administer the same) that he or she has never had the benefit of any right of preemption under this act; that he or she is not the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of land in any state or territory of the United States; nor hath he or she settled upon and improved said land to sell the same on speculation, but in good faith to appropriate it to his or her own exclusive use or benefit; and that he or she has not directly or indirectly, made any agreement or contract, in any way or manner, with any person or persons whatsoever, by which the title which he or she might acquire from the government of the United States, should inure in whole or in part, to the benefit of any person except himself or herself; and if any person taking such oath shall swear falsely in the premises, he or she shall be subject to all the pains and penalties of perjury, and shall forfeit the money which he or she may have paid for said land, and all right and title to the same; and any grant or conveyance which he or she may have made, except in the hands of bona fide purchasers, for a valuable consideration, shall be null and void. And it shall be the duty of the officer administering such oath to file a certificate thereof in the public land office of such district, and to transmit a duplicate copy to the general land office, either of which shall be good and sufficient evidence that such oath was administered according to law.

SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That this act shall not delay the sale of any of the public lands of the United States beyond the time which has been, or may be appointed by the proclamation of the president; nor shall the provisions of this act be available to any person or persons who shall fail to make the proof and payment, and file the affidavit required before the day appointed for the commencement of the sales aforesaid.

SEC. 15. And be it further enacted, That whenever any person has settled or shall settle and improve a tract of land, subject at the time of settlement to private entry, and shall intend to purchase the same under the provisions of this act, such person shall, in the first case, within three months after the passage of the same, and in the last, within thirty days next after the date of such settlement, file with the register of the proper district a written statement describing the land settled upon, and declaring the intention of such person to claim the same under the provisions of this act; and shall, where such settlement is already made, within twelve months after the passage of this act, and where it shall hereafter be made, within the same period after the date of such settlement, make the proof, affidavit, and payment herein required; and if he or she shall fail to file such written statement as aforesaid, or shall fail to make such affidavit, proof, and payment, within the twelve months aforesaid, the tract of land so settled and improved shall be subject to the entry of any other purchaser.

SEC. 16. And be it further enacted, That the two per cent. of

the net proceeds of the lands sold, or that may hereafter be sold by the United States in the state of Mississippi, since the first day of December, eighteen hundred and seventeen, and by the act entitled "an act to enable the people of the western part of the Mississippi territory to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state into the Union on an equal footing with the original states," and all acts supplemental thereto reserved for the making of a road or roads leading to said state, be, and the same is hereby relinquished to the state of Mississippi, payable in two equal installments; the first to be paid on the first of May, eighteen hundred and forty-two, and the other on the first of May, eighteen hundred and forty-three, so far as the same may then have accrued, and quarterly, as the same may accrue, after said period; provided, that the legislature of said state shall first pass an act declaring their acceptance of said relinquishment in full of said fund accrued and accruing, and also embracing a provision, to be unalterable without the consent of congress, that the whole of said two per cent. fund shall be faithfully applied to the construction of a railroad leading from Brandon, in the state of Mississippi, to the eastern boundary of said state, in the direction, as near as may be, of the towns of Selma, Cahawba, and Montgomery, in the state of Alabama.

SEC. 17. And be it further enacted, That the two per centum of the net proceeds of the lands sold by the United States, in the state of Alabama, since the first day of September, eighteen hundred and nineteen, and reserved by the act entitled "an act to enable the people of Alabama territory to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state into the Union on an equal footing with the original states," for the making of a road or roads leading to the said state, be, and the same is hereby relinquished to the said state of Alabama, payable in two equal installments, the first to be paid on the first day of May, eighteen hundred and forty-two, and the other on the first day of May, eighteen hundred and forty-three, so far as the same may then have accrued, and quarterly, as the same may hereafter accrue; provided, that the legislature of said state shall first pass an act, declaring their acceptance of said relinquishment, and also embracing a provision, to be unalterable without the consent of congress, that the whole of said two per cent. fund shall be faithfully applied, under the direction of the state of Alabama, to the connection, by some means of internal improvement, of the navigable waters of the bay of Mobile with the Tennessee river, and to the construction of a continuous line of internal improvements from a point on the Chattahoochie river, opposite West Point, in Georgia, across the state of Alabama, in a direction to Jackson, in the state of Mississippi.

APPROVED, September 4th, 1841.

AN ACT

TO SECURE HOMESTEADS TO ACTUAL SETTLERS ON THE
PUBLIC DOMAIN.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have filed his declaration of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization laws of the United States, and who has never borne arms against the United States government, or given aid and comfort to its enemies, shall, from and after the first day of January, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, be entitled to enter one quarter section, or a less quantity, of unappropriated public lands, upon which said person may have filed a preemption claim, or which may, at the time the application is made, be subject to preëmption at one dollar and twenty-five cents, or less, per acre; or eighty acres or less of such unappropriated lands, at two dollars and fifty cents per acre, to be located in a body, in conformity to the legal subdivisions of the public lands, and after the same shall have been surveyed; provided, that any person owning and residing on public land may, under the provisions of this act, enter other land lying contiguous to his or her said land, which shall not, with the land so already owned and occupied, exceed, in the aggregate, one hundred and sixty acres.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the person applying for the benefit of this act shall, upon application to the register of the land office in which he or she is about to make such entry, make affidavit before the said register or receiver that he or she is the head of a family, or is twenty-one or more years of age, or shall have performed service in the army or navy of the United States, and that he has never borne arms against the government of the United States, or given aid and comfort to its enemies, and that such application is made for his or her exclusive use and ben

efit, and that said entry is made for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and not, either directly or indirectly, for the use or benefit of any other person or persons whomsoever; and, upon filing the said affidavit with the register or receiver, and on payment of ten dollars, he or she shall thereupon be permitted to enter the quantity of land specified; provided, however, that no certificate shall be given or patent issued therefor until the expiration of five years from the date of such entry; and if, at the expiration of such time, or at any time within two years thereafter, the person making such entry-or, if he be dead, his widow; or, in case of her death, his heirs or devisee; or, in case of a widow making such entry, her heirs or devisee, in case of her deathshall prove, by two credible witnesses, that he, she, or they have resided upon or cultivated the same for the term of five years immediately succeeding the time of filing the affidavit aforesaid, and shall make affidavit that no part of said land has been alienated, and that he has borne true allegiance to the government of the United States; then, in such case, he, she, or they, if at that time a citizen of the United States, shall be entitled to a patent, as in other cases provided for by law; and provided, further, that in case of the death of both father and mother, leaving an infant child, or children, under twenty-one years of age, the right and fee shall inure to the benefit of said infant child or children; and the executor, administrator, or guardian may, at any time within two years after the death of the surviving parent, and in accordance with the laws of the state in which such children for the time being have their domicil, sell said land for the benefit of said infants, but for no other purpose; and the purchaser shall acquire the absolute title by the purchase, and be entitled to a patent from the United States on payment of the office fees and sum of money herein specified.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the register of the land office shall note all such applications on the tract books and plats of his office, and keep a register of all such entries, and make return thereof to the General Land Office, together with the proof upon which they have been founded.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That no lands acquired under the provisions of this act shall in any event become liable to the satisfaction of any debt or debts contracted prior to the issuing of the patent therefor.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That, if at any time after the filing of the affidavit, as required in the second section of this act, and before the expiration of the five years aforesaid, it shall be proven, after due notice to the settler, to the satisfaction of the register of the land office, that the person having filed such affidavit shall have actually changed his or her residence, or abandoned the

said land for more than six months at any time, then and in that event, the land so entered shall revert to the government.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That no individual shall be permitted to acquire title to more than one quarter section under the provisions of this act; and that the commissioner of the general land office is hereby required to prepare and issue such rules and regulations, consistent with this act, as shall be necessary and proper to carry its provisions into effect; and that the registers and receivers of the several land offices shall be entitled to receive the same compensation for any lands entered under the provisions of this act that they are now entitled to receive when the. same quantity of land is entered with money, one-half to be paid by the person making the application at the time of so doing, and the other half on the issue of the certificate by the person to whom it may be issued; but this shall not be construed to enlarge the maximum of compensation now prescribed by law for any register or receiver; provided, that nothing contained in this act shall be so construed as to impair or interfere in any manner whatever with existing preëmption rights; and provided further, that all persons who may have filed their applications for a preëmption right prior to the passage of this act shall be entitled to all privileges of this act; provided further, that no person who has served, or may hereafter serve, for a period of not less than fourteen days in the army or navy of the United States, either regular or volunteer, under the laws thereof, during the existence of an actual war, domestic or foreign, shall be deprived of the benefits of this act on account of not having attained the age of twenty-one years.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the fifth section of the act entitled, "an act in addition to an act more effectually to provide for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States, and for other purposes," approved the third of March, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, shall extend to all oaths, affirmations, and affidavits, required or authorized by this act.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this act shall be so construed as to prevent any person who has availed him or herself of the benefits of the first section of this act from paying the minimum price, or the price to which the same may have graduated, for the quantity of land so entered at any time before the expiration of the five years, and obtaining a patent therefor from the government, as in other cases provided by law, on making proof of settlement and cultivation as provided by existing laws granting preëmption rights.

APPROVED, May 20th, 1862.