The legal description of a tract of land under the PLSS includes the name of the state, name of the county, township number, range number, section number, and portion of a section. Sections are customarily surveyed into smaller squares by repeated halving and quartering. A quarter section is and a "quarter-quarter section" is . In 1832 the smallest area of land that could be acquired was reduced to the quarter-quarter section, and this size parcel became entrenched in American mythology. After the Civil War, freedmen (freed slaves) were reckoned to be self-sufficient with "40 acres and a mule." In the 20th century real estate developers preferred working with parcels. The phrases "front 40" and "," referring to farm fields, indicate the front and back quarter-quarter sections of land.