Okla-homey
5/20/2007, 07:56 AM
May 20, 1862: The Homestead Act
http://aycu15.webshots.com/image/15134/2003218730806169647_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003218730806169647)
Precisely 145 years ago today, in a major milestone in the settlement of the American West, President Abraham Lincoln signs into law the Homestead Act of 1862. The program was designed to grant public land to small farmers at practically no cost.
The act gave 160 acres of land to any applicant who was the head of a household and 21 years or older, provided that the person settled on the land for five years and then paid a small filing fee. If settlers wished to obtain title earlier, they could do so after six months by paying $1.25 an acre.
http://aycu26.webshots.com/image/17785/2003293710456462485_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003293710456462485)
A family headed to Nebraska for their 160 acres and a fresh start in life. These folks' descendents would someday wear "N's" on their helmets and play football in Lincoln.
The Homestead Act was first proposed in the 1850s, but Southern congressmen feared that the settlement of the West by small farmers would create an agricultural alternative to the Southern slave system.
In 1858, a homestead bill was defeated by only one vote in the Senate, and in 1859 a bill was passed in both houses but vetoed by President James Buchanan. Passage of the bill was high on President Lincoln's agenda, and the voluntary absence of Southern congressmen during their failed secession attempt removed most of the bill's congressional opposition.
The President signed the Homestead Act into law on this day in 1862. By the end of the Civil War, some 15,000 land claims had been made. After the war ended, hundreds of thousands of returning soldiers took advantage of the Act to begin their lives anew on the plains.
http://aycu11.webshots.com/image/15650/2003234397552746215_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003234397552746215)
A homesteading family on the plains in front of their soddy.
Most homesteaders were experienced farmers from the crowded east or Europe. By 1900, 600,000 claims had been made for some 80 million acres of public land. The Act definitely captured the interest of Europeans and this was assisted by shipping companies which advertised the Acts passage in order to encourage folks to buy a ticket to Americky.
http://aycu18.webshots.com/image/17457/2003281222199540760_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003281222199540760)
They came in droves from all over Europe, but especially from Scandanavia, Ireland, Britain, the Slavic countries and the German states.
http://aycu40.webshots.com/image/18039/2003257520523205166_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003257520523205166)
This is the affadavit of a recent immigrant who swore his eligibility and intent to farm his claim as required by the Act.
http://aycu39.webshots.com/image/18198/2003204211075647870_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003204211075647870)
The Homestead National Monument official emblem commemorates the Homestead Act of 1862 and its influence upon the settlement and expansion of the West. The corn and wheat represent the importance of the Homestead Act to the agricultural history of the United States. The wagon demonstrates the movement of settlers to the west under the provisions of the Homestead Act. The inverted "T" symbolizes the shape of the claim of Daniel Freeman in Gage County, Nebraska, one of the nation's very first homesteads and the location of the US Homestead National Monument
http://aycu15.webshots.com/image/15134/2003218730806169647_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003218730806169647)
Precisely 145 years ago today, in a major milestone in the settlement of the American West, President Abraham Lincoln signs into law the Homestead Act of 1862. The program was designed to grant public land to small farmers at practically no cost.
The act gave 160 acres of land to any applicant who was the head of a household and 21 years or older, provided that the person settled on the land for five years and then paid a small filing fee. If settlers wished to obtain title earlier, they could do so after six months by paying $1.25 an acre.
http://aycu26.webshots.com/image/17785/2003293710456462485_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003293710456462485)
A family headed to Nebraska for their 160 acres and a fresh start in life. These folks' descendents would someday wear "N's" on their helmets and play football in Lincoln.
The Homestead Act was first proposed in the 1850s, but Southern congressmen feared that the settlement of the West by small farmers would create an agricultural alternative to the Southern slave system.
In 1858, a homestead bill was defeated by only one vote in the Senate, and in 1859 a bill was passed in both houses but vetoed by President James Buchanan. Passage of the bill was high on President Lincoln's agenda, and the voluntary absence of Southern congressmen during their failed secession attempt removed most of the bill's congressional opposition.
The President signed the Homestead Act into law on this day in 1862. By the end of the Civil War, some 15,000 land claims had been made. After the war ended, hundreds of thousands of returning soldiers took advantage of the Act to begin their lives anew on the plains.
http://aycu11.webshots.com/image/15650/2003234397552746215_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003234397552746215)
A homesteading family on the plains in front of their soddy.
Most homesteaders were experienced farmers from the crowded east or Europe. By 1900, 600,000 claims had been made for some 80 million acres of public land. The Act definitely captured the interest of Europeans and this was assisted by shipping companies which advertised the Acts passage in order to encourage folks to buy a ticket to Americky.
http://aycu18.webshots.com/image/17457/2003281222199540760_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003281222199540760)
They came in droves from all over Europe, but especially from Scandanavia, Ireland, Britain, the Slavic countries and the German states.
http://aycu40.webshots.com/image/18039/2003257520523205166_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003257520523205166)
This is the affadavit of a recent immigrant who swore his eligibility and intent to farm his claim as required by the Act.
http://aycu39.webshots.com/image/18198/2003204211075647870_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003204211075647870)
The Homestead National Monument official emblem commemorates the Homestead Act of 1862 and its influence upon the settlement and expansion of the West. The corn and wheat represent the importance of the Homestead Act to the agricultural history of the United States. The wagon demonstrates the movement of settlers to the west under the provisions of the Homestead Act. The inverted "T" symbolizes the shape of the claim of Daniel Freeman in Gage County, Nebraska, one of the nation's very first homesteads and the location of the US Homestead National Monument