Homestead Act of 1862

The Homestead Act was passed May 20, 1862. It either alloted 160 acres to anyone for $10 and a promise to farm it for five years, or allowed anyone to purchase land for $1.25 after living on the land for six months. While this act distributed millions of acres of land to eager Easterners and Europeans, many were not able to work the land efficiently. These homesteaders often did not have the money to purchase the necessary farm equipment or sustain themselves until the farm started producing, and much of the land in fact fell into the hands of speculators or else was fraudulently "improved." Much of it also went to railroad companies. While the Homestead Act did not act totally accordingly to plan, further acts spurred from the Homestead Act successfully distributed further land grants to farmers.

Divine, Robert A., T. H. Breen, George M. Fredrickson, and R. Hal Williams. America Past and Present. Revised Sixth Edition, AP* Edition . Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., 2003. 502. Print.

Weiser, Kathy. "The Homestead Act." Legends of America. Legends of America, Apr 2010. Web. 27 Nov 2010. <http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ah-homestead.html>.

Act of May 20, 1862 (Homestead Act), Public Law 37-64, 05/20/1862; Record Group 11; General Records of the United States Government; National Archives.

Web. 27 Nov 2010. <http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Third_Party_Photo/2009/01/31/dubrow__1233380189_4089.jpg>.