Land ordinace of 1785

When passed, the Land Ordinance of 1785 applied to the "Northwest Territory" ceded mostly by Virginia to the United States, which included all land west of Pennsylvania and north of the Ohio River extending west to the Mississippi River. This included all or parts of the present-day states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The 1785 ordinance provided for the survey of these public lands and their division into townships, sections, etc for sale by the government. This came to be known as the Public Land Survey System, or PLSS.

As the country expanded, the provisions of the land ordinance were expanded as well. The only exception was Texas, which had been an independent republic before entry into the union. So, with the exception of the original 13 states, Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Texas, the entire United States was affected by the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the PLSS.