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How Did The Homestead Act Affect Women

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The Homestead Act is a special Act that promoted migration to the western part of US. Public lands were made easily accessible to settlers with a small filing fee in exchange for 160 acres of land to be used for farming. Homesteaders received ownership of the land after continuously residing on the land for five years. Homesteaders also had an alternative of acquiring the land from the government by paying a specified amount per acre, after six months of residency. The Homestead Act resulted in the distribution of million acres of public land (Library of Congress n.p). The Act made it possible everyone, including, women from the middle and lower classes of the society to gain financial freedom and independence. In the early twentieth century, …show more content…

The women were expected to create a happy home, guard the religion, and the morality of her family. The unmarried and married women who tried to seek work outside the home faced limited employment opportunities because of their gender. Women were expected to only focus on domestic duties and her role were limited to continue living in the man’s world. Women roles were expected to be in line with the culture and norms set by the society. The American culture perceived that women were not intellectually and emotionally stable to be involved in the complex world of work and, therefore, women did not take up leadership and political roles. Some women who tried to go against the set norms in most cases were ridiculed and scorned. Such actions made the American women also believed that being at home, caring, and supporting their family was their only duty (Wishart …show more content…

In 1869, the Wyoming territory was first to grant women suffrage, hoping to attract women to the territory. Not all Western states promoted gender equality—in fact, in 1870 Wyoming denied women the right to serve on juries. Even so, it was the Western state of Montana that elected the first female member of the House of Representatives, Jeannette Rankin, in 1916, and the first female governors also hailed from the West (Hensley). In the West, women were allowed to own property in their own name through homesteading. Men encouraged women to make claims for homestead land so that they could double the size of the family's holdings. But the land was still in the women's name and she often had the final say in what should be done with it. As a result of their access to land and the booming agricultural economy in the West, some women ran ranches and farms by themselves. Along with their success owning and running farms and ranches, some women became real estate agents and speculators, buying and selling Western land

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So by investing labor into land a person could claim it. The colonists looked at this a boundless space as if it were open to anyone who would put it to use. And that is what they did. They keep their farms looking nice by trimming hedges and maintaining their fences and ditches. (Anderson)

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Have you ever heard the word “homestead” or “homesteader” and you didn’t understand what it meant? Did you hear it from a show on T.V., read it in a book, or even saw something on online that peaked your interest? You’ve looked it up and find that in truth it means something different to each person and each person sees it differently. But, you just want a straight answer? Well, you don’t have to have a lot of farm animals, a large garden, and a 30 acres of land to actually be a homesteader and if you do, all the better.

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The states sold their land grants to bankers and land spectators. 3. Homestead act, which allowed people to buy a piece of land for a very cheap price although there were some exceptions like you have to be 21, you must live on the land for 5 years and you had to improve your land. 4. All private property was equal.

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Migrants came to the Great Plains from all types of situations, such as the great potato famine of Ireland that caused many Irish to emigrate to the United States and primarily the Great Plains, where they could begin their lives again. The Homestead Act also provided a way for the immigrants to gain citizenship and own land in the Great Plains. The Homestead Act encouraged western migration by providing settlers 160 acres of public land. In exchange, homesteaders paid a small filing fee and were required to complete five years of continuous residence before receiving ownership of the land. This gave immigrants an easy route into citizenship; if they could maintain the land for five years they could become a citizen.

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Farmers moved west, with the aid of the Homestead Act of 1862 which granted 160 acres of land to those who lived on the land for 5 years and improved it, but they faced Real-Estate Investors and Land Speculators. In total, about ¼ of American Farmers were operated by tenants and Mortgage interest rates ranged from 8-40 percent because eastern loan companies felt deserved for helping develop the country. These Real-Estate Investors and Land Speculators were given a significant opportunities to earn lots of money, just at the expense of smaller businesses and

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The Homestead Act was officially made a law in May 20, 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln. It made settlement possible in the western United States. By allowing all Americans, including freed slaves, to submit a claim for up to 160 free acres of federal land. The Homestead Act of 1862 basically stated that any adult citizen who headed a family could be entitled to a grant of 160 acres of free public land by paying a small fee and living on that land for five years or if that settler would pay small installments, he could obtain that land after six months of residency. The deal was that dwellers were required to improve the land by cultivating and building a dwelling on this free land.

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