Some History

Driftglass and Blue Gal remind us all the time that a liberal's super power is a functioning memory - which is aided greatly by healthy doses of skepticism and curiosity.

Homestead Act(s):

The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. In all, more than 160 million acres (650 thousand km2; 250 thousand sq mi) of public land, or nearly 10 percent of the total area of the United States, was given away free to 1.6 million homesteaders; most of the homesteads were west of the Mississippi River.

An extension of the homestead principle in law, the Homestead Acts were an expression of the Free Soil policy of Northerners who wanted individual farmers to own and operate their own farms, as opposed to Southern slave-owners who wanted to buy up large tracts of land and use slave labor, thereby shutting out free white farmers.

The first of the acts, the Homestead Act of 1862, opened up millions of acres. Any adult who had never taken up arms against the Federal government of the United States could apply. Women and immigrants who had applied for citizenship were eligible. The 1866 Act explicitly included black Americans and encouraged them to participate, but rampant discrimination, systemic barriers and bureaucratic inertia slowed black gains. Historian Michael Lanza argues that while the 1866 law pack was not as beneficial as it might have been, it was part of the reason that by 1900 one fourth of all Southern black farmers owned their own farms.

Several additional laws were enacted in the latter half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Southern Homestead Act of 1866 sought to address land ownership inequalities in the south during Reconstruction. The Timber Culture Act of 1873 granted land to a claimant who was required to plant trees—the tract could be added to an existing homestead claim and had no residency requirement.

The Kinkaid Amendment of 1904 granted a full section—640 acres (260 ha)–to new homesteaders settling in western Nebraska. An amendment to the Homestead Act of 1862, the Enlarged Homestead Act, was passed in 1909 and doubled the allotted acreage from 160 to 320 acres (65 to 129 ha). Another amended act, the national Stock-Raising Homestead Act, was passed in 1916 and again increased the land involved, this time to 640 acres (260 ha).

I grew up on the plains of Colorado, and I don't remember a time when I was unaware of the simple fact that with very few exceptions, my grandparents and my immigrant great-grandparents were dirt farmers whose families staked claims under Mr Lincoln's Homestead Act.

We had songs and everything:

So it makes me a little extra nutty when I hear the MAGA rubes spoutin' off about their rugged individualism and how those dirty socialists are just lookin' to turn us all into a buncha moochers and blah blah blah. I fucking hate that shit.

I'm not saying we had nothing to do with building our lives and doing good things for ourselves, but we have to get back to where we can acknowledge that we stand on the shoulders of giants.

I didn't earn my birthright. I had nothing to do with being born into white middle class suburbia. I didn't earn my way into mostly brand new public schools. I didn't make any of the mortgage payments on my parents' houses.

And on and on and on.

We have to get the fuck over ourselves, and start understanding that cooperation and collaboration - and yes, the collective efforts of all of us - are not just important, but essential to our survival.