Perhaps Lincoln's most important contribution 
as President, outside of his military leadership as 
Commander-in-Chief, was his signing of the Homestead Act in 
1862. Considered by some to be the most important piece of 
legislation in American history, the Act made available millions 
of acres of government-held land in the Mid-West for purchase at 
very low cost. Any male over 21 could obtain a Homestead tract of 
160 acres simply by filing a claim and paying a processing fee of 
$18. The land had then to be lived upon, built up, and improved, 
for a period of no less than 5 years. Many were more than willing 
to take up this challenge.

In the history of the world, land ownership had been a great 
privilege available only to a tiny elite. The self-empowerment, 
entrepeurship, and social responsibility that followed this 
privilege were likewise unavailable to the great majority of 
the world's population. The Homestead Act, for a short time 
and in a singular place, reversed this balance, and changed the 
course of American history forever. The real property thus 
afforded to impoverished East-coast city dwellers and masses of 
new Northern European immigrants created huge amounts of wealth 
distributed evenly among a working populace, greatly increasing 
the stakeholdership of the American Dream. The fact that the 
Homestead tracts were often excellent farmland not only provided a 
source of steady subsistence but also a steady income beyond 
subsistance level; Homestead farmers in time became the agricultural 
producers to the nation as a whole. Additionally, strong communities 
with a commitment to social values, education, and personal 
responsibility were spawned throughout the Territories (eventually, 
new States) covered by the Homestead lands.

The economic, agricultural, and social stability generated by the 
Homestead Act was utterly inconceivable in other times and 
places -- and formed a large part of the foundation of American 
prosperity in the 20th century. Lincoln, having grown up in land 
like that covered by the Homestead Act, saw and acted upon one 
of the great potentials that the American continent held for its 
people. The Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act, also signed by Lincoln 
in 1862, provided government grants for agricultural universities 
throughout the American states. Such universities -- often 
founded in Homesteading states -- provided education and know-how 
for masses of local Homesteaders. They helped found the concept 
of scientific Agriculture and, perhaps more importantly, were 
the centerpiece of America's democratic revolution in education.

After the "Sioux Uprising" of August 1862 in Minnesota, Lincoln 
was presented with 303 death warrants for convicted Santee 
Dakota who had taken part. Of these, Lincoln only affirmed 39 
men for execution (one was later reprieved). Lincoln was strongly 
chastised for this action in Minnesota and throughout his 
administration because many felt that all 303 Native Americans 
should have been executed. Reaction in Minnesota was so strong 
concerning Lincoln's leniency toward the Native Americans that 
Republicans lost their political strength in the state in 1864. 
Lincoln's response was: "I could not afford to hang men for 
votes."