The purpose of Headrights was to encourage settlers to immigrate to
Texas. Pre-emptions (or Homesteads) had the same basic objective.
Essentially, the Homestead Laws provided that a person who had settled
upon a tract of land and who had improved it could claim the land.
However, the settler could not claim more than a certain number of
acres, and he could not claim the property if someone else had already
claimed it.
The meaning of PRE-EMPTION becomes clearer with the dictionary
definition: “The act or right of claiming property before others”.
Homestead or Pre-emption grants were made under a number of laws.
The first, passed January 22, 1845, declared that the settler could
claim up to 320 acres. He was required to present land certificates
within three years. Later, this time was extended to January 1, 1854.
The next law was dated February 7, 1853, but there was very little
difference between this and the 1845 legislation.
Both the 1845 and 1853 laws were repealed, however, by the Act of
February 13, 1854, which reduced the amount of land which a settler
could claim as a pre-emption to 160 acres. The 1854 law further
specified that the pre-emptor was required to live on the land for three
years. This law was repealed on August 26, 1856, and Acts of November
12, 1866, and August 12, 1870, restored pre-emption laws similar to the
1854 legislation. The 1866 and 1870 laws were made a part of the
Constitution of 1876, and settlers continued to claim land under
pre-emption laws until 1898, when litigation in the courts brought this
class of claims to an end.
The main reason for the end of pre-emptions was that homesteaders ran
out of public domain on which to settle. However, 4,847,136 acres were
granted under Homestead or Pre-emption laws.