( summarize this section ) THE AVAILABILITY OF CHEAP LAND
Before the Civil War, the federal government had sold
unsettled land from its vast public domain for about
$1.25 an acre. After the Southern states seceded, the
remaining states passed several bills that the South
had previously blocked. These laws encouraged
expansion in the West. President Lincoln signed the
Homestead Act in 1862. The act stated that any citi-
zen could occupy 160 acres of government land. If
the settler "improved" the land by making a home
A typical homesteader's living quarters.
and growing crops, after five years the homesteader
would own the property. Many European immigrants were attracted by this offer of free land.
Almost 1,400,000 homesteads were eventually granted under the Act.
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