The Homestead Act was attractive to settlers, because it gave land to anyone over 21, or head of family (even women and former slaves), who applied for land, this land for a very cheap price (or no price at all) and through this it enabled easy settlement. The farmers had to then cultivate the land for a period of time, and if they did not abandon it and tended to it properly, it became their property.
The Magna Carta was first in 1251. Columbus discovered america in 1492.
