Question

This is the Homestead Act signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20th 1862 during the Civil War. The Homestead Act encouraged western migration by providing settlers 160 acres of public land. Homesteads paid a small fee to file and was required to complete 5 years of residency before receiving ownership of the land. After six months of residency homesteaders had the option to purchase the land from the government for $1.25 per acre. The Homestead Act led to the distribution of 80 million acres of public land by 1900. The reason I chose this is because it's an example of happiness and the good life because at this time, people cherished the land as it allowed them the space for farming and cattle. This allowed freedom to westerners and allowed more and new resources. This allowed the economy to grow and people to begin building towns which created jobs. Can someone please comment on this post thanks

Answer 1

President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law in 1862. This is one of the historical act that changed the scenario in US. It offered people a way of acquiring land without capital. Under the Homestead Act, any U.S. citizen or intended U.S. citizen could settle land as long as he had never taken up arms against the U.S. government. However it faced many challenges and issues:

Fear of losing labor:

One of the problems with the Homestead Act was the fear of migration west. Many politicians feared that law would create a revolution opposing slavery by farmers and they also feared that one of important resources i.e labor would not longer be available.

Land not the only resource for farming:

The Homestead Act gave a parcel of free land to anyone willing to settle it and use it for agricultural purposes. However, the farm land given was not adequate and there were no other resources like capital and equipment for farming. Mere land would not be sufficient for farming. Only around 50% of the land was utilized for farming out of the total land given under the said act.

Speculation

Because anyone could claim land under the Homestead Act, land speculators were a problem. Land were taken for business purpose with a intention to sell it in the future for profit. The purpose was exploited by set of people and defeated the objective of the act.

Harsh Living Conditions

Farming was much more difficult due to climatic conditions, lack of resources like timber, fuels and it was not easy to do even simple activities like cooking.