The Ordinance of 1785, establishing the groundwork for surveying and sale of public lands in the Northwest territory, contained a clause for schools that stated, “there shall be reserved from sale the lot No. 16 of every township for the maintenance of public schools within the said township.” As townships would ideally consist of 36 sections of one square mile each, this would result in 1/36th of public land being set aside to support schools. Subsequent laws after the adoption of the Constitution confirmed this arrangement and expanded upon it, with Indiana, Illinois and Michigan setting aside an additional section in each township for support of a “seminary of learning”.

Part 1 of this book covers the federal legislation for endowing public land to support educational institutions in the Northwest Territory, as well as State legislation on the same matter for each of the five States created there. The focus of Part 2 is on the implementation of the legislation and management of the land grants, with each state covered separately. At the end of the book the author concludes with an evaluation of the extent to which each state managed this endowment effectively to maximize support of its schools.