Editing Public Land Survey System (section)

{{Short description|System of dividing land in the United States}}
{{External links|date=October 2023}}
[[File:Meridians-baselines.png|thumb|410px|right|This 1988 BLM map depicts the [[principal meridian]]s and [[baseline (surveying)|baselines]] used for surveying states (colored) in the Public Land Survey System.]]

The '''Public Land Survey System''' ('''PLSS''') is the [[surveying]] method developed and used in the [[United States]] to [[plat]], or divide, [[real property]] for sale and settling. Also known as the '''Rectangular Survey System,''' it was created by the [[Land Ordinance of 1785]] to survey land ceded to the United States by the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] in 1783, following the end of the [[American Revolution]]. Beginning with the [[Seven Ranges]] in present-day [[Ohio]], the PLSS has been used as the primary survey method in the United States. Following the passage of the [[Northwest Ordinance]] in 1787, the [[Surveyor General of the Northwest Territory]] platted lands in the [[Northwest Territory]]. The Surveyor General was later merged with the [[United States General Land Office]], which later became a part of the U.S. [[Bureau of Land Management]] (BLM). Today, the BLM controls the survey, sale, and settling of lands acquired by the United States.