Homestead Act Themes

This one's a gimme. If we’re talking any form of westward expansion in the mid to late 19th century, we’re talking Manifest Destiny. The land was only put there so the U.S. could conquer it, af...

Sure, there's a lot to be said about how the Homestead Act was iffy…but it's still absolutely amazing that a legal document about land rights in the mid-19th century was so focused on granting th...

Perseverance isn't directly thematic, but the spirit of the Homestead Act and its guidelines make it clear that a homesteader needed perseverance in spades. The journey out West itself was an exerc...