<P> 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 U.S. government 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 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 . </P> <P> 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) 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 . Another amended act, the national Stock - Raising Homestead Act, was passed in 1916 and again increased the land involved, this time to 640 acres . </P> <P> Land - grant laws similar to the Homestead Acts had been proposed by northern Republicans before the Civil War, but had been repeatedly blocked in Congress by southern Democrats who wanted western lands open for purchase by slave - owners . The Homestead Act of 1860 did pass in Congress, but it was vetoed by President James Buchanan, a Democrat . After the Southern states seceded from the Union in 1861 (and their representatives had left Congress), the bill passed and was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln (May 20, 1862). Daniel Freeman became the first person to file a claim under the new act . </P> <P> Between 1862 and 1934, the federal government granted 1.6 million homesteads and distributed 270,000,000 acres (420,000 sq mi) of federal land for private ownership . This was a total of 10% of all land in the United States . Homesteading was discontinued in 1976, except in Alaska, where it continued until 1986 . About 40% of the applicants who started the process were able to complete it and obtain title to their homesteaded land . </P>

How could someone gain title to land under the homestead act