Which act provided land to settlers willing to develop the American West?

The Homestead Act is the legislation that provided land to settlers willing to develop the American West. Enacted in 1862, this act allowed individuals to claim 160 acres of public land, provided they met certain conditions, such as building a dwelling and cultivating the land for a minimum of five years. This initiative was designed to encourage westward expansion and settlement in the United States, making land accessible to a larger population, including newly arrived immigrants and those seeking opportunities away from crowded eastern cities.

The other acts, while important in their own contexts, did not focus on providing land for general settlement in the same way. The Land Grant Act primarily aimed to support agricultural and mechanical colleges by granting them land, while the Morrill Act supported education in practical fields. The Dawes Act sought to assimilate Native Americans into American society by allotting them individual plots of land, which ultimately impacted tribal lands adversely and aimed at a different societal structure than that of the Homestead Act.