#Metes and bounds legal definition free#

#Metes and bounds legal definition free#

Two years later, Abraham Lincoln signed the Free Homestead Act into law and it went into effect on January 1, 1863. President Buchanan vetoed that bill in 1860, sending it back to the drawing board. The first Homestead Act to pass brought by Congress required settlers of the land to pay 25 cents per acre. Once the South seceded from the Union in 1861, taking their Congressional delegates with them, the Homestead Act of 1862 was passed. Southern Democrats of the time had vehemently fought against previous homestead laws, fearing the offer of “free land” would attract more immigrants from Europe, and bring “poor Southern whites” to claim homestead farms in the West. In 1848, the Free Soil Party, and the newly birthed Republican Party, lobbied heavily for land in the West to be made available to independent farmers and ranchers, fearing the creation of an elitist class taking complete control of the nation’s new territory. Many states also allow a homestead exemption in specified amounts for tax relief in certain circumstances.Īs the American West opened up in the mid-1800s, wealthy land entrepreneurs made huge land grabs, clearing and farming on a scale that required the use of slave labor. Although a modern homestead is still referred to by its traditional concept of a land estate, modern statutes actually create a monetary exemption from creditor action, the amount of which varies by state. The modern homestead exemption protects a family’s home from being seized, or from a forced sale, due to financial or credit issues. Originally, the Homestead Act of 1862 allowed pioneering individuals and families to stake a claim to a piece of property as their own by building a home, and staying on the land for a specified period of time. A statue created in order for a person to request a homestead exemption to lower their property taxes, or to protect the dwelling from creditors.ġ862 Enacted by Congress, signed into law by President Lincoln signed on JanuWhat is a Homestead.A dwelling, and the land on which it sits, used by a person or a family as their primary residence.