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[[File:Freeman homestead-certificate.jpg|thumb|Certificate of homestead in Nebraska given under the Homestead Act, 1862.]]
[[File:Freeman homestead-certificate.jpg|thumb|Certificate of homestead in Nebraska given under the Homestead Act, 1862.]]


A '''homestead act''' was one of three [[United States federal law]]s that gave an applicant ownership at no cost of farmland called a "homestead" – typically 160 acres (65 hectares or one-fourth [[Section (United States land surveying)|section]]) of undeveloped [[federal land]] west of the [[Mississippi River]]. It was an expression of the "[[Free Soil]]" policy of Northerners who wanted individual farmers to own and operate their own farms, as opposed to slaveowners who would use gangs of slaves.
A '''homestead act''' was one of 69 [[United States federal law]]s that gave an applicant ownership at no cost of farmland called a "homestead" – typically 160 acres (65 hectares or one-fourth [[Section (United States land surveying)|section]]) of undeveloped [[federal land]] west of the [[Mississippi River]]. It was an expression of the "[[Free Soil]]" policy of Northerners who wanted individual farmers to own and operate their own farms, as opposed to slaveowners who would use gangs of slaves.


The first act, the '''Homestead Act of 1862''', had been blocked in Congress by Southern Democrats who wanted lands for slaveowners. Once they were gone the [[History of the Republican Party (United States)|Republican Congress]] passed the bill; it was signed into law by President [[Abraham Lincoln]] on May 20, 1862.<ref name="nps homestead">{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/home/faqs.htm|title=Homestead National Monument: Frequently Asked Questions|publisher=National Park Service|accessdate=May 26, 2009}}</ref> The law required three steps: file an application, [[Land improvement|improve]] the land, and file for [[deed]] of title. Anyone who had never taken up arms against the U.S. government, including freed slaves, could file an application to claim a federal land grant. The occupant had to be 21 or older or the head of a family, live on the land for five years and show evidence of having made improvements.
The first act, the '''Homestead Act of 1862''', had been blocked in Congress by Southern Democrats who wanted lands for slaveowners. Once they were gone the [[History of the Republican Party (United States)|Republican C.15ongress]] passed the bill; it was signed into law by President [[Abraham Lincoln]] on May 20, 1862.<ref name="nps homestead">{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/home/faqs.htm|title=Homestead National Monument: Frequently Asked Questions|publisher=National Park Service|accessdate=May 26, 2009}}</ref> The law required three steps: file an application, [[Land improvement|improve]] the land, and file for [[deed]] of title. Anyone who had never taken up arms against the U.S. government, including freed slaves, could file an application to claim a federal land grant. The occupant had to be 21 or older or the head of a family, live on the land for five years and show evidence of having made improvements.


Because much of the prime low-lying [[Alluvial plain|alluvial land]] along rivers had been homesteaded by 1900, an update called the '''Enlarged Homestead Act''' was passed in 1909. It targeted land suitable for [[dryland farming]], increasing the number of acres to 320.<ref name="blm06">[http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wo/MINERALS__REALTY__AND_RESOURCE_PROTECTION_/bmps.Par.41235.File.dat/Split%20Estate%20Presentation%202006.pdf Split EstatePrivate Surface / Public Minerals: What Does it Mean to You?], a 2006 [[Bureau of Land Management]] presentation</ref> In 1916, the '''[[Stock-Raising Homestead Act]]''' targeted settlers seeking {{convert|640|acre}} of [[public land]] for [[ranch]]ing purposes.<ref name="blm06"/>
Because much of the prime low-lying [[Alluvial plain|alluvial land]] along rivers had been homesteaded by 1900, an update called the '''Enlarged Homestead Act''' was passed in 1909. It targeted land suitable for [[dryland farming]], increasing the number of acres to 320.<ref name="blm06">[http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wo/MINERALS__REALTY__AND_RESOURCE_PROTECTION_/bmps.Par.41235.File.dat/Split%20Estate%20Presentation%202006.pdf Split EstatePrivate Surface / Public Minerals: What Does it Mean to You?], a 2006 [[Bureau of Land Management]] presentation</ref> In 1916, the '''[[Stock-Raising Homestead Act]]''' targeted settlers seeking {{convert|640|acre}} of [[public land]] for [[ranch]]ing purposes.<ref name="blm06"/>

Revision as of 22:13, 25 May 2012

Certificate of homestead in Nebraska given under the Homestead Act, 1862.

A homestead act was one of 69 United States federal laws that gave an applicant ownership at no cost of farmland called a "homestead" – typically 160 acres (65 hectares or one-fourth section) of undeveloped federal land west of the Mississippi River. It was an expression of the "Free Soil" policy of Northerners who wanted individual farmers to own and operate their own farms, as opposed to slaveowners who would use gangs of slaves.

The first act, the Homestead Act of 1862, had been blocked in Congress by Southern Democrats who wanted lands for slaveowners. Once they were gone the Republican C.15ongress passed the bill; it was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862.[1] The law required three steps: file an application, improve the land, and file for deed of title. Anyone who had never taken up arms against the U.S. government, including freed slaves, could file an application to claim a federal land grant. The occupant had to be 21 or older or the head of a family, live on the land for five years and show evidence of having made improvements.

Because much of the prime low-lying alluvial land along rivers had been homesteaded by 1900, an update called the Enlarged Homestead Act was passed in 1909. It targeted land suitable for dryland farming, increasing the number of acres to 320.[2] In 1916, the Stock-Raising Homestead Act targeted settlers seeking 640 acres (260 ha) of public land for ranching purposes.[2]

Only about 40 percent of the applicants who started the process were able to complete it and obtain title to their homestead land.[3] Eventually 1.6 million homesteads were granted and 270,000,000 acres (420,000 sq mi) of federal land were privatized between 1862 and 1934, a total of 10% of all lands in the United States.[4] Homesteading was discontinued in 1976, except in Alaska, where it continued until 1986.

History

The intent of the Homestead Act of 1862 was to liberalize the homesteading requirements of the Preemption Act of 1841. Leading advocates were Andrew Johnson,[5] George Henry Evans and Horace Greeley.[6][7] The "yeoman farmer" ideal was powerful in American political history, and plans for expanding their numbers through a homestead act were rooted in the 1850s. The "Free soil" party of 1848–52 and the new Republican Party after 1854 demanded that the new lands opening up in the west be available to independent farmers and not be bought out by rich slave owners who would buy up the best land and work it with slaves, forcing the white farmers onto marginal lands. This was the basis of the Free Soil Party of 1848, and a main theme of the Republican Party.[8] Homestead laws were defeated by Southerners who feared it would attract European immigrants and poor Southern whites to the west.[9][10][11]

After the South seceded and their delegations left Congress in 1861, the path was clear of obstacles, and the act was passed.[12]

The Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909 gave 320 acres (1.3 km2) to farmers who accepted more marginal lands that could not be irrigated. A massive influx of new farmers eventually led to immense land erosion and the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.[13][14]

End of homesteading

Dugout home from a homestead near Pie Town, New Mexico, 1940.

The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 ended homesteading;[15][16] the government believed that the best use of public lands was for them to remain in government control. The only exception to this new policy was in Alaska, for which the law allowed homesteading until 1986.[15]

The last claim under this Act was made by Ken Deardorff for 80 acres (32 ha) of land on the Stony River in southwestern Alaska. He fulfilled all requirements of the homestead act in 1979 but did not receive his deed until May 1988. He is the last person to receive title to land claimed under the provisions of the homestead acts.[17]

Criticism

Dispossession of Native Americans

While distributing much land to farmers at minimal cost, homesteading took place on lands that had recently been cleared of Native Americans. Economically, the program was a large scale redistribution of land from autonomous tribes to taxpaying farmers, a process carried out directly when Indian reservations were broken up into holdings by individual families (especially in Oklahoma, which had originally been designated as the Indian Territory).

Fraud and corporate use

The homestead acts were much abused.[15] Although the intent was to grant land for agriculture, in the arid areas east of the Rocky Mountains, 640 acres (2.6 km2) was generally too little land for a viable farm (at least prior to major public investments in irrigation projects). In these areas, homesteads were instead used to control resources, especially water. A common scheme was for an individual acting as a front for a large cattle operation to file for a homestead surrounding a water source under the pretense that the land was being used as a farm. Once granted, use of that water source would be denied to other cattle ranchers, effectively closing off the adjacent public land to competition.[citation needed] That method could also be used to gain ownership of timber and oil-producing land, as the federal government charged royalties for extraction of these resources from public lands. On the other hand, homesteading schemes were generally pointless for land containing "locatable minerals," such as gold and silver, which could be controlled through mining claims under the Mining Act of 1872, for which the federal government did not charge royalties.

There was no systematic method used to evaluate claims under the homestead acts. Land offices relied on affidavits from witnesses that the claimant had lived on the land for the required period of time and made the required improvements. In practice, some of these witnesses were bribed or otherwise colluded with the claimant.[citation needed]

Although not necessarily fraud, it was common practice for the eligible children of a large family to claim nearby land as soon as possible. After a few generations, a family could build up a sizable estate.[citation needed] [18] However, working a farm of 1,500 acres (6.1 km2) would not have been feasible for a homesteader using 19th-century animal-powered tilling and harvesting. The acreage limits were reasonable when the act was written.

According to Hugh Nibley, much of the rain forest west of Portland, Oregon was acquired by the Oregon Lumber Company by illegal claims under the Act.[19]

The act was later imitated with some modifications by Canada in the form of the Dominion Lands Act. Similar acts – usually termed the selection acts – were passed in the various Australian colonies in the 1860s, beginning in 1861 in New South Wales.

See also

Further reading

  • Dick, Everett, 1970. The Lure of the Land: A Social History of the Public Lands from the Articles of Confederation to the New Deal.
  • Gates, Paul W., 1996. The Jeffersonian Dream: Studies in the History of American Land Policy and Development'.
  • Hyman, Harold M., 1986. American Singularity: The 1787 Northwest Ordinance, the 1862 Homestead and Morrill Acts, and the 1944 G.I. Bill.
  • Lause, Mark A., 2005. Young America: Land, Labor, and the Republican Community.
  • Phillips, Sarah T., 2000, "Antebellum Agricultural Reform, Republican Ideology, and Sectional Tension." Agricultural History 74(4): 799–822. ISSN 0002-1482
  • Puter, Stephen A. Douglas; Stevens, Horace – 1907 "Looters of the Public Domain".
  • Richardson, Heather Cox, 1997. The Greatest Nation of the Earth: Republican Economic Policies during the Civil War.
  • Robbins, Roy M., 1942. Our Landed Heritage: The Public Domain, 1776–1936.
  • Smith, Henry Nash. Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth. New York: Vintage, 1959.
  • Trefousse, Hans L. (1989). Andrew Johnson: A Biography. Norton. ISBN 0-393-31742-0.

References and notes

Specific references:

  1. ^ "Homestead National Monument: Frequently Asked Questions". National Park Service. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  2. ^ a b Split EstatePrivate Surface / Public Minerals: What Does it Mean to You?, a 2006 Bureau of Land Management presentation
  3. ^ United States, Department of the Interior, National Park Service. “Homesteading by the Numbers”, accessed February 5, 2010.
  4. ^ The Homestead Act of 1862. – Archives.gov
  5. ^ Trefousse, p,42.
  6. ^ McElroy. – p.1.
  7. ^ "Horace Greeley". – Tulane University. – August 13, 1999. – Retrieved: 2007-11-22.
  8. ^ Eric Foner, Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War (1970)
  9. ^ Charles C. Bolton, Poor Whites of the Antebellum South: Tenants and Laborers in Central North Carolina and Northeast Mississippi (1993) p 67
  10. ^ Phillips. – p.2000.
  11. ^ McPherson. – p.193.
  12. ^ McPherson. – 450–451.
  13. ^ List of Laws about Lands. – The Public Lands Museum
  14. ^ Hansen, Zeynep K., and Gary D. Libecap. – "U.S. Land Policy, Property Rights, and the Dust Bowl of the 1930s". Social Science Electronic Publishing. – September, 2001.
  15. ^ a b c "The Florida Homestead Act of 1862". Florida Homestead Services. 2006. Retrieved November 22, 2007. (paragraphs.3,6&13) (Includes data on the U.S. Homestead Act)
  16. ^ Cobb, Norma (2000). Arctic Homestead: The True Story of a Family's Survival and Courage... St. Martin's Press. p. 21. ISBN 0-312-28379-2. Retrieved November 22, 2007.
  17. ^ "The Last Homesteader". National Park Service. 2006. Retrieved November 22, 2007.
  18. ^ Hansen, Zeynep K., and Gary D. Libecap. "Small Farms, Externalities, and the Dust Bowl of the 1930s". – Journal of Political Economy. – Volume: 112(3). – pp.665–94. – November 21, 2003
  19. ^ See Nibley, Hugh. Approaching Zion (The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, Vol 9), p. 469. Nibley's grandfather, Charles W. Nibley made his fortune in lumber in Oregon, among other things.

General references:

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