<h3>The 1862 Homestead Act accelerated settlement of U.S. western territory by allowing any American, including freed slaves, to put in a claim for up to 160 free acres of federal land.</h3><h2>hope it helps....</h2>
The Homestead Act of 1862 authorized United States Government to encourage the pioneers to provide them land in the West, on the conditions that they (settlers) had to build their own structures and had to live on the land for not less than five years
