On this day in history – May, 20th , 1862

On this day, May 20, 1862, the Homestead Act was signed into action by President Abraham Lincoln. This act worked to foster settlers to move west of the Mississippi River by giving American citizens 160 acres of land if they were willing to pay a small fee and work on the land to improve it. The act opened up a large amount of American land for ownership, leading to about 10 percent of the total land mass of the United States to be privatized by 1934.