Episode 33: The Law That Opened the American West - and Displaced Its First Peoples
In the middle of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln signed a law that promised ordinary Americans something extraordinary: the opportunity to claim 160 acres of land and build a future of their own. But the Homestead Act of 1862 was about far more than free land. It was part of a fierce political struggle over slavery, opportunity, and the future of the American West.
In this episode of the Creating America Podcast, host and narrator Will Sarris provides historical context before reading the original text of the Homestead Act, signed into law on May 20, 1862.
Discover how the Free Soil movement…
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