The Homestead Act was based on the belief that all people posess an equal right to land,...
...so long as they are willing to live and work on it. Montana, in 1862, had what seemed like plenty of open space. The Free Homestead Act and the Homestead Acts which followed it affected Montana just as much, if not more, than any other state in the Union. In 1976, Congress formally repealed the Homestead Act for all states except Alaska, and homestead entries there were ended ten years later. Today, no free public land is available to individuals, and the federal government rarely sells parts of the public domain.  

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Homesteaders
	They Settled in Montana: Introduction
The Act
	They Settled in Montana: The Act
They Settled in Montana
	They Settled in Montana: The Homesteaders