10 is therefore respectfully recommended that Like so many previous requests to Congress by the Commissioners, Wilson received only toker assistance. By 1862 the western re,.esentatives in the Congress had accomplished everything, but outant free grants to settlers. They had succeeded in obtaining w on laws that allowed prior purchase rights on unsurveyed ler - had accomplished a land graduation policy that lowered the I. land fr 2.00 an acre to 12 cents for all land unsold thirty years after it was offered at public sale. 105/ They had on the battle for a system of internal improvements that used the public lands to build canals, roads, and railroads. They had destroyed the revenue from the lands concept and initiated their own development theory. In May 1862, they committed the final coup d'etat by ushering in the transcontinental railroad and homestead era. PART III THE HOMESTEAD ACT AND THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION ERA The Homestead Act The beginning of the free homestead concept can be traced to the roots of our Republic. There had always been a segment of our population that hoped the Federal Government would make the public lands free to all who wanted a farm. The desire for free land had, in fact, drawn many of the first immigrants to this country. As we have seen, there had been a steady progression of legislation that both lowered the price as well as the quantity of land that could be purchased by an individual. The history of public land legislation leading up to the Homestead Act is one of gradual development insofar as the advocates of free land slowly eroded away the concept of revenue from the lands, and then finally broke down all opposition to outright free grants to homesteaders. The Federal Congress gave free land to potential settlers during the latter part of the 18th Century. Land was given to the residents of Vincennes, a group of French immigrants brought to this country to raise grapes and olives, to General Lafayette for his services during the Revolutionary War, soldiers, Lewis and Clark for their exploration of the Louisiana Purchase, and to Daniel Boone for his pioneer explorations. 106 These grants obviously did not encompass the whole idea of the Homestead Act of 1862. They can best be described as historical evidence of the willingness of Congress to make special. free grants of land from the public domain. The first real movement for a Homestead Act was begun by Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri. During his thirty years in the House and Senate, Benton was one of the outstanding free land champions. In March 1826, Benton introduced a bill to decrease the price of land in proportion to the time it was on the market and to give lands that went unsold to settlers for a homestead. 107/ In his speech advocating passage of the bill, Benton claimed: that the existing land policies of the government Benton's idea naturally won popular support in many of the Western States, but little in Congress as a whole. Many States expressed support of Benton's plan in petitions to Congress. Missouri, Benton's home, requested Congress to pass the bill explaining: ...such a law would, in their opinion, not only state Benton persisted in his demand for such legislation throughout his Congressional career. He was not successful in obtaining passage of either the price graduation or free land concept during his years in Congress. The graduation bill, very much as he first proposed it, did however pass Congress and was signed into law in 1854. It remained for the passage of the Homestead Act to accomplish his aim for free land. Perhaps one of the most significant and interesting public documents advocating a Homestead type of bill was issued by the Public Land Committee of the House of Representatives in 1828. 110/ It is a particularly interesting document when one considers the fact that it preceded the Homestead Act by some thirty-four years. The report recommended: That small tracts of 80 acres be given to the This in essence was the Homestead Act of 1862. 111 Numerous States encouraged by the Public Lands Committee report petitioned Congress for land. From time to time individual States were successful in obtaining land for free distribution. In the State of Florida, and Oregon, Washington, and New Mexico Territories, settlers were given land as a reward for settling in these hazardous regions. The grant to Florida of 200,000 acres was given for the purpose of "armed occupation and settlement of the unsettled part of the peninsula of East Florida. 112/ The same general principle was incorporated into the Acts granting lands to the three Territories. These grants differed from the Homestead Act in that they were offered as an incentive to occupy a region thought to be dangerous or difficult to settle. Andrew Johnson, later to become President of the United States, introduced a bill in the 29th Congress,, for an outright free grant of 160 acres to heads of families. 113 Not meeting with success he attempted to attach his bill as an amendment to price graduation legislation that was then before the Congress. The amendment called for the authorization for "every poor man in the United States, who is the head of a family to enter 160 acres of the public domain without money and without price. 114 His amendment was defeated. 115 From the standpoint of great advocates of free land, Andrew Johnson stood along side of Thomas Hart Benton. No two men were so persistent in the fight for free land. They can rightly be called the fathers of the Homestead Act. Nearly every Congress from 1846 to 1862 considered free land bills. Finally in 1860 a compromise bill was passed to circumvent the constitutional objections to free grants. The bill sent to President Buchanan called for a fee of $.25 per acre for 160 acre homesteads. Buchanan holding to the theory he set down in his veto of the Land Grant College bill returned it unsigned to Congress. 116/ In his message the President said he seriously doubted the right of the legislative branch to give land. He declared: that Congress undoubtedly would not claim the disposed of the property in his care by giving He also noted that it discriminated against the older States. Thus, It During the first days of the Congress in 1862, the Homestead Bill was reintroduced, speedily passed and sent to the President. has since been described as one of the great land laws. It, perhaps, has directly affected more people than any other law dealing with the disposition of the public lands. Since the bill was passed over a 1 million entries have been made for over 270,000,000 acres of the public domain. 118/ The figures do not indicate the full scope of the Homestead Act. It came to be something special to everyone who complied with the provisions of the Act to live on the land and improve it. To most, among other things, it was an active media of participating in the great American dream. The passage of the Act was the triumphal end of the line for the advocates of a free land policy. The act was to influence the thinking of many western representatives well into the 20th Century and eventually to throw them into another conflict, when the Federal trustee advocates were to challenge their control over the public land policy. The Homestead Act also had a tremendous impact upon the General Land Office. It caused a great rise in the activity of |