What was the Homestead Act?
As the United States neared the 20th century, the number of factories were tripling and cities were overflowing with people. The ideas of the Jeffersonian democracy continued to have a powerful influence on American politics during the 1840-1850's, and they demanded for land in the west to become available to independent farmers. The Homestead Act of 1862 was the first of many acts, signed by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862. President Lincoln stated that the purpose of the government was "to elevate the condition of men, to lift artificial burdens from all shoulders and to give everyone an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race of life." One of the purposes of the Homestead Act was to help the poor and recently freed slaves to live a comfortable life The act stated that anyone who had never taken up arms against the U.S government, including freed slaves and women, was 21 years or older or the head of their family, could file for an application in order to claim a federal land grant. The maximum amount of land a person could file for was 160 acres, but before they could legally own the land, they had to fulfill a few requirements. These requirements stated that before anyone could own the land, they needed to cultivate and build a house on the land within 5 years. After those 5 years had passed they were required to pay $1.25 per acre, and then the land fully belonged to them.
Taken from the Thirty-Seventh Congress, Session II, Ch. 75, May 20, 1862;
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have filed his declaration of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization laws of the United States, and who has never borne arms against the United States Government or given aid and comfort to its enemies, shall, from and after the first January, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, be entitled to enter one quarter section or a less quantity of unappropriated public lands, upon which said person may have filed a preemption claim, or which may, at the time the application is made, be subject to preemption at one dollar and twenty-five cents, or less, per acre; or eighty acres or less of such unappropriated lands, at two dollars and fifty cents per acre, to be located in a body, in conformity to the legal subdivisions of the public lands, and after the same shall have been surveyed: Provided, That any person owning and residing on land may, under the provisions of this act, enter other land lying contiguous to his or her said land, which shall not, with the land so already owned and occupied, exceed in the aggregate one hundred and sixty acres."
The west eventually became populated and flourished with agricultural businesses and towns. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 put an end to the Homestead Act. Federal government had decided to regain control of western public lands in all states except for Alaska, which was allowed to continue homesteading until 1986.
As the United States neared the 20th century, the number of factories were tripling and cities were overflowing with people. The ideas of the Jeffersonian democracy continued to have a powerful influence on American politics during the 1840-1850's, and they demanded for land in the west to become available to independent farmers. The Homestead Act of 1862 was the first of many acts, signed by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862. President Lincoln stated that the purpose of the government was "to elevate the condition of men, to lift artificial burdens from all shoulders and to give everyone an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race of life." One of the purposes of the Homestead Act was to help the poor and recently freed slaves to live a comfortable life The act stated that anyone who had never taken up arms against the U.S government, including freed slaves and women, was 21 years or older or the head of their family, could file for an application in order to claim a federal land grant. The maximum amount of land a person could file for was 160 acres, but before they could legally own the land, they had to fulfill a few requirements. These requirements stated that before anyone could own the land, they needed to cultivate and build a house on the land within 5 years. After those 5 years had passed they were required to pay $1.25 per acre, and then the land fully belonged to them.
Taken from the Thirty-Seventh Congress, Session II, Ch. 75, May 20, 1862;
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have filed his declaration of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization laws of the United States, and who has never borne arms against the United States Government or given aid and comfort to its enemies, shall, from and after the first January, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, be entitled to enter one quarter section or a less quantity of unappropriated public lands, upon which said person may have filed a preemption claim, or which may, at the time the application is made, be subject to preemption at one dollar and twenty-five cents, or less, per acre; or eighty acres or less of such unappropriated lands, at two dollars and fifty cents per acre, to be located in a body, in conformity to the legal subdivisions of the public lands, and after the same shall have been surveyed: Provided, That any person owning and residing on land may, under the provisions of this act, enter other land lying contiguous to his or her said land, which shall not, with the land so already owned and occupied, exceed in the aggregate one hundred and sixty acres."
The west eventually became populated and flourished with agricultural businesses and towns. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 put an end to the Homestead Act. Federal government had decided to regain control of western public lands in all states except for Alaska, which was allowed to continue homesteading until 1986.