History Commons^™

Providing Lumber For The ‘Sawed’ House: The Repeal Of The Southern Homestead Act And Euro-American Settlement Of The Plains, David Nesheim

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Within five years, two separate homestead acts became law in the United States. Congress passed the first during the Civil War, which applied to public domain lands primarily in the western half of the U.S. The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed settlers to claim 160 acres of public domain and receive title after a period of residence and “improvement.” It also featured other methods to gain title, including cash purchase. Following the war, the Southern Homestead Act became law in 1866. Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi collectively held nearly 47,000,000 acres open to claim as a result, although in …