The original part of the public domain consisted of lands ceded by seven eastern states. ( The Ordinance of 1785 stipulated that none of it could be sold until it was surveyed. The office of Surveyor General was established by the Land Act of 1796. This act also provided for the sale of single sections of 640 acres (259 hectares) at $2 an acre. Land acts passed early in the 19th century reduced the price and lowered the minimum acreage per sale, but it was often speculators rather than settlers who bought land under these acts.

In the 19th century the public domain was expanded by vast territorial acquisitions, such as the Louisiana Purchase and the area gained by the Mexican War. ( The government wished to sell land to settlers, but the prices remained too high for most people. However, a great deal of land was given away. Many war veterans were paid for their service in scrip (a document showing entitlement) that could be exchanged for land. The government also gave away a vast acreage to promote education and internal improvements. Land was granted for grade schools, universities, normal schools, and specialized institutions. ( Grants were made for wagon roads, canals and river improvement, and railways.

Demand for cheap land eventually led to the Preemption Act of 1841, under which squatters (people who had settled on public land without buying it) were given the first chance to buy their tracts for a minimum of $1.25 an acre. Prior to the act's enactment, the squatters' land could be sold at auction at prices they could not afford to pay. In 1862 the Homestead Act was passed, and thousands of pioneers rushed to claim free land for homesites and farms. Further legislation permitted free acquisition of timberland and allowed timber cutting on land that remained in public hands.

Under the Small Tract Act of 1938, five-acre (2-hectare) tracts for homesites were made available in Alaska for $2.50 an acre.

In the 1960's the BLM began curtailing the sale of public lands and shifted its policy toward retaining federal lands. For some lands the BLM emphasized a policy of conservation and for other lands a policy of development—to provide for such uses as rangeland grazing, mineral exploitation, and recreation.

The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 consolidated some 3,000 separate pieces of legislation relating to public land management and provided for greater Congressional supervision over the sale and use of federally owned land. The act ended the availability of homesites under the Homestead Act of 1862 and the Small Tract Act of 1938.