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The Homestead Act, signed into law by Abraham Lincoln in 1862, provided that settlers could receive title to up to 160 acres (equal to 65 hectares) if they improved the land (built a house or farm) and lived there for a period of 1 year.

This was an act of an exclusively Union Congress during the Civil War, and liberalized the grants under the Preemption Act of 1841. Subsequent bills offered 320 acres (mostly hard-to-farm lands) in 1906, and 640 acres (for ranches) in 1916. The statutes were phased out in 1976, except in Alaska where they ended in 1986.

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14y ago

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