President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act on this day, May 20, 1862 following the secession of the southern states. The act turned over 270 million acres of land to private citizens. Ten percent of the area of the United States was claimed and settled under this act.
Prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, politicians had pursued efforts to raise revenues from land sales, but with mixed results. Southerners resisted any efforts to fill the west with individual farmers rather than slave-holders.
The Republicans were strong enough by 1859 to push an act through Congress, but Democratic president James Buchanan vetoed the measure. However, the war and secession of the South soon removed all obstacles to the bill.
As the National Park Service explains:
A homesteader had only to be the head of a household or at least 21 years of age to claim a 160 acre parcel of land. Settlers from all walks of life including newly arrived immigrants, farmers without land of their own from the East, single women and formerly enslaved people worked to meet the challenge of ‘proving up’ and keeping this ‘free land.’ Each homesteader had to live on the land, build a home, make improvements and farm for 5 years before they were eligible to ‘prove up.’”
When all requirements had been completed and the homesteader was ready the take legal possession, the homesteader found two neighbors or friends willing to vouch for the truth of his or her statements about the land’s improvements and sign the ‘proof’ document, and pay a small filing fee.
A photo of a family’s cabin on their homestead, 1900, via Digital Public Library of America
The Homestead Act remained in effect until it was repealed by the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which stated “public lands be retained in Federal ownership.” Provisions for homesteading in Alaska remained in force however until 1986.
The Government granted more than 270 million acres of land while the law was in force, although this represented only about three percent of the lands west of the Mississippi. This measure was far less effective in making vacant land productive than liberal mining laws and grants to railroads.
Today, the Homestead National Monument of America outside Beatrice, Nebraska, commemorates the Homestead Act. This is where Daniel Freeman, deemed the first homesteader to file a claim (on Jan. 1, 1863) by the Department of the Interior, established his homestead site. A history website on the Homestead Act observes, “Legend has it that Daniel Freeman filed his claim 10 minutes after midnight at the Land Office in Brownville, NE on January 1, 1863, the first day the Homestead Act went into effect.”
Daniel Freeman – 1906
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