Homestead Act

Cards (9)

  • Homestead Act of 1862
    160 acres of land to one plot
    One claim per homesteader
    Had to be head of a family and over 21
    To own the land you had to build a house on the land and live their for 5 years whilst upgrading it by growing crops
    Meant to move people into the plains
    Costed 10 dollars to file a claim
  • Limitation
    By 1884, only 13 million acres had become the legal property of homesteaders.
    By 1900, this figure had grown to 24 million acres
    60% of claims failed because farming the land for five years was not easy
  • Achievement
    The Homestead Act encouraged immigration from Europe
    By 1875, more than half of Nebraska's population were recent immigrants and their children
  • Limitation
    The government gave far more land to the railroads
    300 million acres compared to 80 million acres eventually given to homesteaders
  • Achievement
    Parts of the Great Plains were settled for the first time
    80 million acres of public land were settled as a direct consequence of the Homestead Act
    In Nebraska, half the land was settled by Homesteaders
  • Limitation
    More homesteads were formed by people buying land from the railroad companies than through the Homestead Act
  • Limitation
    Rich landowners found ways to exploit the Homestead Act to get very cheap land
    Big ranch owners would make employees file claims and then get them to hand over the rights to the land to the ranch owner
  • Limitation
    Many people filed claims to sell the land for profit
    Possible to buy the land cheaply after 6 months rather than waiting 5 years to get it for free
    Land could then be sold for a higher price
    This meant that the family farming the land had paid someone for it rather than getting it through the Homestead Act
  • Achievement
    By 1876, over 6 million acres of government land had become homesteads