What 1862 law signed by Lincoln granted free land to settlers?

The Homestead Act of 1862 was the law Lincoln signed to offer public land to settlers. He signed it on May 20, 1862, and it took effect on January 1, 1863.

Under the act, eligible applicants could claim up to 160 acres of surveyed federal land. To receive permanent title, a homesteader generally had to live on the land, improve it, and cultivate it for five years, while paying modest filing and administrative fees. The policy aimed to encourage independent farmers and settlement of the West.

The law had been proposed for years but faced opposition from Southern lawmakers, who feared that free-soil settlers would create new free states. After many Southern states seceded and their representatives left Congress, the measure passed. The act expanded settlement but also accelerated the dispossession of Indigenous peoples and reshaped western landscapes.