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Stymiest-Steynmets &c. Association Web Server. Homesteading was the act of claiming
public land, 160 acres (65 hectares) on payment of a nominal fee; land
could also be acquired after six months of residence for $1.25 an acre,
for farming, improving it, and gaining outright possession of it after
a certain period of time. It encouraged the migration of people
westward. The Homestead Act of 1862 expired in the 1976 in all
states but Alaska, where it ended in 1986. Homesteading is no
longer possible in the U.S.
Homestead
Act
n.
An act passed by Congress in 1862
promising ownership of a 160-acre tract of public land to a citizen or
head of a family who had resided on and cultivated the land for five
years after the initial claim.
43
U.S.C. 161 et seq. (1862), provided 160 acres of public land free of
charge (except for a small filing fee) to anyone either 21 years of age
or head of a family, a citizen or person who had filed for citizenship,
who had lived on and cultivated the land for at least five years.
By the turn of the century, more than 80 million acres had been claimed
by homesteaders.
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