Book excerpt: "Statehood: The Territorial Imperative is a meticulous inquiry into the origins of the American states, the federal territorial land system and the relationship between the two. The text relies upon commentary of the Framers, other contemporaneous commentary and Supreme Court decisions and decisional dicta to derive its conclusions. The conclusions arrived at pose a forceful and provocative challenge to conventional thinking about the federal trust respecting public lands as it is understood and applied in the 21st century. This text will be of value to students of constitutional federalism, constitutional originalism and American history.