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The Homestead Acts were several United States federal laws that gave an applicant ownership of land, typically called a "homestead", at little or no cost. It gave settlers 160 acres (65 hectares). An extension of the ''Homestead Principle'' in law, the Homestead Acts were an expression of the "Free Soil" policy of Northerners who wanted individual farmers to own and operate their own farms, as opposed to Southern slave-owners who wanted to buy up large tracts of land and use slave labor, thereby shutting out free white men. The first of the acts, the Homestead Act of 1862, opened up millions of acres. Any adult who had never taken up arms against the U.S. government, could apply. Women, blacks, and immigrants were eligible. Several additional laws were enacted in the latter half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Southern Homestead Act of 1866 sought to address land ownership inequalities in the south during Reconstruction. The Timber Culture Act of 1873 granted land to a claimant who was required to plant trees—the tract could be added to an existing homestead claim and had no residency requirement. The Kinkaid Amendment of 1904 granted a full section (640 acres) to new homesteaders settling in western Nebraska. An amendment to the Homestead Act of 1862, the Enlarged Homestead Act, was passed in 1909 and doubled the allotted acreage to 320. Another amended act, the national Stock-Raising Homestead Act, was passed in 1916 and again increased the land involved, this time to 640 acres. In all, more than 270 million acres of public land, or nearly 10% of the total area of the U.S., was given away free to homesteaders. ==Background== Land-grant laws similar to the Homestead Acts had been proposed by northern Republicans before the Civil War, but had been repeatedly blocked in Congress by southern Democrats who wanted western lands open for purchase by slave-owners. The Homestead Act of 1860 did pass in Congress, but it was vetoed by President James Buchanan, a Democrat. After the Southern states seceded from the Union in 1861 (and their representatives had left Congress), the bill passed and was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln (May 20, 1862).〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Homestead National Monument: Frequently Asked Questions )〕 Daniel Freeman became the first person to file a claim under the new act. Between 1862 and 1934, the federal government granted 1.6 million homesteads and distributed of federal land for private ownership. This was a total of 10% of all land in the United States.〔(''The Homestead Act of 1862'' ); Archives.gov〕 Homesteading was discontinued in 1976, except in Alaska, where it continued until 1986. About 40 percent of the applicants who started the process were able to complete it and obtain title to their homesteaded land.〔US Department of the Interior, National Park Service. ("Homesteading by the Numbers" ), accessed February 5, 2010.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Homestead Acts」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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