On Origin and Development of Homestead Act--Solutions to Issues on Homestead System;
Applying to the Southern public lands, the American Southern Homestead Act was issued in 1866. It was the result of a series of political, economic and military struggles.
This is the broader definition of liberty that motivated the Homestead Act, the Social Security Act, and the G. I. Bill of Rights.
The Homestead Act of 1862 is no longer in effect, but free land is still available out there in the great wide open (often literally in the great wide open).
Land claimed by a settler or squatter, especially under the Homestead Act.
To settle and farm land, especially under the Homestead Act.