HOMESTEAD ACT OF 1862
The Homestead Act of 1862 was a landmark in
the evolution of federal agriculture law. Passed
by Congress during the Civil War, it had an ide-
alistic goal: it sought to shape the U.S. West by
populating it with farmers. The law’s Northern
supporters had pursued a vision of taming the
rough frontier for several decades, as a means
both to create an agrarian base there and to
break the institution of SLAVERY that was
entrenched in the South. To achieve this end,
they engineered a vast giveaway of public lands.
The Homestead Act provided 160 acres of land
for a small filing fee and a modest investment of
time and effort. The overly optimistic law failed
in several ways.Most important, it was exploited
by railroads and other powerful interests for
profit. After making basic changes to it Congress
finally repealed the law in 1977.
The Homestead Act arose from the struggle
between the North and the South that culmi-
nated in the Civil War (1861–65). During this
struggle, the nation followed two competing
paths of agricultural development: the industri-
alized North favored giving public lands to
individual settlers, while the South clung to its
tradition of slave labor. From the early 1830s,
Northern proponents of the free distribution of
public land, organized around the Free-Soil
party and later in the REPUBLICAN PARTY,had
their ideas blocked by Southern opponents. The
secession of Southern states in 1861 cleared the
way for passage of the Homestead Act in 1862,
against a backdrop of other important legisla-
tion that would define national agriculture pol-
icy for the next century: the Morrill Land-Grant
College Act, the PACIFIC RAILROAD ACT, and the
creation of the AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT.
The Homestead Act went into effect on January
1, 1863, just as President ABRAHAM LINCOLN
signed the EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION
freeing slaves.
In this context of controversy and war, the
Homestead Act offered a simple plan to achieve
the goals of the North. As yet not fully settled,
western states would be populated with a flood
of homesteaders—individual farmers whose
hard work would create a new agricultural
industry.On its face, the law was generous.Any-
one who was at least twenty-one years of age,
the head of a family, or a military veteran was
qualified to claim land; moreover, citizens and
immigrants alike were entitled to participate.
They paid a small filing fee in return for the
temporary right to occupy and farm 160 acres.
The land did not become theirs immediately;
the law stipulated that it had to be improved,
and only after living on and maintaining it for
