To qualify under the law, the "squatter" had to be the following: The Act further provided that Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Michigan, or any state thereafter admitted to the Union would be paid 10% of the proceeds from the sale of such public land.
The Preemption Act allowed individuals to claim federal land as their personal property.
To preserve ownership, the claimant had to accomplish specific things to legitimize the claim.
Sections 8 and 9 of the Preemption Act granted 500,000 acres of land to each included state and provided that the proceeds from the sales of such lands "shall be faithfully applied to objects of internal improvement [...] namely, roads, railways, bridges, canals and improvement of water-courses, and draining of swamps.
"[1] The Preemption Act of 1841 helped to establish the doctrine of Manifest Destiny in North America.