The Homestead Act of 1862 was one of three public-land acts advocated by the Republican Party and passed during the Civil War. Like the other two, the Land Grant Act and the Pacific Railway Act, this act had to await the secession of the Southern...

The Homestead Act was signed into law in 1862. It was a legislative offer on a vast scale of free homesteads on unappropriated public lands. Any citizen (or alien who filed a declaration of intent to become a citizen), who had reached the age of 21,...

Enacted by U.S. Congress, May 20, 1862 Reprinted from Our Documents (Web site) An act to secure homesteads to settlers in the West "Upon filing the said affidavit with the register or receiver, and on payment of ten dollars, he or she shall...

The Homestead Act was a United States Federal law that gave freehold title to 160 acres (one quarter section or about 65 hectares) of undeveloped land in the American West. The person to whom title was granted had to be at least 21 years of age, to have...