FEDERAL LEGISLATION ENCOURAGES WESTERN SETTLEMENT
Adventurous Americans had settled west of the Mississippi and out to the Pacific in the decades prior to the Civil War. However, several acts passed by the federal government in 1862 set the stage for the massive movement westward that would take place after the Civil War.
The one act that gave land directly to settlers was the Homestead Act. This legislation allocated 160 acres to any settler who
(1) was an American citizen, or who, in the case of immigrants, had at least filed for American citizenship;
(2) was 21 years old and the head of a family;
(3) was committed to building a house on the property and living there at least six months of the year; and
(4) could pay a $10 registration fee for the land. After actively farming the land for five years, the farmer was given actual ownership of his 160-acre plot. By 1900 nearly 610,000 parcels of land had been given out under the provisions of the Homestead Act, allowing nearly 85 million acres of land to go over to private ownership.
A bill that indirectly gave land to settlers was the 1862 Morrill Land- Grant Act. To encourage the building of “land-grant” colleges in Western territories that had already been granted statehood, hundreds of thousands of acres of land were given to state governments. This land could be sold by the states to pay for these colleges. At 50 cents an acre (and sometimes less), settlers and land speculators received land from individual states.
The expansion of the railroad was closely tied to western expansion. In acts enacted in 1862 and 1864, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads received grants of land to extend their rail lines westward. Part of the legislation also gave the railroads 10 square miles on both sides of the track for every mite of track constructed. This land was sometimes sold to settlers as well, sometimes at exorbitant prices.
Adventurous Americans had settled west of the Mississippi and out to the Pacific in the decades prior to the Civil War. However, several acts passed by the federal government in 1862 set the stage for the massive movement westward that would take place after the Civil War.
The one act that gave land directly to settlers was the Homestead Act. This legislation allocated 160 acres to any settler who
(1) was an American citizen, or who, in the case of immigrants, had at least filed for American citizenship;
(2) was 21 years old and the head of a family;
(3) was committed to building a house on the property and living there at least six months of the year; and
(4) could pay a $10 registration fee for the land. After actively farming the land for five years, the farmer was given actual ownership of his 160-acre plot. By 1900 nearly 610,000 parcels of land had been given out under the provisions of the Homestead Act, allowing nearly 85 million acres of land to go over to private ownership.
A bill that indirectly gave land to settlers was the 1862 Morrill Land- Grant Act. To encourage the building of “land-grant” colleges in Western territories that had already been granted statehood, hundreds of thousands of acres of land were given to state governments. This land could be sold by the states to pay for these colleges. At 50 cents an acre (and sometimes less), settlers and land speculators received land from individual states.
The expansion of the railroad was closely tied to western expansion. In acts enacted in 1862 and 1864, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads received grants of land to extend their rail lines westward. Part of the legislation also gave the railroads 10 square miles on both sides of the track for every mite of track constructed. This land was sometimes sold to settlers as well, sometimes at exorbitant prices.
