On the Southern Homestead Act Meng Haiquan(117) Applying to the Southern public lands, the American Southern Homestead Act was i ssued in 1866. It was the result of a series of political, economic and military struggles. There existed lots of obstacles in the process of enforcement of the Act, and it failed in the end. The reasons for the failure were not only numero us specific difficulties. The root cause was that it lacked a solid economic bas e: In the social environment of capitalism, especially in the rising capitalist stage, it was unrealistic to carry out the Homested Act in the South by confisca ting private lands. Its implementation in smallscope inferior lands only was d oomed to failure.