The first land grant act for a transcontinental railroad and the Homestead Act were both passed in 1862. Each gave away massive federal lands, created incentives to rush construction and settlement, and (at least partly) dissipated land values. I argue that these apparently wealth-reducing actions rationally utilized railroads and settlers to establish meaningful federal ownership over the frontier and allowed for future federal land sales to take place. This paper examines the tenuous US sovereignty in the West, the institutional details of the land grants, and (using newly digitized records) the relationship among railroads, homesteads, and cash sales to test the theory that “giving away an empire” was a rational strategy to establish economic property rights through quick occupation.

中文翻译：

---

放弃帝国建立经济财产权

跨大陆铁路的第一批土地授予法和《宅基法》均于1862年获得通过。每一项都放弃了大量的联邦土地，刺激了建设和定居的动机，并（至少部分地）消散了土地价值。我认为，这些显然减少财富的行动合理地利用了铁路和定居者，在边境上建立了有意义的联邦所有权，并允许将来进行联邦土地出售。本文研究了美国在西方的脆弱主权，土地赠款的制度细节，以及（使用新的数字化记录）铁路，房屋和现金销售之间的关系，以检验“放弃帝国”是合理的理论。通过快速占领建立经济产权的战略。