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Show WHOSE PUBLIC LANDS? 19 tions and the inhuman treatment of these unfortunates. Miss Dix's passionate concern caught the attention of both pro- and anti-slavery leaders, strict constructionists and broad latitudinarians, merchants, lawyers and politicians. From the introduction of her memorial in 1848 to the favorable vote in both Houses of Congress in 1854, Miss Dix persistently lobbied to break down resistance to the use of public lands for philanthropic purposes. The original crude measure went through numerous changes to increase the aid, extend its purposes, and make it more acceptable. In 1849 a new measure included a provision for a 12,500,000-acre grant to the states; of this, 10 million acres were to be used for improving the care of the insane and 2,500,000 for the care of the deaf, dumb, and blind. In 1852 a bill for 12,250,000 acres for care of indigent insane passed the House: and in 1854, a bill granting 10 million acres to the states for this purpose provided: that each of the 31 states was to receive an initial grant of 100,000 acres, and that the balance was to be divided among them on the basis of a compound ratio of geographical area and representation in Congress. Landless states were to receive scrip for the amount of land to which they were entitled, were to sell it, and were not permitted to use it to acquire land for themselves in other states. The scrip was to be sold at not less than SI an acre. Before the scrip feature was included one member of Congress had asked why 30 states should be compelled to create agencies to manage the lands; would it not be better, he inquired, to have the regular land offices sell the land and credit the returns to the states. Franklin Pierce's own State of New Hampshire was much in need of the aid the Dix bill would have given, though neither of its Senators nor any of its four Representatives had voted for it. But Pierce was a strict con-structionist of the school of John C. Calhoun; he could find no justification for the use of public lands to improve the care of the insane. True, in 1826 a measure to give a township of public land to aid a deaf and dumb asylum in Kentucky had been adopted with wide majorities in both Houses: this followed a long battle extending over three sessions of Congress, with constitutional questions being raised. Though some regarded the grant to a deaf and dumb asylum as a precedent for favorable action on the Dix bill, Pierce and his Democratic supporters could not agree. His veto message and political pressure took away enough support previously given so that the advocates of the measure could not pass it over his veto. The first general bill to enable the Original States to share directly in the public lands was thus defeated, though not by a purely sectional vote-Miss Dix had won over many Congressmen from the public land states, including Dodge and Walker of Wisconsin, Geyer of Missouri, Gwin of California, and Chase and Wade of Ohio.4"1 The second major effort to secure a share in the public lands for the older states was led by Henry Bennett, Representative from New York State. In 1852, there were many measures before Congress for land grants to western states to aid in railroad construction. Bennett proposed to combine them in an omnibus measure also granting to the 17 non-public- 41 The Dix bill, as approved by both Houses is in Senate Journal, 33d Cong., 1st sess., 1853-54 (Serial No. 689), pp. 372 ff. For the Senate vote on the 1854 bill and the vote to pass the measure over the veto see ibid., 243, 479. The House vote is in House Journal, 33d Cong., 1st sess., April 19, 1854 (Serial No. 709), pp. 669-70. Outstandingly useful are Francis Tiffany, A Life of Dorothea Lynde Dix (Boston, 1892), and H. E. Marshall, Dorothea Dix: Forgotten Samaritan (Chapel Hill, N. C, 1937). The Act of April 5, 1826, granting a township of land to the Deaf and Dumb Asylum is in 6 Stat. 339. Efforts were made to extend its provisions to similar institutions in other states but were resisted. Register of Debates, 19th Cong., 1st sess., 1826, pp. 371 and 1603. Most of the land actually received by the asylum (22,508 acres) was located in Florida with a small portion in Arkansas. The act provided that the lands should be sold within 5 years, but for various reasons Congress granted extensions for the Florida lands until 1862. Donaldson, The Public Domain, p. 212. |