DocsTeach is a product of the National Archives education division and is made possible in part through the National Archives Foundation. The site provides access to primary source materials related to the Homestead Act.
U.S. House of Representatives: Historical Highlights, May 20, 1862. On this date, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act (12 Stat. 392) into law.
National Archives and Records Administration. Greg Bradsher, "How the West Was Settled: The 150-year-Old Homestead Act Lured Americans Looking for a New Life and New Opportunities," Prologue 44 (Winter 2012).