The Homestead Act

1. The Homestead Act By: Alex Jones And Bailee Farland

2. What is It ? • It was an Act that stated that settlers could get free land. • Well, the poor people could get it for free • Immigrants in the process of receiving their citizenship or already had their citizenship, could receive the free land • The rich people however would have to pay for the land, if they could afford it ( they usually could.)

3. Requirements: • You have to be the head of your household so you can be given free land. • If your not the head of a household, you have to be over the age of 21 to be able to get free land. • When you do get the land you have to build a house with certain dimensions, and a large part of the land must be crops, and you can’t leave your land for a long periods of time.

4. What happened and What was the deal? • On May 20th , 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law. • You could get 160 acres of un-surveyed land for free. • Abraham Lincoln used this law as a major effect in westward expansion. • After the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark were sent by the U.S. gov. to survey this wild land , unable to survey this massive expanse , the Homestead Act solved this problem.

5. Fun Facts! • This idea was used 123 years after it was made into law, and eventually would be responsible for the settlement of over 270 million acres of the American landscape. • On May 20, 2012 will be the 150th year anniversary of Lincoln signing the act into law.

6. This has been a Oscar nominated Production. Oscar!