President James Buchanan’s veto of S. 416, the Homestead Act, June 22, 1860

In vetoing Congress’s homestead legislation of 1860, President James Buchanan presented several arguments, including that Congress lacked the constitutional authority to give away public lands. Buchanan, a Democrat, supported Southern interests who feared small farmers would outnumber slaveholders and tip the nation’s political balance against the South.

Records of the U.S. Senate, National Archives and Records Administration