An Infinite Supply of Finite Resources 9Time-tested by nature, this land could withstand extended periods of
drought, heavy rains, and strong winds. In the absence of people, the
soils could thrive indefinitely.
But people saw farming as the path to prosperity, and they needed
land. So for more than a century, Congress floundered about trying to
distribute it. What resulted was a patchwork of ill-conceived laws and
inadequate oversight.^ Land was given away for free, sold at a fraction
of its value, or offered on credit with repayment terms that were easy
to exploit.
An unprecedented abundance of land presented vexing challenges.
Politicians lacked the motivation to prioritize its usage. Early colonists
followed the least expensive farming practices. Erosion was common.
Crops were grown without adding back nutrients. Boosting soil fertility
required more time and effort than simply abandoning existing fields,
moving farther inland, and acquiring more land.
This haphazard approach to managing the nation’s land was not
without critics. George Washington called it “as unproductive to the
practitioners as it is ruinous to the landholders.”^ Concluding that im-
proving the soil was next to impossible on large estates, Washington
ultimately divided his land into smaller tracts with specific instructions
on how to promote soil improvements.
Noting how Europeans valued and treated farmland differently,
Jefferson wrote, “The indifferent state of [agriculture] among us does
not proceed from a want of knowledge merely; it is from our having
such quantities of land to waste as we please.”^ Tobacco and corn were
two crops ruinous to soil. Yet they were highly profitable. When the
United States Capitol opened for business in 00 , its white marble
columns were adorned with carvings of corncobs and tobacco flowers
and leaves. A half century later, little had changed. Landscape architect
Andrew Jackson Downing, who proposed Central Park in New York
City, decried what was happening as “a miserable system of farming
pursued by eight-tenths of all farmers.”
The illusion of endless land was bolstered by some rather fortuitous
transactions. The British capitulated their claim to America by plac-
ing a higher priority on defending their Caribbean (sugar) empire.^
The French nearly doubled the size of the United States when Napo-
leon abandoned plans for a western empire (in Haiti) and sold off