The shortened, most widely known title is completely self-explanatory. The Homestead Act involves the legalities and process of homesteading. (Homesteading: the act of building a home in the wilderness and toiling away at the land to make it grow something.)

No points for originality there, Homestead Act writers.

Even the longer, complete title, "An Act to secure Homesteads to actual Settlers on the Public Domain," spells it out.

But breaking that down, "secure" is an interesting choice of word. Secure, in this case meaning establish, also has a defensive or possessive ring to it. That land was put there by God for the U.S. and the U.S. alone, after all. (Ah, Manifest Destiny. You're such a narcissist.)

"Actual Settlers" is, again, pretty specific. Nope, sorry, your imaginary friends don’t count. Neither do Native Americans, apparently, since Manifest Destiny only applied to citizens of the U.S., even if they were already living on the land. (Let’s just skip over the whole immigrant and former slave issue).

Public Domain, as well, has a nice, regal tone to it. Not "Government Land," but "Public Domain" in a way that suggests the land is any American’s due right. Manifest Destiny is again rearing its head.