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President Harry Truman blasted the 80th Congress back in the late 1940s, calling it the "Do-Nothing Congress." Some might lodge similar complaints against more recent Congresses.

Others might counter by saying the less work Congress does, the better off we are. Regardless of your sentiments about Congress and its workload, it has managed to generate mounds of legislation over the years.

Take land laws. As the nation expanded westward, usurping land, some of it legally, some not, Congress ambitiously responded with more than 3,500 laws regulating distribution of federal lands.

During the years of bargain-basement prices for an acre of ground, the government transferred more than 1 billion acres of federal land into the hard-working hands of private citizens.

One of the land laws that had a significant impact on our ancestors was the Homestead Act.

Signed into law by Abraham Lincoln in 1862, this act enabled citizens, and would-be citizens, to acquire up to 160 acres of land from the government for less than $20.

Various versions of the Homestead Act allowed claims up through the 1980s.

The government doled out around 280 million acres of land over the 100 plus years of the program.

Eager homesteaders had to file an application and then live on the land for 5 years. They had to make improvements to the claim by constructing a dwelling, planting crops and partially fencing the property.

Sounds simple enough, but throw in drought, wind, blizzards, grasshopper plagues, sparse vegetation and scarce water, and you've got trouble.

While around 2 million individuals applied for homestead lands, fewer than half of them actually met the requirements and received the deed for the land.

Many Eastern states city-dwellers and European immigrants, enticed out West by the prospect of free land, found themselves overwhelmed by the challenges of coaxing crops out of arid, rocky ground.

Many claims were abandoned when the discouraged homesteader hitched a ride on the first buckboard back East.

Naturally, whenever the government is involved, there's paperwork. And for genealogists with homesteaders in our families, whether they stuck out the 5 years or not, the paperwork can be pay dirt.

Homesteaders had to fill out an application; then after the five years had passed, they and two of their neighbors had to complete written testimonies about the improvements made to the land. There also had to be a record of public notification of the claimant's intent to submit final proof to his claim. A final certificate granting the land rounded out the paperwork.

Next week, I'll review the genealogical details you can find in a homestead claim file and where you can find the documents.

Not sure if you had a homesteading ancestor? I'll give you hints on discovering that, too.