Answer:
        (D) previous unsuccessful Homestead Act bills in Congress had been supported by eastern manufacturers and southern plantation owners

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Explanation:

The distribution of public lands in the late 18th and early 19th centuries was designed more for producing federal revenue than encouraging western settlement. The initial requirement of cash to purchase an entire 640 section was usually beyond the means of families. The requirement was reduced to half-sections (320 acres) in 1800 though the price was fixed at $1.25 an acre until 1854. Southern plantation owners and northern manufacturers opposed the Homestead Acts proposed in Congress in the 1850s, as the plantation owners feared the creation of new western states with residents opposed to slavery and factory owners were concerned about losing a cheap labor supply. With the South no longer in Congress due to secession, Homestead Act supporters were able to obtain its passage in 1862 and citizens and those applying for citizenship began applying for homesteads.  The requirements: the homesteader had to live on the land for five years, improve it by building a dwelling of 12 by 14 feet, and grow crops. In total, the Homestead Act granted federal land to over 1.5 million American families, distributing as much as 10% of the land in the United States. The last Homestead title was granted in 1988 in Alaska.