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Lottery

State and federal games of chance have existed in some form since the birth of the United States.  Public and private lotteries existed to do anything from raise funds that financed settlement of debts  or to purchase cannons for the Revolutionary War effort.  Documents within the Papers of the War Department archive contain discussion of odds and the purchase of tickets to mundane references about the safe transport and arrival of purchased tickets.  Several documents mention a land lottery.

Exploring external primary sources, it was found that in 1735, the state of Pennsylvania held a land lottery for 100,000 acres.  In order to increase interest in the purchase of tickets the lottery was billed as a way to ensure rightful ownership to property, buildings, and crops already established by the squatter settlers.  Other such lotteries took place later in the century.  Land lottery was also used as part of an incentive package for enlisted soldiers during the Revolutionary War.  The military land lottery discussed by Issac Craig and Samuel Hodgdon on March 7, 1800 could refer to the land put up by the State of Pennsylvania in 200, 250, 350, 500 acre parcels which were auctioned off periodically over the course of 30 years.  The lottery benefited both the ticket holder and the state.  Newly minted American citizens received large tracts of land at a relatively small cost, and the state and federal government ensured the land was settled by citizens who would participate in the civilization of U.S. land, the production of goods and crops, and would purchase supplies to develop their property.