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The Florida Homestead Act of 1862 homestead
1) n. the house and lot of a homeowner which the
head of the household (usually either spouse) can declare
to be the principal dwelling of the family and thereby exempt part of its
value (based on state statutes) from judgment creditors. A similar
exemption is available in bankruptcy
without filing a declaration of homestead. 2) v. jargon for filing a declaration
of homestead, as in "he homesteaded the property." Homestead
laws exist in many states in the United States generally
serves two main purposes:
Homestead Act An
act passed by Congress in 1862 promising ownership of a 160-acre tract of
public land to a citizen or head of a family who had resided on and
cultivated the land for five years after the initial claim. Florida Homestead Act: To claim homestead is to establish ownership of previously owned or unowned property in writing. Florida
- The Homestead Act of 1862
was originally passed by the U.S. Congress. It provided for the transfer
of 160 acres (65 hectares) of unoccupied public land to each homesteader
on payment of a nominal fee after five years of residence. The land could
also be acquired after six months of residence at $1.25 an acre. The
government had previously sold land to settlers in the west for revenue
purposes. As the west became politically stronger, however, pressure was
increased upon Congress to guarantee free land to settlers (see Foot
Resolution offered in
1829 by Samuel Augustus Foot in the U.S. Senate). This resolution
instructed the committee on public lands to inquire into the limiting of
public land sale. The Jacksonian Democrats, who wished to encourage
migration to the West, opposed the resolution. The Pioneers
often settled on public lands before they could be surveyed and auctioned
by the U.S.
government. At first the squatter claims were not
recognized, but in 1830 the first of a series of temporary preemption laws
was passed. Several bills providing for free distribution of land
were defeated in Congress. In 1860 a bill was passed in Congress but was
vetoed by President Buchanan. With the ascendancy of the Republican party
(which had committed itself to homestead legislation) and with the
secession of the South (which had opposed free distribution of land), the
Federal Homestead Act, sponsored by Galusha A. Grow, became law. In 1976
it expired in all the states but In
US history, an act of Congress in May 1862 that encouraged settlement of
land in the west by offering plots of up to 65-ha/160-acres, cheaply or
even free, to citizens aged 21 years and over, or heads of family. In
return, they had to promise to stay on the plot for five years, and to
cultivate and improve the land, as well as build a house. The law was
designed to prevent people from controlling vast amounts of land in order
to make a quick fortune. By 1900 about 32 million ha/80 million acres had
been distributed. Homesteaders could buy their land after living on it for six months for $1.25 per acre, or they could expand the amount of land by paying $50 for 16 ha/40 acres, a huge amount of money at that time. A later act allowed homesteaders to file a timber claim, which allowed them to get another 65 ha/160 acres free if they planted at least 4 ha/10 acres in timber producing trees. The soil in the Plains area was very hard to plough, and the settlers were unable to plant very much until John Deere invented the Grand Detour steel plough, which had a suitably tough blade. HOMESTEAD
AND EXEMPTION LAWS are laws (principally in the By
the cessions of several of the older states, and by various treaties with
foreign countries, public lands have been acquired for the The
act of 1862 originally provided that any Citizen of the United States, or
applicant for citizenship, who was the head of a family, or twenty-one
years of age, or if younger, had served not less than fourteen days in the
army or navy of the United States during an actual war, might apply for
160 acres or less of unappropriated public lands, and might acquire title
to this amount of land by residing upon and cultivating it for five years
immediately following, and paying such fees as were necessary to cover the
cost of administration. A homestead acquired in this manner was exempted
from seizure for any debt contracted prior to the date of issuing the
patent. A commutation clause of this act permitted title to be acquired
after only six months of residence by paying $1.25 per acre, as provided
in the Pre-emption Act of 1841. Act of 1872, amended in 1901, allows any
soldier or seaman, who has served at least ninety days in the army or navy
of the United States during the Civil War, the Spanish-American War or in
the suppression of the insurrection in the Philippines, and was honorably
discharged, to apply for a homestead, and permits the deduction of the
time of such service, or if discharged on account of wounds or other
disability incurred in the line of duty, the full term of his enlistment,
from the five years otherwise required for perfecting title, except that
in any case he shall have resided upon and cultivated the land at least
one year before the passing of title. Since 1866 mineral lands have been
for the most part excluded from entry as homesteads. In accordance with the provisions of the homestead law, 718,930 homesteads, containing 96,495,414 acres, were established in forty-two years, and besides this principal act, Congress has passed several minor laws of a like nature, that is, acts designed to benefit the actual settler who improves the land. Thus the Pre-emption Act of 1841 gave to any head of a family or any single person over twenty-one years of age, who was a citizen of the United States or had declared his intention to become one, permission to purchase not to exceed 160 acres of public lands after he had resided upon and improved the same for six months; the Timber-Culture Act of 1873 allowed title to 160 acres of public prairie-land to be given to any one who should plant upon it 40 acres of timber, and keep the same in good growing condition for ten years; and the Desert-Land Act of 1877 gave to any citizen of the United States, or to any person who had declared his intention to become one, the privilege of acquiring title to 640 acres of such public land as was not included in mineral or timberlands, and would not without irrigation produce an agricultural crop, by paying twenty-five cents an acre and creating for the tract an artificial water-supply. These
several land acts, however, invited fraud to such an extent that in time
they promoted the establishment of large land holdings by ranchmen and
others quite as much as they encouraged settlement and cultivation, and so
great was this evil that in 1891 the Timber-Culture and Pre-emption Acts
were repealed, the total amount of land that could be acquired by any one
person under the several land laws was limited to 320 acres, the
Desert-Land Act was so amended as to require an expenditure of at least
three dollars an acre for irrigation, and the original Homestead Act was
so amended as to disqualify any person who was already proprietor of more
than 160 acres in any state or Territory of the Union for acquiring any
more land under its provisions; and in 1896 a residence of fourteen months
was required before permitting commutation or the purchase of title. But
even these measures were inadequate to prevent fraud. In 1894 Congress, in
what is known as the Carey Act, donated to California, Oregon, Nevada,
Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico and the
Dakotas so much as 5 million acres each of desert-lands as each should
cause to be irrigated, reclaimed and occupied within ten years, not less
than 20 acres of each 160 acres to be cultivated by actual settlers; and
in several of these states and territories’ irrigating companies have
been formed and land offered to settlers in amounts not exceeding 160
acres to each, on terms requiring the settler to purchase ample and
perpetual water-rights. In 1902, Congress appropriated the proceeds of the
sales of public lands in these states and territories to form a
reclamation fund to be used for In 1901 it was provided that the ten years
should date from the segregation of the lands from the public domain. The
construction and maintenance of irrigation works, and lands reclaimed by
this means are open to homestead entries, the entry man being required to
pay for the cost of reclamation in ten equal annual installments without
interest. When Texas was admitted to the Union the disposal of its public
lands was reserved to the state, and under its laws every person who is
the head of a family and without a homestead may acquire title to 160
acres of land by residing upon and improving it for three years; every
unmarried man eighteen years of age or over may acquire title to 80 acres
in the same way. A
short time before the National Homestead Act for aiding citizens to
acquire homesteads went into operation, some of the state legislatures had
passed homestead and exemption laws designed to protect homesteads or a
certain amount of property against loss to the owners in case they should
become insolvent debtors, and by the close of the century the legislature
of nearly every state in the Union had passed a law of this nature. These
laws vary greatly. In most states the exemption of a homestead or other
property from liability for debts can be claimed only by the head of a
family, but in Georgia it may be claimed by any aged or infirm person, by
any trustee of a family of minor children, or by any person on whom any
woman or girls are dependent for support; and in California, although the
head of a family may claim exemption for a homestead valued at $5000, any
other person may claim exemption for a homestead valued at $1000. In some
states exemptions may be claimed either for a farm limited to 40, 50, 160
or 200 acres, or for a house and one or more lots, usually limited in
size, in a town, village or city; in other states the homestead for which
exemption may be claimed is limited in value, and this value varies from
$500 to $5000. With
the homestead are usually included the appurtenances thereto, and the
courts invariably interpret the law liberally; but many states also exempt
a specified amount of personal property, including wearing apparel,
furniture, provisions, tools, libraries and in some cases domestic animals
and stock in trade. A few states exempt no homestead and only a small
amount of personal property. Following
the example of either the United States Congress or the state
legislatures, the governments of several British colonial states and
provinces have passed homestead laws. In -
See
J, B. Sanborn, Some Political Aspects of Homestead Legislation, in The
American historical Review (1900); Edward Manson, The Homestead Acts, in
the Journal of the Society of Comparative Legislation (London, I899)~ S.
I). Thompson, A Treatise on Homesteads and Exemptions (San Francisco,
1886); P. Bureau, Le Homestead... ( The
purpose of the homestead exemption is to protect a debtor and his or her
family in a home from forced sale on execution or attachment. See Fisher
v. Kellogg, 128 Synopsis:
The Homestead Act of 1862
Florida Homestead Act History The
original Homestead Act was passed by Congress Over
the years, there were many changes to the Homestead Act. The
following summary applies only to the original act. ELIGIBILITY:
To be eligible, a person had to be 21 years of age, or the head of a
family, or have met certain military requirements. He or she
also had to be a RIGHTS
GRANTED: The act permitted an eligible person to enter (move onto)
unappropriated public land upon which the applicant already had preemption
rights, or which was subject to preemption rights, after filing an
application with the register of the Land Office, along with an affidavit
and a $10 fee. The affidavit attested to the above
requirements, plus the requirement that the land was being entered for the
exclusive use of the applicant and for settlement and cultivation. AMOUNT
OF LAND: The maximum quantity of land which could be entered
was one quarter Section (160 acres) of land if it was the type having a
minimum price of $1.25/acre or less (almost always the case in West
Florida), or 80 acres of land if it was the type having a minimum price of
$2.50/acre. The entire quantity of land had to be in one body
and not spread around. For those who already owned land which
they resided on, they could homestead land contiguous to their land, so
long as the total of their previously owned land and the contiguous land
being homesteaded did not exceed 160 acres. 5
YEAR REQUIREMENT: A patent certificate could be obtained by
the homesteader after continuously residing on and cultivating the land
for 5 years. To obtain the patent, the homesteader had to file
another affidavit attesting to the original requirements, plus having met
the 5 year requirement and a statement that no part of the land had been
sold, given away or otherwise alienated. Affidavits from two
witnesses to the above effect were also required. And, of
course, an additional fee was required. If the homesteader was not a
HOMESTEAD
COULD NOT BE SOLD OR SUBJECT TO DEBTS: During the period from
initial entry and application until final issuance of the patent, no part
of the homesteaded land could be sold or taken for debts of the
homesteader. Even after the issuance of the patent, the
homesteaded land could not be taken for debts which were contracted before
the issuance of the patent. (This was probably intended to
prevent sales of the land hidden behind sham loans.) SHORTCUTTING
THE PROCESS: At any time during the 5 year settlement and
cultivation period the Homesteader could short-cut the process by paying
the minimum price established for the land. RIGHTS OF HEIRS: The Act provided extensive protection for heirs in the event the homesteader died before completing the process. The Homestead Act is a piece of U.S. history. Additional
History
By the end of the 19th century over 570 million acres (2,300,000 km˛) remained open to settlement, but very little of this was usable for agriculture. The frontier was the term applied until the end of the 19th century to the zone of unsettled land outside the region of existing settlements of European immigrants and their descendants. In a broad sense, the notion of the frontier was the edge of the settled country was the place where unlimited cheap land was available to anyone willing to live the hard but independent life of the pioneer farmer. Farmers
moved west onto the arid Great Plains The Great
Plains is the broad expanse of prairie which lies east of the Rocky
Mountains in the United States of America and Canada, covering the US
states of New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska,
Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota and North Dakota and the Canadian provinces
of Saskatchewan and Alberta. Much of Much
of the remaining public domain was included in the National Forests
The
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States
Department of the Interior which administers First
claim
The
first claim under the Homestead Act was made by Daniel Freeman
Daniel Freeman (1826–1908) was an American homesteader, physician and
Civil War veteran. He was the first person to file for a claim under
Homestead Act of 1862. He was also the plaintiff in a landmark separation
of church and state decision. Last
claim
The
Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 ended homesteading; the
government believing that the best use of public lands was for them to
remain in government control. The only exception to this new policy was Fraud
and corporate use
Ironically,
the Homestead Act was often used as a scam. Usually, the land that was
available was in too poor a shape to farm on, especially in the middle of
the plains where droughts were common occurrences. Because of hardships
like these, not many families actually stayed for the entire 5 years. Legacy
In
the history of the world, only a few people owned land. Ownership of land
provides empowerment and social responsibility. This was unavailable to
the great majority of the world's population. The Homestead Act, for a
short time and in one place, reversed this balance and helped to create
the current state of International
derivations
The
act was later copied with some modifications by Canada in the form of
the Dominion Lands Act, and similar acts, usually termed the Selection
Acts were passed in the various Australian colonies in the 1860s,
beginning in 1861 in New South Wales. External
links
A
homestead ad valorem tax exemption is an exemption from property
taxes. Property tax is an ad valorem tax that an owner
of real estate or other property pays on the value of the thing taxed. The
taxing authority performs or requires an appraisal of the value of the
property, and tax is assessed in proportion to that value. Forms of
property tax used vary between countries and jurisdictions. A
homestead claim can survive any creditor claims which can be applied to a
home. Home is a place where a person lives, spends much
of her time, or feels generally comfortable with. While a house (or other
residential dwelling) is often referred to as a home, and is home to many
people, the concept of "home" is broader than a physical
dwelling. Home is often a place of refuge and safety, where worldy cares
fade, with things and people you love becoming the focus. Home is central
to one's life, primarily emotional, and partially physical. A
homestead exemption is most often only on a fixed monetary amount, such as
the first $25,000 dollars of the assessed value.
Value is a term that expresses the concept of worth in general, and it is
thought to be connected to reasons for certain practices, policies, or
actions. The remainder is taxed at the normal rate. In this case, a
home valued at $150,000 would then only be taxed on $125,000; a home
valued at $75,000 would only be taxed on $55,000.
The entire text of the original federal act is reprinted below. Text
of Original Homestead Act
37th
Congress Session II 1862
Chapter
LXXV. - An Act to secure Homesteads to actual Settlers on the Public
Domain.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who is
the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years,
and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have filed his
declaration of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization
laws of the United States, and who has never borne arms against the United
States Government or given aid and comfort to its enemies, shall, from and
after the first January, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, be entitled to
enter one quarter section or a less quantity of unappropriated public
lands, upon which said person may have filed a preemption claim, or which
may, at the time the application is made, be subject to preemption at one
dollar and twenty-five cents, or less, per acre; or eighty acres or less
of such unappropriated lands, at two dollars and fifty cents per acre, to
be located in a body, in conformity to the legal subdivisions of the
public lands, and after the same shall have been surveyed: Provided,
That any person owning and residing on land may, under the provisions of
this act, enter other land lying contiguous to his or her said land, which
shall not, with the land so already owned and occupied, exceed in the
aggregate one hundred and sixty acres.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the person
applying for the benefit of this act shall, upon application to the
register of the land office in which he or she is about to make such
entry, make affidavit before the said register or receiver that he or she
is the head of a family, or is twenty-one years or more of age, or shall
have performed service in the army or navy of the United States, and that
he has never borne arms against the Government of the United States or
given aid and comfort to its enemies, and that such application is made
for his or her exclusive use and benefit, and that said entry is made for
the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and not either directly
or indirectly for the use of benefit of any other person or persons
whomsoever; and upon filing the said affidavit with the register or
receiver, and on payment of ten dollars, he or she shall thereupon be
permitted to enter the quantity of land specified: Provided,
however, That no certificate shall be given or patent issued therefor
until the expiration of five years from the date of such entry; and if, at
the expiration of such time, or at any time within two years thereafter,
the person making such entry; or, if he be dead, his widow; or in case of
her death, his heirs or devisee; or in case of a widow making such entry,
her heirs or devisee, in case of her death; shall prove by two credible
witnesses that he, she, or they have resided upon or cultivated the same
for the term of five years immediately succeeding the time of filing the
affidavit aforesaid, and shall make affidavit that no part of said land
has been alienated, and that he has borne true allegiance to the
Government of the United States; then, in such case, he, she, or they, if
at that time a citizen of the United States, shall be entitled to a
patent, as in other cases provided for by law: And
provided, further, That in case of the death of both father and
mother, leaving an infant child, or children, under twenty-one years of
age, the right and fee shall enure to the benefit of said infant child or
children; and the executor, administrator, or guardian may, at any time
within two years after the death of the surviving parent, and in
accordance with the laws of the State in which such children for the time
being have their domicil, sell said land for the benefit of said infants,
but for no other purpose; and the purchaser shall acquire the absolute
title by the purchase, and be entitled to a patent from the United States,
on payment of the office fees and sum of money herein specified.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the
register of the land office shall note all such applications on the tract
books and plats of his office, and keep a register of all such entries,
and make return thereof to the General Land Office, together with the
proof upon which they have been founded.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That no lands
acquired under the provisions of this act shall in any event become liable
to the satisfaction of any debt or debts contracted prior to the issuing
of the patent therefor.
Sec. 5. And be if further enacted, That if, at any time
after the filing of the affidavit, as required in the second section of
this act, and before the expiration of the five years aforesaid, it shall
be proven after due notice to the settler, to the satisfaction of the
register of the land office, that the person having filed such affidavit
shall have actually changed his or her residence, or abandoned the said
land for more than six months at any time, then and in that event the land
so entered shall revert to the government.
Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That no individual
shall be permitted to acquire title to more than one quarter section under
the provisions of this act; and that the Commissioner of the General Land
Office is hereby required to prepare and issue such rules and regulations,
consistent with this act, as shall be necessary and proper to carry its
provisions into effect; and that the registers and receivers of the
several land offices shall be entitled to receive the same compensation
for any lands entered under the provisions of this act that they are now
entitled to receive when the same quantity of land is entered with money,
one half to be paid by the person making the application at the time of so
doing, and the other half on the issue of the certificate by the person to
whom it may be issued; but this shall not be construed to enlarge the
maximum of compensation now prescribed by law for any register or
receiver: Provided, That nothing contained in this act
shall be so construed as to impair or interfere in any manner whatever
with existing preemption rights; And provided, further, That
all persons who may have filed their application for a preemption right
prior to the passage of this act, shall be entitled to all privileges of
this act: Provided, further, That no person who has
served, or may hereafter serve, for a period of not less than fourteen
days in the army or navy of the United States, either regular or
volunteers under the laws thereof, during the existence of an actual war,
domestic or foreign, shall be deprived of the benefits of this act on
account of not having attained the age of twenty-one years.
Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That the fifth
section of the act entitled "An act in addition to an act more
effectually to provide for the punishment of certain crimes against the
United States, and for other purposes," approved the third of March,
in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, shall extend to all oaths,
affirmations, and affidavits, required or authorized by this act.
Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this
act shall be so construed as to prevent any person who has availed him or
herself of the benefits of the first section of this act, from paying the
minimum price, or the price to which the same may have graduated, for the
quantity of land so entered at any time before the expiration of the five
years, and obtaining a patent therefor from the government, as in other
cases provided by law, on making proof of settlement and cultivation as
provided by existing laws granting preemption rights.
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