Students take on the 1,400 words of the Homestead Act of 1862, figure out its main requirements by reading closely, and test their understanding against Charles Ingalls’ successful homestead claim, using history-oriented websites to fill in needed background. (Yes, the primary documents come from that Charles Ingalls: father of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the model for Pa in the “Little House” books. This module could be used with or without readings from the Little House books.)
The Homestead Act became law in the middle of the Civil War, with implementation at the exact moment of Reconstruction, so the module may also be suited to middle school use in states that teach the first half of U.S. history in grade 8 or earlier.
This module is designed for a deep dive into a seminal text and selected primary documents on the process by which huge sections of the United States were settled for farming. It is organized to take roughly seven hours or eight fifty-minute periods.
