Homestead Certificate for Nebraska, signed by President Harrison, 1892.
The 1862 Homestead Act that Lincoln had passed was still in full swing when Harrison took office. Homesteaders were required to sit on the land and improve it, but many used the act as a way to monopolize Western resources. Still, many others did exactly as the act intended and built family farms in the West. The 1890 census, completed during Harrison’s term, acknowledged the disappearance of the American frontier, due in large part to Homesteading.
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