The Homestead Act, which became law in May of 1862, allowed any American citizen to clam 160 acres of land for free. This act opened up the opportunity for families to move west and begin settlement of Western territories. It may seem simple, but this Act made it very easy for people to move west, and quickened the settlement of the Western United States.
Before the Civil War, similar acts to the Homestead Act were proposed in the government multiple times, but never passed. Oftentimes, the slave states voted against such acts, because they didn’t want the slave/free balance in the states to be thrown off.…