What Exactly Does the Term “Homesteading” Mean?

Reader Contribution by Heidi Hunt
Published on April 4, 2008

What exactly does the term “homesteading” mean?

Kate Roberts
Sacramento, California

We frequently use the term “homestead” and “homesteading” in articles in Mother Earth News. The term “homesteading” may be familiar, but its usage can cause some confusion as its meaning has changed over the decades. For years the word referred to a free government land program and the skills necessary for pioneer living. Today the word homesteading is more apt to refer to a lifestyle that promotes greater self sufficiency. To better understand all things homesteading, here is a very brief timeline of the common use of the term.

The Homestead Act
In the middle 1800s, the word homesteading was synonymous with The Homesteading Act of 1862, which provided public land grants of 160 acres to any adult citizen who paid a small registration fee and agreed to live on the land continuously for 5 years, after which they would be granted a deed to the land. The program formally ended in 1976 under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. But its unofficial end was in 1935 when President Franklin Roosevelt withdrew the public domain lands in order to institute a nationwide land conservation program. During the life of the Homestead Act, 783,000 men and women “proved up” their claim and were granted title to the land.

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