 40 to 60 arpents deep, while the Spanish arpent land divisions tend to be 6 to 8 arpents wide by 40 arpents deep.
The Land Ordinance of 1785 which provided for the systematic survey and monumentation of publicdomainlands, and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 which established a rectangular survey system designed to facilitate the transfer of Federal lands to private citizens, were the beginning of the PLSS.
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