Page 188 - Fruits from a Poisonous Tree

172 Fruit from a Poisonous Tree

What is a Land Patent and Allodial Title? What is it and how does it aff ect
my life or that of my children?
Essentially, a Land Patent is the first conveyance of title ownership
to land, which the U.S. Government grants a citizen who applies for
one. One of the earliest laws for granting Land Patents was passed
by Congress on April 24, 1820. Among other things, Congress set
up Government Land offices, now known as the Bureau of Land
Management. Land was usually sold in parcels of 160 acres for $1.25
per acre. The law in 1820 prohibited the borrowing or use of “credit”
for the purchase of government land. In the debates in Congress prior
to passage of this act, Senator King of New York said on March 1820:
“...it was calculated to plant in the new country a population of
independent unembarrassed freeholder, …that it would place in every man,
the Power to Purchase a freehold the price of which could be cleared in 3
years, ...that it would cut up speculation and monopoly, that it would prevent
the accumulation of alarming debt which experience proved never would and
never could be paid.”
Later on, in 1862, a Homestead Act stated in Section 4: “That no lands
acquired under the provisions of this act shall in any event become liable to
the satisfaction of any debt or debts contracted prior to the issuing of the
patent therefor.”
It can be clearly seen that the intent of these early lawmakers was for
the people of this country to be FREEMEN AND FREEHOLDERS of
their land, never to be subject to nor to have it taken from them by any
government, feudal authority or banker, or any other party who might have a
claim against the person who owned the land.
In plain English, a Land Patent, which gave you an allodial freehold, was
“judgment proof” and, yes, even immune from tax liens. In effect, the only
authority over you or your land was GOD himself. In England, a man who
owned free from authority of the king was known as a freeholder and his land
was called a freehold or allodial freehold. Most land patents in the U.S. were
issued prior to 1900. However, even today, new land patents continue to be
issued, mostly for gas, oil and mineral rights on public lands. For this reason,
there are several land offices that remain open in the United States.