Federal program that encouraged homeownership by awarding up to 160 acres of land after a five year investment to build equity.
Legislation passed in 1862 allowing any citizen or applicant for citizenship over twenty-one years old and head of a family to acquire 160 acres of public land by living on it and cultivating it for five years.
A term sometimes used inappropriately by Canadian researchers to refer to the act which governed the settlement process in western Canada. Passed by the United States Congress on 20 May, 1862, the Homestead Act provided the basis by which public lands in western United States were patented to individual homesteaders. Although many of the regulations were similar, the settlement process in western Canada was controlled by the Dominion Lands Act.
Law passed by Congress in 1862 allowing a head of a family to obtain title to 160 acres of public land after clearing and improving it for 5 years.
result of the American Civil War that gave western land to settlers, reinforcing the concept of free labor in a market economy. (p. 834)
A government program that gave 160 acres of public land to people who would settle on the land and improve it for five years. This encouraged many more people to move west.
In 1862, Congress passed the Homestead Act that gave 160 acres of public land to any settler who would farm and improve the land within five years of the grant. It encouraged westward migration into the Great Plains after the Civil War.
The Homestead Act was a United States federal law that gave one quarter of a section of a township (160 acres, or about 65 hectares) of undeveloped land in the American West to any family head or person who was at least 21 years of age, provided he lived on it for five years and built a house of a minimum of 12 by 14 feet (3.6 x 4.3 m), or allowed the family head to buy it for $1.25 per acre ($0.51/ha) after six months. To avoid penalizing men who were serving in the army, the length of military service was deducted from the required five year residence period for veterans. http://skyways.lib.ks.us/towns/Hope/history.html The act liberalized the homesteading requirements of the Preemption Act of 1841.