Signed into law by the Northern Republican Congress during
the Civil War, the Homestead Act allowed individuals to
acquire 160 acres of public land for a nominal filing fee after
five years of residency or for $1.25 per acre after just six
months of residency. Between 1862 and 1986, more than 25
percent of all public lands were disposed of under this act. The
total number of acres amounted to 287,500,000. Homesteaders, enticed by the opportunity to receive free land, helped
settle the West.
An act to Secure Homesteads to actual Settlers on the
Public Domain.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any
person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the
age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States,
or who shall have filed his declaration of intention to become
such, as required by the naturalization laws of the United
States, and who has never borne arms against the United
States Government or given aid and comfort to its enemies,
shall, from and after the first of January, eighteen hundred and
sixty-three, be entitled to enter one quarter section or a less
quantity of unappropriated public lands, upon which said
person may have filed a preemption claim, or which may, at
the time the application is made, be subject to preemption at
one dollar and twenty-five cents, or less, per acre; or eighty
acres or less of such unappropriated lands, at two dollars and
fifty cents per acre, to be located in a body, in conformity to
the legal subdivisions of the public lands, and after the same
shall have been surveyed: Provided, That any person owning
and residing on land may, under the provisions of this act,
enter other land lying contiguous to his or her said land,
which shall not, with the land so already owned and occupied,
exceed in the aggregate, one hundred and sixty acres.
Section 2. And be it further enacted, That the person
applying for the benefit of this act shall, upon application to
the register of the land office in which he or she is about to
make such entry, make affidavit before the said register or
receiver that he or she is the head of a family, or is twenty-one
years or more of age, or shall have performed service in the
army or navy of the United States, and that he has never
borne arms against the Government of the United States or
given aid and comfort to its enemies, and that such application is made for his or her exclusive use and benefit, and that
said entry is made for the purpose of actual settlement and
cultivation, and not either directly or indirectly for the use or
benefit of any other person or persons whomsoever; and
upon filing the said affidavit with the register or receiver, and
on payment of ten dollars, he or she shall thereupon be permitted to enter the quantity of land specified: Provided, however, That no certificate shall be given or patent issued
therefor until the expiration of five years from the date of
such entry; and if, at the expiration of such time, or at any
time within two years thereafter, the person making such
entry; or, if he be dead, his widow; or in case of her death, his
heirs or devisee; or in the case of a widow making such entry,
her heirs or devisee, in the case of her death; shall prove by
two credible witnesses that he, she, or they have resided upon
or cultivated the same for the term of five years immediately
succeeding the time of filing the affidavit aforesaid, and shall
make affidavit that no part of said land has been alienated,
and he has borne true allegiance to the Government of the
United States; then, in such case, he, she, or they, if at that
time a citizen of the United States, shall be entitled to a
patent, as in other cases provided for by law: And, provided,
further, That in case of the death of both father and mother,
leaving an infant child, or children, under twenty-one years
of age, the right and fee shall enure to the benefit of said
infant child or children; and the executor, administrator, or
guardian may, at any time within two years after the death of
the surviving parent, and in accordance with the laws of the
State in which such children for the time being have their
domicil, sell said land for the benefit of said infants, but for
no other purpose; and the purchaser shall acquire the
absolute title by the purchase, and be entitled to a patent from
the United States, on payment of the office fees and sum of
money herein specified.
Homestead Act
(1862)
Section 3. And be it further enacted, That the register of
the land office shall note all such applications on the tract
books and plats of his office, and keep a register of all such
entries, and make return thereof to the General Land Office,
together with the proof upon which they have been founded.
Section 4. And be it further enacted, That no lands
acquired under the provisions of this act shall in any event
become liable to the satisfaction of any debt or debts contracted prior to the issuing of the patent therefor.
Section 5. And be it further enacted, That if, at any time
after the filing of the affidavit, as required in the second section of this act, and before the expiration of the five years
aforesaid, it shall be proven, after due notice to the settler, to
the satisfaction of the register of the land office, that the person having filed such affidavit shall have actually changed his
or her residence, or abandoned the said land for more than
six months at any time, then and in that event the land so
entered shall revert to the government.
Section 6. And be it further enacted, That no individual
shall be permitted to acquire title to more than one quarter
section under the provisions of this act; and that the
Commissioner of the General Land Office is hereby required
to prepare and issue such rules and regulations, consistent
with this act, as shall be necessary and proper to carry its provisions into effect; and that the registers and receivers of the
several land offices shall be entitled to receive the same compensation for any lands entered under the provisions of this
act that they are now entitled to receive when the same quantity of land is entered with money, one half to be paid by the
person making the application at the time of so doing, and
the other half on the issue of the certificate by the person to
whom it may be issued; but this shall not be construed to
enlarge the maximum of compensation now prescribed by
law for any register or receiver: Provided, That nothing contained in this act shall be so construed as to impair or interfere in any manner whatever with existing preemption rights:
And provided, further, That all persons who may have filed
their applications for a preemption right prior to the passage
of this act, shall be entitled to all privileges of this act:
Provided, further, That no person who has served or may
hereafter serve, for period of not less than fourteen days in
the army or navy of the United States, either regular or volunteer, under the laws thereof, during the existence of an
actual war, domestic or foreign, shall be deprived of the benefits of this act of account of not having attained the age of
twenty-one years.
Section 7. And be it further enacted, That the fifth section
of the act entitled “An act in addition to an act more effectually to provide for the punishment of certain crimes against
the United States, and for other purposes,” approved the third
of March, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, shall
extend to all oaths, affirmations, and affidavits, required or
authorized by this act.
Section 8. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this
act shall be so construed as to prevent any person who has
availed him or herself of the benefits of the first section of this
act, from paying the minimum price, or the price to which
the same may have graduated, for the quantity of land so
entered at any time before the expiration of the five years, and
obtaining a patent therefor from the government, as in other
cases provided by law, on making proof of settlement and
cultivation as provided by existing laws granting preemption
rights.
Approved, May 20, 1862.