In a milestone in the settlement of the American West, President
Abraham Lincoln signs into law the Homestead Act, a program
designed to grant public land to small farmers at low cost. The
act gave 160 acres of land to any applicant who was the head of
a household and 21 years or older, provided that the person
settled on the land for five years and then paid a small filing
fee. If settlers wished to obtain title earlier, they could do
so after six months by paying $1.25 an acre. The Homestead Act
was first proposed in the 1850s, but Southern congressmen feared
that the settlement of the West by small farmers would create an
agricultural alternative to the Southern slave system. In 1858,
a homestead bill was defeated by only one vote in the Senate,
and in 1859 a bill was passed in both houses but vetoed by
President James Buchanan. Passage of the bill was high on
President Lincoln's agenda, and the loss of Southern congressmen
in the secession removed most of the bill's congressional
opposition. The president