The Homestead Act By: Deja, Chidera, and Ethan

Basic overview of the homestead act ❖ The Homestead Act was passed on May 20, 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln ❖ The Act granted 160 acres of public land to any U.S citizen, who had not borne arms against the government in the western part of America ❖ The catch was that any person that wanted the land completely had to stay and “improve” it for 5 years. ❖ The Act had long lasting impacts on the environment

❖ The distribution of Government land had been an issue since the Revolutionary War ❖ The reason for this was that the system was a chaotic mess when it came to measuring the land and establishing pricing for it. This led to many border disputes and would continue this way for years. ❖ Just after the Mexican-American War, the price for many crops increased due to shifting social climates and people started to look west to find an alternative place to grow crops that would hopefully be less expensive than the South Controversy surrounding the Act

❖ People who wanted to settle in the West demanded “preemption”, an individual’s right to settle land first and pay later. ❖ Eastern economics interest tried opposing proposal like these as well the South ➢ They believed that it would drain economic growth away from the factories in the cities ➢ And the South believed that it would lead to the creation of states that would oppose slavery ❖ However, increasing pressure from settlers, coupled with the secession of the southern states,allowed for the Homestead Act to be passed controversy surrounding the Act(cont.)

❖ If someone wanted to homestead, they had to file a claim of their intentions at a Land Office. ❖ The land they wanted would have to be reviewed to see if anyone else had tried to claim it before them ➢ The fee for filing a claim was typically $10 plus an extra $2 for the land officer’s commission. ❖ Then the they would have to work on their requested land for 5 years, including building a house and farming ❖ After the allotted time had passed, they would write a letter detailing all they had accomplished and have it signed by two neighbors as a way of proving your claims. ❖ If approved, the land was officially yours De Facto

❖ In actuality, there were very few people who actually lasted the entire 5 years required to get the land. ➢ They underestimated how hard it was to actually farm the land ➢ This led to many abandoned houses and plots ❖ Due to the bad wording inclosed in the Act, this led to a lot of fraud ➢ Of the original 500 million acres distributed, only 80 million actually went to homesteaders ■ The rest went to speculators, cattlemen, miners, lumbermen, and railroads ❖ This in turn led to poor environmental upkeep including the poor preservation of grasslands and soil butchery ➢ All this contributed greatly to the Dust Bowl later in the 1930’s In vivo

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