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Establishing Economic Property Rights by Giving Away an Empire

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  • Douglas W. Allen

Abstract

The first land grant act for a transcontinental railroad and the Homestead Act were both passed in 1862. Each gave away massive federal lands, created incentives to rush construction and settlement, and (at least partly) dissipated land values. I argue that these apparently wealth-reducing actions rationally utilized railroads and settlers to establish meaningful federal ownership over the frontier and allowed for future federal land sales to take place. This paper examines the tenuous US sovereignty in the West, the institutional details of the land grants, and (using newly digitized records) the relationship among railroads, homesteads, and cash sales to test the theory that "giving away an empire" was a rational strategy to establish economic property rights through quick occupation.

Suggested Citation

  • Douglas W. Allen, 2019. "Establishing Economic Property Rights by Giving Away an Empire," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 62(2), pages 251-280.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlawec:doi:10.1086/703464
    DOI: 10.1086/703464
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    Cited by:

    1. Alston, Eric & Crepelle, Adam & Law, Wilson & Murtazashvili, Ilia, 2021. "The chronic uncertainty of American Indian property rights," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(3), pages 473-488, June.
    2. Meina Cai & Ilia Murtazashvili & Jennifer Murtazashvili & Raufhon Salahodjaev, 2020. "Individualism and governance of the commons," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 184(1), pages 175-195, July.
    3. Carlos, Ann M. & Feir, Donna L. & Redish, Angela, 2022. "Indigenous Nations and the Development of the U.S. Economy: Land, Resources, and Dispossession," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 82(2), pages 516-555, June.
    4. Fleck, Robert K. & Hanssen, F. Andrew, 2024. "Courts, legislatures, and evolving property rules: Lessons from eminent domain," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    5. Andrew Muhammad & Christopher Sichko & Tore C. Olsson, 2024. "African Americans and federal land policy: Exploring the Homestead Acts of 1862 and 1866," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(1), pages 95-110, March.
    6. Berry, Kevin & Delmond, Anthony R. & Morin Chassé, Rémi & Strandholm, John C. & Shogren, Jason F., 2022. "A bargaining experiment under weak property rights, with implications for indigenous title claims," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    7. Vincent Geloso & Louis Rouanet, 2023. "Ethnogenesis and statelessness," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 377-407, June.
    8. Ennio Piano, 2020. "Coase Goes to War: Contract Choice on the Battlefield," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 130(6), pages 1001-1023.
    9. Douglas W. Allen & Bryan Leonard, 2020. "How many rushed during the Oklahoma land openings?," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 14(2), pages 397-416, May.
    10. Chelsea A. Pardini & Ana Espinola-Arredondo, 2021. "Violence, coercion, and settler colonialism," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 33(2), pages 236-273, April.
    11. Harris,Colin & Cai,Meina & Murtazashvili,Ilia & Murtazashvili,Jennifer Brick, 2020. "The Origins and Consequences of Property Rights," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108969055, January.

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