The Homestead Act: A New Way Of Life

It was originally opposed by Northern manufacturers, who feared the loss of inexpensive labor; and Southern slaveholders, who feared the development of free soil. It was intended to branch Western immigration, but numerous frontiersmen would fail and arrive home. The Homestead Act provided settlers with 160 acres of surveyed public land. By living on the property for five years and improving it, a small fee would grant the settler the land. This served as a way to encourage the development of the family farm and fill in the normally unoccupied region in the Great Plains in which railroads facilitated this growth. Because of the severe environmental circumstances of the Great Plain region, the Homestead Act turned out to be less effective than anticipated.

It was in 1607, the first successful settlement known as Jamestown was created by 104 settlers along the James River in search for prosperity. They hoped to find gold, silver, and other valued resources in order to trade to Asia in hopes of wealth. In an effort to avoid British taxes, the Jamestown settlers planned to find a new route to the East, yet to no avail. But it was not just a walk in the park. These pioneers struggled and suffered during the first few winters, and it wasn't until their leader, John Smith, met with the local Powhatan Indians and learned their ways of farming and tobacco growth; staple crops that would one day fuel the Colonial American economy. Though most of the southern settlements were filled with greedy farmers and miners, many from the New England colonies came for religious

During this time period the need for natural resources were in high demand. As the transcontinental railroad spread west to California, towns became popping up around the railroad, called boom towns. The people living in these towns discovered the natural resources, such as mining for gold, silver, iron ore, copper, and timber. People would come and mine for the resources and once the resource was gone, the miners would leave, and these boom towns would then become “ghost” towns. Also in the west, there was a large supply of land. In 1862, farmers and ranchers moved out to the west. The land in the west was very cheap, and farmers were able to buy large amount of land, for a low price. The Homestead Act of 1862, said that farmers would receive

1862 was an important year in the world of the Kansas railroads. First, the Homestead Act was passed giving “160 acres of federal land to any citizen or person intending to be one.” The condition was that they had to remain on the land for a minimum of five years. Anyone that stayed on this land for that period of time would become a citizen automatically. The land came from the railroads in an effort to dispose of substantial land holdings to settlers. (Evans 7) This law was particularly important to people in all parts of the Midwest. One reason is that it allowed unemployed northern workers a chance to start over somewhere new, with a new job, and hopefully make a good living for themselves and their families. The second reason wasthat many hoped that it would ultimately raise the wages of those people who did have jobs in the northern factories. (White 142)

It was passed in 1862. It offered up to 160 land acres of free land to any citizen who had a family. Over 50,000 families acted upon this and got land from the government.

The Homestead Act was a massive federal program that provided large parcels of free land in the west to settlers. Under the act, which was designed to encourage Americans to populate the territory acquired sixty years earlier in the Louisiana Purchase, about 8 percent of the entire United States land mass was transferred from federal to private ownership (Kidder, Oppenheim 152). Two men primarily responsible for the act were George Henry Evans and Horace Greely. Evans lobbied the idea of the Homestead Act and came up with the slogan “vote yourself a farm,” thus he was given the title Father of the Homestead Act. Greely wanted to make it easier and less

In 1862, the Homestead Act was passed and it allowed a hundred and sixty acres of free land to any citizen who stayed and settled on the land for five years. The act allowed not only men but also “unmarried women and female heads of households” to claim the land. Women took advantage of the opportunity and the amount of women establishing homesteads in the West grew to over twenty percent after 1900. Fifty-three percent of women settling were between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-five. The women who moved out West faced hardships, like the intense cold of winter, but also had pleasant times on their new land and found their experiences to be rewarding and beneficial whether they decided to stay on the land or not.

I found a great lesson to work off of for my lesson plan on history of the Homestead Act. The original lesson was well organized but very short. I chose to focus on Domain 2 Conceptual Understandings because this lesson plan only had one assessment and I felt that the assessment was weak in whether a teacher could gage students understanding of the material. This lesson did a below average job of explaining what the Homestead Act is through its powerpoint slideshow and worksheet activities. I also didn 't like how the lesson plan was designed to show a video clip of the Western Expansion at the very end of the lecture. I feel that by showing this video is pointless and students might lose interest by the end of the lesson.

However, there were many positive economic aspects for American citizens who were moving westward. The Homestead Act of 1862 was an incentive for people to move

I was only ten years old when my father signed us up for the Homestead Act program congress commenced in 1862. With cities throughout the nation’s original thirteen colonies becoming overcrowded and unsanitary, my family and several others knew it was time to pack our bags and start our life over by moving westward. However, this was easier said than done as the transcontinental railroad was not completed and operational until 1869. My family and several neighbors performed the month long journey the old fashioned way, horse and wagon. Yes, this was treacherous and risky expedition, but we all prevailed and my father ended up starting a very successful cattle farm with many close friends who joined us on this journey. These pioneers were in the same exact state as you all are now, common people who had no money, no home, and no job who were simply looking to restart and improve their lifestyle. If they could venture into uncharted territory and prevail, then battling this Great Depression is nothing! As long as we put a smile on our faces, have a positive attitude, and stay united as one people and one nation, then we will have the will power to get back up on our feet and climb our way out of this

economy after the war and change how the U.S. economy functioned. He knew exactly what he was going to do to right the wrongs of the war, and compensate for the massive losses taken by both sides. In 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act, known as one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Any 21-year-old could sign, and for about 420 dollars, which was around 18 dollars in 1862, you could purchase 160 acres of land in the present-day Midwest, as long as you could build a home, and farm for 5 years, the land was yours to keep. About 4 years later, former slaves were permitted to participate in the Homestead Act by the 13th Amendment, and later, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, two actions that extended free labor to African-Americans. People immediately started migrating out west, to farm the massive amounts of fresh land. People from Atlanta to New York moved out West in wagons to claim their stake in one of the most defining moments of the 19th century. Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address, “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us...That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.” This task was achieved with the Homestead Acts and the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which was a big step in the right direction for the United States, and it allowed almost anybody who was born in the United States to have free labor and gain their own

In a bid to encourage people onto the Plains advertisements told success stories of those who had claimed land under the terms of the Homestead Act and had become successful. It divided 2.5 million acres of Plains land into sections or homesteads of 160 acres. People could now claim 160 acres of land. The only requirement on their part was that they paid a small charge and built a house or added something to the land such as a house or a well and lived on the land for at least 5 years.

Near UCSF’s San Francisco General campus, a tired doctor could be forgiven for overlooking The Homestead as a happy hour choice. With peanut shells on the floor, tastefully ironic boudoir paintings on the walls, and cocktails with names like Corpse Reviver #2, the bar could be yet another Mission hipster hole-in-the-wall. But The Homestead is more than just a place for bearded twenty-somethings (and their omnipresent dogs) to get a pickle and a $2 Tecate. In fact, the bar is the birthplace of UCSF’s Institute for Global Orthopedics and Traumatology, a small, innovative program with big worldwide intentions. Sure, IGOT has a proper home in an elegant brick building near General’s main entrance, but the heart and soul of the program is the Thursday

With the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century came a lot of change for the U. S. with the coming about of railroads and electricity, the U.S. was undergoing a profound economic revolution and as the economy grew, U.S. territory would also experience great expansion into the west, Latin America and Asia. The first form of U.S. expansion would occur in the American west. In 1862 the U.S. government would encourage its people to move out west in an attempt to improve and cultivate the land. The Homestead Act of 1862 would provide any adult citizen, or intended citizen, who had not borne arms against the U.S. government, claim over 160 acres of surveyed government land. Claimants would need to have a valid plan for

At the closing of the 15th Congress, the National Land Use Act (NLUA) bill or SB 3091 reached second reading in the Senate before being stalled by a contention on the Maintenance and Operating Expenses and a request to study the bill anew. The current form of the bill is sponsored by Senators Escudero, Marcos Jr., Drilon, Honasan II, Cayetano, Estrada, and Legarda (Senate of the Philippines 2013, 94). It was not included in the agenda of the Senate during the last session day in spite of the President's certification of the urgency of the passing the Land Use Bill (Calica, 2013). The bill advocates for a comprehensive land planning authority and this has been lobbied since 1995 by farmer advocacy groups primarily to counter the aggressive expansion of industries into farmlands. But after two decades and twelve versions of the bill, a National Land Use Act has not been approved as a law (Senate Economic Planning Office, 2013). I believe that this is not just an issue of farmers versus the housing industry, as some have depicted the debate (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 2013). Though they have been the most vocal, farmers are not the only ones affected. It concerns all of us, consumers of space, and specifically, ordinary home-owners. I am writing to defend the national land use bill from the point of view of the housing sector. They have been the most vocal against it or its present form, but I think that by exposing the