However, the 1784 resolution did not define the mechanism by which the land would become states, or how the territories would be governed or settled before they became states. The land west of the Appalachian Mountains, north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River was to be divided into ten separate states. The earlier Land Ordinance of 1784 was a resolution written by Thomas Jefferson calling for Congress to take action. The Ordinance set up a survey system that eventually covered over three-quarters of the area of the continental United States. Congress at the time did not have the power to raise revenue by direct taxation, so land sales provided an important revenue stream. It set up a standardized system whereby settlers could purchase title to farmland in the undeveloped west. The Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted by the United States Congress of the Confederation on May 20, 1785.
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