Editing Homestead Acts (section)

== Background ==
Land-grant laws similar to the Homestead Acts had been proposed by northern [[History of the United States Republican Party|Republicans]] prior to Civil War but they had been repeatedly blocked in Congress by [[History of the United States Democratic Party|Democrats]] who wanted western lands open for purchase by slave owners. The [[Homestead Act of 1860]] passed in Congress but 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).<ref name="nps homestead">{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/home/faqs.htm |title=Homestead National Monument: Frequently Asked Questions |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=May 26, 2009}}</ref> [[Daniel Freeman (homesteader)|Daniel Freeman]] became the first person to file a claim under the new act.

Between 1862 and 1934, the federal government [[Privatization of public land (United States)|granted]] 1.6 million homesteads and distributed {{convert|270000000|acre|mi2}} of federal land for private ownership. This was a total of 10% of all land in the United States.<ref>[https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/homestead-act/ ''The Homestead Act of 1862'']; Archives.gov</ref> Homesteading was discontinued in 1976, except in Alaska, where it continued until 1986. About 40% of the applicants who started the process were able to complete it and obtain title to their homesteaded land after paying a small fee in cash.<ref>US Department of the Interior, National Park Service. [http://www.nps.gov/home/historyculture/bynumbers.htm "Homesteading by the Numbers"], accessed February 5, 2010.</ref>

Homestead laws depleted [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] resources as much of the land they relied on was taken by the federal government and sold to settlers.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-native-americans-battled-a-brutal-land-grab-by-an-expanding-america/2016/11/04/69dd7c00-8402-11e6-92c2-14b64f3d453f_story.html |title=How Native Americans battled a brutal land grab by an expanding America |first=Priyanka |last=Kumar |date=November 4, 2016 |newspaper=Washington Post}}</ref> Native ancestral lands had been limited through history, mainly through [[Dawes Act|land allotments]] and reservations, causing a gradual decrease in this indigenous land. Many of these land-grabs occurred during and after treaty negotiations between indigenous tribes and the United States. Native Americans often traded their land in exchange for citizenship and civil rights. Due to the United States' economic power, these tribes had little leverage and millions of acres of land were transferred from their ownership.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Spirling |first=Arthur |date=January 2012 |title=U.S. Treaty Making with American Indians: Institutional Change and Relative Power, 1784–1911 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2011.00558.x |journal=American Journal of Political Science |language=en |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=84–97 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-5907.2011.00558.x |issn=0092-5853}}</ref> It was difficult for indigenous people to legally challenge this infringement because they lacked legal rights and legal standing. These treaties were used to naturalize and [[Cultural assimilation of Native Americans|civilize]] Native Americans.<ref>Rollings, William Hughes (2004). "Citizenship and Suffrage: The Native American Struggle for Civil Rights in the American West, 1830-1965". ''Nevada Law Journal''. '''5''' (1): 126–140.</ref>

As an indirect, de facto way to secure the dispossessed land, the US government allowed late homesteading during the early twentieth century.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Allen |first1=Douglas W. |last2=Leonard |first2=Bryan |date=2024-02-16 |title=Late Homesteading: Native Land Dispossession through Strategic Occupation |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0003055423001466/type/journal_article |journal=American Political Science Review |language=en |pages=1–15 |doi=10.1017/S0003055423001466 |issn=0003-0554|doi-access=free }}</ref> This acted as a way to solidify settlements and permanently disrupt tribal land practices in the face of backlash.

This Homestead Acts also resulted in tensions between settlers and indigenous people, partly due to settlers moving onto indigenous territory while it was still occupied. Settlements excused Indian removal and culminated in multiple wars waged by settler militia.<ref>Wilm, Julius (2020). ""The Indians Must Yield": Antebellum Free Land, The Homestead Act, and the Displacement of Native Peoples". ''German Historical Institute''. '''67''' (2): 17–39.</ref>

Also involved in the acts were [[Buffalo Soldier|Buffalo soldiers]], African-American soldiers who were key in building the American frontier in the West. They often engaged in wars with Native Americans, led by the government, to take over indigenous land.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Buffalo Soldiers |url=https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/buffalo-soldiers |access-date=2024-05-09 |website=National Museum of African American History and Culture |language=en}}</ref>