Adventures in land ownership

[shikamaru]

Being the poster is in Tennessee, here is a treaty/compact that you will want to acquire/research:

Southwest Ordinance of 1790

The other major ordinances concerning lands in the public domain are:

The Land Ordinance of 1784
The Land Ordinance of 1785
Northwest Ordinance of 1787

The Ordinances above were created by Congress of the Confederation, successor of the Second Continental Congress.

You may also want to know the public lands were administered by the General Land Office up to about 1946.

In 1946, the GLO was merged with the US Grazing Service to become the Bureau of Land Management, an agency of the Interior Department.

Also, you may want to acquire any treaties made with Native Americans over the territory as well.