The Homestead Act was passed in Congress on May 20, 1862. It encouraged people to move west to settle new territories by promising free
land. With little money but great commitment, many families left the
east to start new lives on the frontier.
The United States grew enormously in the decades before 1860.
New territories expanded the country from one side of the continent to
the other, and a constant stream of immigrants flowed into cities. To encourage settlement of the new lands by immigrants, Congress debated
forms of the Homestead Act for years prior to its enactment.
Regional concerns prevented the Homestead Act from passing for
some time. Industries of the north feared a shortage of cheap immigrant
labor. Southern plantation owners resisted the competition of small
farms. Those who owned small farms tended to resist the institution of slavery, and plantation owners refused to support any measure that
might threaten slavery, the cheap labor of which was important to their
economy. Throughout the nation, landowners were concerned about
what would happen to land values in the east after cheap land became
available in the west. As a result, congressional efforts to pass a homesteading measure repeatedly ended in resistance and defeat.
By 1860, so much had changed as a result of population growth that
opinions were beginning to sway. There were more than enough immigrants to provide cheap labor to northern industries. Businesses began to
recognize the advantages that western expansion would bring, such as
new markets for industry and new access to raw materials. With such a
continuous stream of new residents, the fear of dropping land values
eased. Slavery issues, however, continued to dominate national politics,
and Southerners still resisted any homesteading act. The Republican Party platform during the election of 1860 included a push for a homesteading act. Although its candidate, Abraham
Lincoln (1809–1865; served 1861–65), was elected, passage of such legislation was not guaranteed. The secession of Southern states from the
Union from 1860 to 1861 and the resulting absence of their congressmen provided an opportunity to pass such a measure with little resistance.
The Homestead Act went into effect January 1, 1863. It offered 160
acres of land for the cost of a small filing fee. To qualify for the offer, a
person had to be the head of a household or an individual at least
twenty-one years old, a U.S. citizen or someone with plans to become a
citizen, and committed to settling on the land for individual benefit. To
earn the title to the land, meaning full ownership, settlers had to build a
house and farm at least ten acres for five years. Alternatively, after just six
months of residence, settlers could purchase the land from the government for $1.25 per acre.
From 1863 to 1880, nearly five hundred thousand applications were
filed under the Homestead Act for approximately 56 million acres of
land. Though the measure was meant to attract homeless immigrants
throughout the east, many were too poor to be able to move west.
Established American families were more often attracted to move west to
earn the rights to more land.
The land often proved to be mountainous, desert, or otherwise challenging to farm. Many settlers were unable to cope with the new conditions and either sold their claims to land speculators or abandoned them.
Over time, Congress passed additional measures to remedy these challenges and to continue to encourage settlement, but none of them quite
lived up to expectations. By 1935, when President Franklin D.
Roosevelt (1882–1945; served 1933–45) withdrew the remainder of the
public domain from private entry, only about 285 million acres out of the original 600 million acres available had been homesteaded.