Homestead Act Essay example -- essays research papers fc

I THESIS STATEMENT   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Homestead Act of 1862 made surveyed lands obtainable to homesteaders. The act stated that men and women over the age of 21, unmarried women who were head of households and married men under the age of 21, who did not own over 160 acres of land anywhere, were citizens or intended on becoming citizens of the United States, were eligible to homestead. This paper will show how the Homestead Act came to be enacted, who the homesteaders were and the effects of the Homestead Act on the pioneers. II WHAT EVENTS LEAD TO THE HOMESTEAD ACT? The distribution of Government lands had been an issue since the Revolutionary War. Early methods for allocating unsettled land outside the original 13 colonies were chaotic. Boundaries were established by stepping off plots from geographical landmarks. As a result, overlapping claims and border disputes were common. The Land Ordinance of 1785 finally implemented a standardized system of Federal land surveys that eased boundary conflicts. Territories were divided into a 6-mile square called a township prior to settlement. The township was divided into 36 sections, each measuring 1 square mile or 640 acres each. Sale of public land was viewed as a means to generate revenue for the Government rather than as a way to encourage settlement. Initially, an individual was required to purchase a full section of land at the cost of $1 per acre for 640 acres. The investment needed to purchase these large plots and the massive amount of physical labor required to clear the land for agriculture w ere often insurmountable obstacles. According to all available indexes of growth, the United States grew enormously between 1840 and 1860. The continental limits of the nation were reached, with the exception of Alaska, by 1854 through the acquisition of the Mexican Cession territory and the Gadsden Purchase. The population continued its upward spiral, moving from slightly over seventeen million in 1840 to over thirty-eight million in 1860. New canals, steamboats, turnpikes, and railroads knit the nation together into an integrated economic unit. Hundred of thousands of people crossed the Atlantic to take up residence in the dynamic nation, while other hundreds of thousands moved into the Western regions of the country.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Legislative efforts to improve homest... ..., September 8). New Homestead Act would help rural America. Grand Forks Herald. Potter, L. A. (1999). The Homestead Act of 1862. Cobblestone, 20(2), 4. Red River Valley Genealogical Society (n.d.). Time passages, genealogy of the Dakotas. Retrieved from, Web site: http://www.fargodigital.com Schaetzl, R. J. (n.d.). Settlement of the new frontier: The Homestead Act of 1862. Retrieved from Michigan State University, GEO333: Geography of Michigan and the Great Lakes Region Web site: http://www.geo.msu.edu/geo333/ South Dakota Department of Tourism and State Development (n.d.). Prairie Pioneers. Retrieved from South Dakota Department of Tourism Media, Web site: http://www.mediasd.com/ facts/pioneers.asp US Department of Education ERIC (2003, January 14). The Homestead Act of 1862. Retrieved from US National Archives & Records Administration Web site: http://www.archives.gov/ digital_classroom/lessons/homestead_act_1862/homestead_act.html U.S. National Archives & Records Administration (1995, 1998). Homestead Act (1862). Retrieved from Teaching with Documents: Using Primary Sources From the National Archives Web site: http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=31