HOMESTEAD LAW. The Homestead Law is a series of enactments beginning with the Act of 20 May 1862, which provides for the disposition of the public lands to home makers without requiring any compensation ex cept the mere acts of residence, cultivation and improvement. A person who is the head of a family or who has reached the age of 21 and who is a citizen of the United States or has declared his intention to become a citizen and who is not the owner of more than 160 acres of land in the United States, may apply for not exceeding 160 acres, and upon residing thereon, cultivating and improving the same for three years in compliance with the law may obtain patent therefor.
There are various modifications of the orig inal law and various extensions by which one may obtain under recent acts 320 acres under what is known as the Enlarged Homestead Law, or as much as 640 acres in Western Ne braska under what is known as the uKinkaid Act.' The details of these acts will be dis cussed under this title.
In the beginning of the history of the dis position of the public lands the desire of the people seemed to be to secure a large return as rapidly as possible and many sales of large areas were made in the earlier period. This idea was later followed by the policy of en-. couraging settlement on the public lands and the building of homes. See the article Punic LANDS.
The home-making idea and the disposition of the public lands gained greater and greater strength until in 1852 it became a national polit ical issue. In that year the Free Soil democracy incorporated in its platform for the Presi dential campaign this declaration: That the public lands of the United States belong to the people, and should not be sold to individuals nor granted to corporations, but should be held as a sacred trust for the benefit of the people, and should be granted in limited quantities, free of cost, to landless settlers.° This question held the public attention, was discussed and debated and remained a political issue before the people for 10 years. A home stead bill was passed by the House of Repre sentatives in 1859, but after being voted on by the Senate several times failed to pass. In June 1860, after much discussion in both Houses, a homestead bill was agreed upon and presented to President Buchanan, who on 23• June 1860 vetoed the bill.
The provisions of the bill may be sum marized as follows: Any citizen of the United States who is the head of a family, and any person of foreign birth residing in the country who has declared his intention to become a citizen, may enter and settle upon not exceed ing 160 acres of public land, and, after residing upon it for five years, shall receive patent for the land. The bill also contained a cession to
the States of all public lands within their limits which remain unsold after having been subject to sale for 30 years.
The veto message states that the proposed cessions to the States would involve a present donation to them of 12,229,731 acres and would from time to time transfer to them other large bodies of land. President Buchanan stated a number of objections to the bill. His principal point was that the bill was unconstitutional because it made a donation of the public lands to the States and to individuals, holding that the power given by the Constitution to dispose the pub ic lands did not include the power to give Ahem away. The President objected because of the injustice to the early settlers who had braved the hardships and dangers of frontier life and had paid' $125 per acre for their lands; also because it would depreciate the value of the land warrants of old soldiers, which were given for their services in fighting the battles of their country. An effort was made in the Senate to pass the bill over the veto, but the necessary two-thirds vote in its favor' could not be obtained.
In the political campaign of that year the Free-Homestead Law was an important feature of the discussions of Lincoln and the other candidates. Soon after the opening of the extra session called by President Lincoln to core vene 4 July 1861, on account of the troubled conditions in the South, a new homestead bill was introduced in the House of Representatives, on 8 July, and it was promptly taken up at the opening of the regular session in December. There was vigorous opposition, and the bill did not pass the House of Representatives till 28 Feb. 1861 The bill was Amended in the Senate and passed by that • body on 5 May., The two Houses soon after agreed upon a form of bill, and it was• finally both Houses on 19 May and approved by President Lincoln on 20 May 1861 The Act as passed differs. in only one important particular from the bill which was vetoed, namely, in the omission of theproposed cession of lands to the States.