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What did the Land law of 1820 allow for?
The Land Act of 1820 (ch. 51, 3 Stat. 566), enacted April 24, 1820, is the United States federal law that ended the ability to purchase the United States’ public domain lands on a credit or installment system over four years, as previously established.
What did the Land law of 1820 do?
Under the new Land Act of 1820, buyers had to pay the full price of land in cash. To make all this more feasible, the price of an acre dropped from $2.00 per acre to $1.25 per acre, and the minimum tract size dropped from 160 acres down to just 80. The bill passed on April 24, 1820 and went into effect on July 1.
What was the law that settled the west?
But the landmark law that governed how public land was distributed and settled for over 100 years came in 1862. The Homestead Act, which became law on May 20, 1862, was responsible for helping settle much of the American West.
Why did African Americans move north and West?
Moving North, Heading West In the 50 years following the end of Reconstruction, African Americans transformed American life once more: They moved. Driven in part by economic concerns, and in part by frustration with the straitened social conditions of the South, in the 1870s African Americans began moving North and West in great numbers.
How did the Homestead Act help settle the west?
The provisions of the Homestead Act, while not perfect and often fraudulently manipulated, were responsible for helping settle much of the American West. In all, between 1862 and 1976, well over 270 million acres (10 percent of the area of the United States) were claimed and settled under the act.
What did free African Americans do for a living?
Many free African Americans formed fraternal organizations, such as the Brown Fellowship Society of South Carolina, for advancement and self-protection, and others worked to found schools and universities for free men and women.