Early on in American history, as settlers pushed westward across the country, land had been able to be conveyed to those early American settlers through the Homestead Act.

Provisions within the Homestead Act called for conveyed land to be transferred with one condition of land transfers being, for that land to be settled, resided upon and cultivated - I:e.: improved - by he who acquired the land.

Early American “developers” - I:e.: westward-pushing settlers - were instrumental in effectuating intent found within the Homestead Act.

Homesteading had been a federal policy in the United States through the mid-1970’s.

In 1976, when President Gerald Ford signed the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, homesteading - as a federal policy - ceased to exist. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act was (and is) applicable to public land in the United States which is managed by the Bureau of Land Management.