may 13, 1862 - Homestead Act

Description:

A federal law that gave settlers 160 acres
of land for about $30 if they lived on it for five years and improved it by, for instance, building a house on it. The act helped make land accessible to hundreds of thousands of westward-moving settlers, but many people also found disappointment when their
land was infertile or they saw speculators grabbing up the best land

Added to timeline:

Date: