43 U.S.C. § 857: Grant to new States

There is granted, for purposes of internal improvement, to each new State admitted into the Union, after September 4, 1841 , upon such admission, so much public land as, including the quantity that was granted to such State before its admission and while under a territorial government, will make five hundred thousand acres. The selections of lands, granted in this section, shall be made within the limits of each State so admitted into the Union, in such manner as the legislatures thereof, respectively, may direct; and such lands shall be located in parcels conformably to sectional divisions and subdivisions of not less than three hundred and twenty acres in any one location, on any public land not reserved from sale by law of Congress or by proclamation of the President. The locations may be made at any time after the public lands in any such new State have been surveyed according to law.