Commercial zoning, nonexistent in early American history, has come to play a crucial role in the land-use patterns of American business over the last century.

The annexation of Texas started a war with Mexico that resulted in the United States gaining a large piece of territory that extended the country to the Pacific coast.

The Supreme Court, in upholding the U.S. Constitution’s strong protections for the rights of private property and ownership of land...

Pike’s journals provided detailed and colorful descriptions of the resources of the upper Mississippi Valley and the southern Great Plains, with data on their distribution and possibilities for future commercial exploitation.

The three Northwest Ordinances defined the Northwest Territory and provided that territory with a blueprint for governance and economic development.

The largest single acquisition of territory by the United States, the Louisiana Purchase more than doubled the size of the nation, creating a vast new territory to be explored and incalculable commercial opportunities to be exploited.

Acting as official representatives of the United States government, Lewis and Clark explored and charted territories newly acquired through the Louisiana Purchase.

Land laws helped determine the development and distribution of perhaps the United States’ greatest economic resource—its land.

Since its inception, the Department of the Interior has handled miscellaneous duties in addition to controlling public lands.

The Homestead Act encouraged the development of small family farms as important components of agricultural commerce in the still undeveloped American territories.

During the early twentieth century, a growing automotive industry demanded better roads, which in turn resulted in enormous increases in the production of motor vehicles.

Hawaii’s incorporation into the United States meant that businesses on the mainland could rely on a steady supply of low-cost sugar and profit from an expanded free-trade zone for investment and trade.

The acquisition of this territory was essential for the construction of a southern transcontinental railroad, eventually built by the Southern Pacific during the early 1880’s. It is also a land rich in copper and valuable for agriculture and grazing.

Before 1492, the Americas were a largely unexploited region, full of resources that promised opportunity and prosperity.

The United States purchased Alaska to boost American fishing and whaling industries, increase the nation’s control of commerce in the Pacific, and create a bridge to Asian markets.

The pipeline across Alaska was one of the most ambitious and debated construction efforts mounted by private industry in American history.

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) is the principle federal agency managing public land RESOURCES in the United States. Created in 1849, the DOI manages almost half a billion acres of federal property.