The Homestead Act of 1862 is a piece of U.S. legislation which 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 that 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, or allowed the family head to buy it for $1.25 per acre ($308/km²) after six months. The government of the United States, established by the United States Constitution, is a federal republic of 50 states, a few territories and some protectorates. ... Legislation refers to the process of enacting statutory laws, or to the set of statutory laws in a state. ... Sectioning a township In U.S. land surveying, a section is an area nominally one mile square, containing 640 acres (2. ... A Township in the United States refers to a small geographic area, ranging in size from 6 to 54 square miles (15. ... An acre is an English unit of area. ... A hectare (symbol ha) is a metric unit of area. ... A typical archetype, the cowboy, in the Wild West. ...

The act was signed into law by President Lincoln on May 20, 1862. Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865), sometimes called Abe Lincoln and nicknamed Honest Abe, the Rail Splitter, and the Great Emancipator, was the 16th President of the United States (1861 to 1865), and the first president from the Republican Party. ... 20 May is the 140th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (141st in leap years). ... 1862 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

History

By the end of the 19th century, over 570 million acres (2,300,000 km²) remained open to settlement, but very little of this was usable for agriculture. As the Frontier moved west onto the arid Great Plains the amount of land a homesteader was allowed to claim was changed to 640 acres (2.6 km²), a full section. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... In the United States and Canada, the frontier was the term applied until the end of the 19th century to the zone of unsettled land outside the region of existing settlements of European immigrants and their descendants. ... The Great Plains is the broad expanse of prairie which lies east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States of America and Canada, covering all or parts of the U.S. states of New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota and North Dakota and the...

In 1906, the Forest Homestead Act was passed. The Homestead Act of 1912 reduced the homestead requirement from five to three years. 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

Although a few isolated pockets remained into the 1950s most land in the lower 48 states had been taken up by 1910 or so. Homesteading continued on a small scale in Alaska. Much of the remaining public domain was included in the National Forests or is administered by the Bureau of Land Management. // Events and trends The 1950s in Western society was marked with a sharp rise in the economy for the first time in almost 30 years and return to the 1920s-type consumer society built on credit and boom-times, as well as the the baby boom from returning GIs who... The continental United States refers (except sometimes in U.S. federal law and regulations) to the largest part of the U.S. that is delimited by a continuous border. ... 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... State nickname: The Last Frontier, The Land of the Midnight Sun Official languages English Capital Juneau Largest city Anchorage Governor Frank Murkowski (R) Senators Ted Stevens (R) Lisa Murkowski (R) Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 1st 663,267 mi² / 1,717,854 km² 13. ... This article is on national forests in the United States. ... The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers Americas public lands, totaling 262 million acres (1,060,000 km²) or one-eighth of the landmass of the country. ...

In Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado homesteading cut into the access of the large ranches to the public domain where hundreds of thousands of cattle were grazed upon the open range. The ranchers fought back by themselves (or their cowboys) homesteading prime spots which gave access to water. At times tensions escalated into violence, conflicts called range wars, for example, the Johnson County War in Wyoming. State nickname: Equality State Official languages English Capital Cheyenne Largest city Cheyenne Governor Dave Freudenthal (D) Senators Craig Thomas (R) Mike Enzi (R) Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 10th 253,554 km² 0. ... State nickname: Treasure State Official languages English Capital Helena Largest city Billings Governor Brian Schweitzer (D) Senators Max Baucus (D) Conrad Burns (R) Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 4th 381,156 km² 1 Population  - Total (2000)  - Density Ranked 44th 902,195 2. ... State nickname: The Centennial State Other U.S. States Capital Denver Largest city Denver Governor Bill Owens (R) Senators Wayne Allard (R) Ken Salazar (D) Official language(s) English Area 269,837 km² (8th)  - Land 268,879 km²  - Water 962 km² (0. ... Ranching is the raising of cattle or sheep on rangeland, although one might also speak of ranching with regard to less common livestock such as elk, bison or emu. ... Binomial name Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758 Cattle (called cows in vernacular usage) are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. ... Open Range is a 2003 movie based on the novel The Open Range Men by Lauran Paine, and directed by Kevin Costner. ... The Johnson County War, also known as the War on Powder River or Wyoming Civil War, was a range war which took place in Johnson County, Wyoming, in the Powder River Country, in April, 1892. ... State nickname: Equality State Official languages English Capital Cheyenne Largest city Cheyenne Governor Dave Freudenthal (D) Senators Craig Thomas (R) Mike Enzi (R) Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 10th 253,554 km² 0. ...

First claim

The first claim under the Homestead Act was made by Daniel Freeman for a farm in Nebraska on January 1, 1863. Daniel Freeman (1826–1908) was an American homesteader, physician and Civil War veteran. ... State nickname: Cornhusker State Official languages English Capital Lincoln Largest city Omaha Governor Dave Heineman (R) Senators Chuck Hagel (R) Ben Nelson (D) Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 16th 200,520 km² 0. ... January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 1863 is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

Last claim

The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 ended homesteading; the government believing that the best use of public lands was for them to remain in government control. The only exception to this new policy was Alaska, for which the law allowed homesteading until 1986.

The last claim under the Homestead Act was made by Kenneth Deardorff for 80 acres (32 ha) of land on the Stony River in south-western Alaska. He fulfilled all requirements of the Homestead Act in 1979, but he did not actually receive his patent until May 1988. Therefore, he is the very last person to receive the title to land claimed under the provisions of the Homestead Act. The Stony River is a river in southwest Alaska. ... This page refers to the year 1979. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Results of Act

The Homestead Act helped settlers create more than 372,000 farms. By 1900, the settlers had filed 600,000 claims for more than 80 million acres of land in the west under the Homestead Act.

Homestead Act in Kansas

In 1871, 29,000 claims were made in Kansas under the Homestead Act. By 1885-6 this number had leaped to 43,000 claims.

Fraud and corporate use

The intent of the Homestead Act was to grant land for agriculture. However in the arid areas west of the Rocky Mountains 640 acres was generally too little land for a viable farm (at least prior to major public investments in irrigation projects). In these areas homesteads were instead used to control resources, especially water. A common scheme was for an individual acting as a front for a large cattle operation to file for a homestead surrounding a water source under the pretense that the land was being used as a farm. Once granted, use of that water source would be denied to other cattle ranchers, effectively closing off the adjacent public land to competition. This method could also be used to gain ownership of timber and oil-producing land, as the Federal Government charges royalties for extraction of these resources from public lands. It was generally pointless for land containing "locatable minerals" such as gold and silver which could be controlled through mining claims and for which the Federal Government did not charge royalties. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... White Goat Wilderness Area, Alberta, Canada The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a broad mountain range in western North America. ... General Name, Symbol, Number gold, Au, 79 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 6, d Appearance metallic yellow Atomic mass 196. ... General Name, Symbol, Number silver, Ag, 47 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 5, d Appearance lustrous white metal Atomic mass 107. ...

There was no systematic method used to evaluate claims under the Homestead Act. Land offices would rely on affidavits from witnesses that the claimant had lived on the land for the required period of time and made the required improvements. In practice many of these witnesses were bribed or otherwise in cahoots with the claimant.

International derivations

The act was later copied with some modifications by Canada in the form of the Dominion Lands Act, and similar acts, usually termed the Selection Acts were passed in the various Australian colonies in the 1860s, beginning in 1861 in New South Wales. The Dominion Lands Act was an 1872 Canadian law that aimed to encourage the settlement of Canadas prairie provinces. ... The Crown Lands Acts 1861 (NSW) were introduced by the New South Wales Premier, John Robertson, in 1861 to reform land holdings and in particular to break the squatters domination of land tenure. ... // Events and trends Technology The First Transcontinental Railroad in the United States is built in the six year period between 1863 and 1869. ... Motto: Orta Recens Quam Pura Nites (Newly Risen, How Brightly You Shine) Nickname: First State, Premier State Other Australian states and territories Capital Sydney Government Governor Premier Const. ...

See also

• Donation Land Claim Act of 1850
• Public Land Survey System

The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, sometimes known just as the Donation Land Act, was an historic law passed by the Congress of the United States intended to promote homestead settlement in the Oregon Territory in the Pacific Northwest (comprising the present-day states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho). ... This General Land Office map shows the theoretical sectioning of a standard survey township. ...

External links

• Homestead Act and related resources at the Library of Congress
• Homestead National Monument of America