Homestead+Act+1862

//** HOMESTEAD **// //** ACT **//  ** is one of two federal laws that gave an applicant rights to what they considered free land which was up to 160 acres outside of the original 13 colonies. In order to be granted the land you had to follow three steps: file an application, improve the land, and file for deed of title. ** //** Background Info **//** : ** The Homestead Act was passed on May 20, 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln after the Preemption Act, during the American Civil War. This preemption act was basically a system where the "yeoman" class farmer had the right to settle land first then pay later. The only payment required was a small registration fee. People were required to live on the land for a five year (which was reduced to six months if the settler was willing to pay a price of $1.25 and acre) period but you had to be improving it by building a house which had to be at least 12 by 14 feet and farming at least ten acres. The Homestead Act liberalized that right to the land, but this didn't fit well with others. The southern legislators feared that these homestead laws, which divided public lands into small farms rather than large plantations, would attract different immigrants and anyone who were opposed to slavery. Then the people from the north, mainly from the industrialized parts, feared that the lure of this free land would drain cheap immigrant labor from their factories to the frontier. So this bill was fought over for the next couple of years. Bills offering public land to settlers were proposed by the House of Representatives in 1852, 1854, and in 1859, but all denied by the southern dominated Senate. Then when a 1860 homestead bill was passed by both house of congress, it was vetoed by President James Buchanan. After the south delegations left congress in 1861 the act was then passed the next year. This was intended to benefit the immigrants but because the immigrants didn't have the money to move to the west parts, mostly the native-born Americans took claim of the land. The quality of the land open many opportunities for the new land owners, but also challenges. Eventually 40 years of this Homestead Act most of the settlements had entered the Union as states or filed for statehood.
 * __ The Homestead Act __**

//** HOMESTEAD **////** VIDEO **//** : **
 * <param name="movie" value="[[ **** [] **

//** Primary Source Doc **////. // [] · Multiple numbers of developments supported the growth of the Homestead Act. · The rise in the economy drew waves of immigrants to America, which eventually opened new markets to American Agriculture. · Homesteaders who persevered on the land were rewarded with the new travel routes by the Railroad Act passed in May 1869. · This then progressed into the formations of building towns and schools and creating new states and territories. · It allowed woman and freed slaves a chance to own their own land. · Rough, unfamiliar lands and environments made it difficult for survival. · Not enough land for large plantations to sustain decent sized crops. · Many investors applied for land with no intention to live on it but to profit from reselling.
 * __ Positives for Homestead: __**
 * __ Negatives for Homestead: __**