How did it happen that there 640 acres in a section?

Answer 1

Answer

A section, is one Square Mile. A Square mile is 640 ac...

I offer this:

We can thank Thomas Jefferson for the use of 640 acres becoming a section of land in America. Jefferson had an extreme dislike for cities. He told James Madison: "I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries as long as they are chiefly agricultural; and this will be as long as there shall be vacant lands in any part of America. When they get plied upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, they will become corrupt as in Europe."

Before the Constitution, Jefferson pushed his anti-urban policy in the Land Ordinance of 1785. This is the classic land policy that divided land in what is now the Midwest into six square mile townships, divided into 640 acre sections. Jefferson and his friends imagined that each section would become used for farming, except for one section that would be reserved for public education.

Further study leads to the formation of the Homestead Act of 1857. Wherein the section was divided further to create "homesteads" of 160 acres per family. In today's world this may seem rather large. The intent was for the family to live on on 40 acres parcel and rotate their crops yearly on the other three.

I realize my answer is lengthy although hopefully complete.