In the midst of the year-old Civil War, as Federal troops took control of New Orleans and Confederate General Stonewall Jackson racked up victories in Virginia, President Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law.

It was a remarkable juxtaposition.

Here was the federal government, expending blood and treasure to correct national sins of the past, while simultaneously providing millions of its people with a gateway to the future.

As Lincoln said, “[T]he wild lands of the country should be distributed so that every man should have the means and opportunity of benefiting his condition.’

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