The Homestead Act of 1862 was passed on May 20 that same year. The act encouraged settlement of the western territories. Families were awarded 160 acres of public lands for a small filing fee and continuous occupancy before receiving title to their land.
The act was repealed in 1976. It is estimated that 4 million people were awarded land under the Homestead Act. My great-grandfather was one of those homesteaders and that makes me and millions of other Americans descendants of a homestead family.
Have a great day! Every comment is up-voted to show our appreciation and thanks for your up-vote, Tim and Joann.
We can't truly own land in this country anymore! Stop paying property taxes...enough said!
That is the way of government.
Maybe we will have another homestead act. The government has so much land they're not using for anything. Meanwhile the masses are crammed into cities and suburbs. @ironshield
nice story,, but freedon lost,, after this decession,, thumup
The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 ended homesteading; by that time, federal government policy had shifted to retaining control of western public lands. And yet again government control and loss of freedom.
The worst was that native Americans lost their land and were moved to reservations under government control and loss of their freedom.
Very cool facts. How awesome would it be if that was still in effect.
That is a great piece of art. Look at the man and woman, he is standing there getting ready to work, she is there with her and on her hip with her head cocked to the side; I think he might be in trouble, Haha ;)
I didn't know about the homestead act until recently. It's an important part of American history.