U.S. President <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln" id="mwtg" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Abraham Lincoln">Abraham Lincoln</a> signs the <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_Act_of_1862" id="mwtw" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Homestead Act of 1862">Homestead Act</a> into law, opening <span about="#mwt50" data-mw='{"parts":[{"template":{"target":{"wt":"convert","href":"./Template:Convert"},"params":{"1":{"wt":"84"},"2":{"wt":"e6acre"},"spell":{"wt":"in"}},"i":0}}]}' id="mwuA" typeof="mw:Transclusion">eighty-four</span><span about="#mwt50" typeof="mw:Entity"> </span><span about="#mwt50">million acres (340,000</span><span about="#mwt50" typeof="mw:Entity"> </span><span about="#mwt50">km</span><sup about="#mwt50">2</sup><span about="#mwt50">)</span> of public land to settlers.<sup about="#mwt54" class="mw-ref reference" data-mw='{"name":"ref","attrs":{},"body":{"id":"mw-reference-text-cite_note-9"}}' id="cite_ref-9" rel="dc:references" typeof="mw:Extension/ref"><a href="./May_20#cite_note-9" id="mwuQ" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 8;"><span class="mw-reflink-text" id="mwug">[8]</span></a></sup>
<span class="mw-reference-text" id="mw-reference-text-cite_note-9"><cite about="#mwt51" class="citation book cs1" id="CITEREFRodriguez2002">Rodriguez, Alicia C. (2002). "Homestead Act". In Rodriguez, Junius P. (ed.). <a class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Qs7GAwwdzyQC" id="mwByY" rel="mw:ExtLink nofollow"><i id="mwByc">The Louisiana Purchase: A Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia</i></a>. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. p.<span id="mwByg" typeof="mw:Entity"> </span>142. <a class="mw-redirect" href="./ISBN_(identifier)" id="mwByk" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a><span id="mwByo" typeof="mw:Entity"> </span><a href="./Special:BookSources/9781576071885" id="mwBys" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Special:BookSources/9781576071885"><bdi id="mwByw">9781576071885</bdi></a>.</cite><span about="#mwt51" class="Z3988" id="mwBy0" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&amp;rft.genre=bookitem&amp;rft.atitle=Homestead+Act&amp;rft.btitle=The+Louisiana+Purchase%3A+A+Historical+and+Geographical+Encyclopedia&amp;rft.place=Santa+Barbara%2C+Calif.&amp;rft.pages=142&amp;rft.pub=ABC-CLIO&amp;rft.date=2002&amp;rft.isbn=9781576071885&amp;rft.aulast=Rodriguez&amp;rft.aufirst=Alicia+C.&amp;rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DQs7GAwwdzyQC&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMay+20"></span></span>