Preemption Act of 1841

The Preemption Act of 1841 (27 Cong. Ch. 16; 5 Stat. 453) was a United States federal law approved by the U.S. Congress on September 4, 1841 to "appropriate the proceeds of the sales of the public lands, and to grant pre-emption rights." Specifically, it permitted squatters on government land who were heads of households, widows, or single men over 21; who were citizens of the United States, or intended to become naturalized; and who had lived there for at least 14 months to purchase up to 160 acres (65 hectares) at a very low price (not less than $1.25 per acre) before the land was offered for sale to the public. It further established that when the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Michigan were admitted to the Union, they would be paid 10% of the proceeds of the sale of such public land. The act was widely utilized by settlers in Kansas Territory and Nebraska Territory, which were opened to settlement in 1854. After the Homestead Act was enacted in 1862, claims under the Preemption Act sharply decreased.

This also helped spread the Manifest Destiny movement. It was repealed by Congress in 1891.