The Homestead Act was signed into law by Abraham Lincoln in 1862 during the Civil War. The law allowed citizens, immigrants, freed slaves, and women to claim 160 acres of public land if they lived on and improved the property for five years. The act encouraged hundreds of thousands of settlers to move west and helped shape the American frontier. Railroads, farming, and cattle ranching expanded rapidly because of the law. However, westward settlement also displaced many Native American tribes from their ancestral lands and contributed to hardships such as the Trail of Tears. The Homestead Act transformed the American West and changed the lives of millions seeking land, opportunity, and independence.

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