What was the homesteader act of 1862?

Answer 1

The Homestead act promised free land to settlers on the western frontier. It promised ownership of a 160-acre tract of public land to a citizen or head of a family who had resided on and cultivated the land for five years after the initial claim.

The Act required a $12 registration fee and if farmed for 5 years the person would pay an additional

$6.00. Also, the farmer had to build a home on the land.

Before the Civil War, Northern states had wanted to open up the West to settlement, and they saw homesteads, the transcontinental railroad, and land grant colleges as critical to that process.

• The Homestead Act would provide settlers to occupy the new lands.
• The Transcontinental Railroad would provide transportation to get them there.
• And Morrill Act would authorize land grant colleges to provide knowledge and information -- particularly to help farmers farm.

Northern lawmakers believed that all of these factors were necessary for successful settlement and the creation of new states. Southern representatives had opposed all three acts because they knew if new states were created, they would be non-slave states. When these conflicts resulted in the secession of the southern states from the Union, opposition in Congress dissolved.

The Homestead Act was passed by Congress in May, 1862. The Union Pacific Railroad was chartered on July 1, 1862 when President Lincoln selected a route that would pass through Nebraska. And the Morrill Act was signed into law on July 2, 1862.

One of the major provisions for the Homestead Act provided special treatment for veterans of the Civil War. After the war, a soldier would be allowed to deduct the number of years that he served in the Union Army from the five-year residency requirement. Any person who had borne arms against the Union was not eligible. So the Homestead Act was passed, in small part, as a recruiting inducement for the Army.

But there is little evidence that Union soldiers thought much about homesteading during the Civil War.

The Homestead Act was passed in 1862 while the Civil War was going on.

Answer 2

The Homestead act promised free land to settlers on the western frontier. It promised ownership of a 160-acre tract of public land to a citizen or head of a family who had resided on and cultivated the land for five years after the initial claim.

The Act required a $12 registration fee and if farmed for 5 years the person would pay an additional

$6.00. Also, the farmer had to build a home on the land.

Before the Civil War, Northern states had wanted to open up the West to settlement, and they saw homesteads, the transcontinental railroad, and land grant colleges as critical to that process.

• The Homestead Act would provide settlers to occupy the new lands.
• The Transcontinental Railroad would provide transportation to get them there.
• And Morrill Act would authorize land grant colleges to provide knowledge and information -- particularly to help farmers farm.

Northern lawmakers believed that all of these factors were necessary for successful settlement and the creation of new states. Southern representatives had opposed all three acts because they knew if new states were created, they would be non-slave states. When these conflicts resulted in the secession of the southern states from the Union, opposition in Congress dissolved.

The Homestead Act was passed by Congress in May, 1862. The Union Pacific Railroad was chartered on July 1, 1862 when President Lincoln selected a route that would pass through Nebraska. And the Morrill Act was signed into law on July 2, 1862.

One of the major provisions for the Homestead Act provided special treatment for veterans of the Civil War. After the war, a soldier would be allowed to deduct the number of years that he served in the Union Army from the five-year residency requirement. Any person who had borne arms against the Union was not eligible. So the Homestead Act was passed, in small part, as a recruiting inducement for the Army.

But there is little evidence that Union soldiers thought much about homesteading during the Civil War.

The Homestead Act was passed in 1862 while the Civil War was going on.