United States Statutes at Large/Volume 5/27th Congress/3rd Session/Chapter 33
Chap. XXXIII.—An Act to authorize the Legislatures of the States of Illinois, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee, to sell the lands heretofore appropriated for the use of schools in those States.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,Authority to provide for the sale of school lands, &c. That the legislatures of Illinois, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee, be, and they are hereby, authorized to provide by law for the sale and conveyance in fee simple, of all or any part of the lands heretofore reserved and appropriated by Congress for the use of schools within said States, and to invest the money arising from the sales thereof in some productive fund, the proceeds of which shall be forever applied, under the direction of said Legislatures, to the use and support of schools within the several townships and districts of country for which they were originally reserved and set apart, and for no other use or purpose whatever:Proviso. Provided, Said land, or any part thereof, shall in no wise be sold without the consent of the inhabitants of such township or district, to be obtained in such manner as the Legislatures of said States shall by law direct; and in the apportionment of the proceeds of said fund,Apportionment of the proceeds. each township and district shall be entitled to such part thereof, and no more, as shall have accrued from the sum or sums of money arising from the sale of the school lands belonging to such township or district.
Authority to make laws for protection of said lands, &c.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Legislatures of said States be, and they are hereby, authorized to make such laws and needful regulations as may be deemed expedient to secure and protect from injury or waste, the sections reserved by the laws of Congress, for the use of schools, to each township, and to provide by law, if not deemed expedient to sell, for leasing the same for any term not exceeding four years, in such manner as to render them productive, and most conducive to the object for which they were designed.
In case of insufficiency of said proceeds to support schools, authority to invest them until adequate.
Proviso.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That if the proceeds accruing to any township or district from said fund, shall be insufficient for the support of schools therein, it shall be lawful for said Legislatures to invest the same in the most secure and productive manner, until the whole proceeds of the fund belonging to such township or district shall be adequate to the permanent maintenance and support of schools within the same: Provided, That the Legislatures aforesaid shall, in no case, invest the proceeds of the sale of the lands in any township in manner aforesaid, without the consent of the inhabitants of said township or district, to be obtained as aforesaid.
Such sales as have been made not inconsistent with the principles of this act, confirmed.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That any sales of such lands, reserved as aforesaid, as have been made in pursuance of any of the laws enacted by the Legislatures of said States, and not inconsistent with the principles of this act, are hereby ratified and confirmed so far as the assent of the United States to the same may be necessary to the confirmation thereof.
Approved, February 15, 1843.