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Doc of the Day: The Homestead Act
05/20/10
President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law on May 20, 1862. One of the most liberal land laws in history, the Homestead Act granted 160 acres of surveyed public land to any adult U.S. citizen who applied. Prospective homesteaders had to agree to live on the land for five years and improve it by building a dwelling and growing crops. Once these conditions had been met, the homesteader could pay a small filing fee and obtain a title to the land from the government.
Passed during the Civil War, the Homestead Act specifically excluded applicants who had borne arms against the U.S. government. Although some abuses occurred—with false claims granting extensive lands to speculators, railroads, miners, and ranchers—the law nonetheless played a significant role in the settling of the American West. By 1934, over 1.6 million homestead applications had been processed, and more than 270 million acres of government land had passed into the hands of individual citizens.
Read THE HOMESTEAD ACT