The first thing I see every day when I go online is "Today in History" from the Library of Congress. It reminds me of how various events influenced my ancestors and the Homestead Act was crucial to the settling of the West, including Alaska--80 million acres were claimed through 1900, 160 acres at a time.
["New Settlers on the Prairie." East Custer County, Nebraska, by Solomon D. Butcher, 1887.
Nebraska State Historical Society, (Digital ID, e.g., nbhips 12036)]
[Source: Library of Congress]
It's not an accident that the law, passage of which had been blocked for 20 years by a coalition of Northern businessmen and Southern slaveholders, didn't become law until 1862 when Southern interests were no longer represented in Congress.
[Source: Library of Congress]
© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.
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