History GCSE
Homestead Act (1862)
What Homestead Act (1862) means in History GCSE, as defined for Pearson Edexcel.
Definition of Homestead Act (1862)
Check what you remember
Read the wording for your board, then hide it and explain Homestead Act (1862) in your own words. Rough notes are fine. This is a self-check, with no mark or grade.
Reference: Pearson Edexcel
Offered 160 acres of free land to anyone willing to farm it for five years, spurring massive migration to the Plains.
Topics that use Homestead Act (1862)
- Option P3: Key topic 2: Development of the Plains, c1862–c1876 - 1 The development of settlement in the West (Pearson Edexcel GCSE)
Related terms
- Federal vs local authority
- Frontier society
- Impact on Indigenous peoples
- Law and order
- Pacific Railroad Act (1862)
- Spread of the railroad network
- Dry farming
- First Transcontinental Railroad (1869)
Using Homestead Act (1862) in the exam
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