As to public lands.--_The general land law of the 10th of May,
1800, section 5, provided that no lands should be sold, "at either
public or private sale, for less than $2 per acre, and payment may be
made for the same by all purchasers _either in specie or in evidences of
the public debt of the United States,_ at the rates prescribed" by a
prior law. This provision was varied by the acts relative to Treasury
notes and the Bank of the United States in like manner as above
mentioned. The second section of the general land law of the 24th of
April, 1820, abrogated the allowance of credits on the sale of public
lands after the its day of July then next; required every purchaser at
public sale to make complete payment on the day of purchase, and the
purchaser at private sale to produce to the register a receipt from the
Treasurer of the United States or from the receiver of the district for
the amount of the purchase money. The proviso to the fourth section of
the same law enacted, in respect to reverted lands and lands remaining
unsold, that they should not be sold for less price than $1.25 per acre,
"nor on any other terms than that of _cash_ payment.
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