The Emergence of Homestead Exemption in the United States: Accommodation and Resistance to the Market Revolution, 1840-1880

Abstract

The time must come, sooner or later, proclaimed Schuyler Colfax in 1850 at the Indiana constitutional convention, when the Home shall be secure-when the cabin of the poor man shall be really his castle. Colfax's hopes quickly bore fruit, for a new state constitution incorporated a homestead exemption provision. Indeed, most states adopted that policy, either by statute or by constitutional mandate. Indiana's 1851 constitution provided that the privilege of the debtor to enjoy the necessary comforts of life shall be recognized by wholesome laws, exempting a reasonable amount of property from service or sale for the payment of any debt. In 1852 Indiana gave statutory specificity to constitutional provision by exempting from seizure up to $300 in real or personal property. Over a decade earlier, Georgia had taken similar action, declaring that it does not comport with the principles of justice, humanity or sound policy to deprive the family of an unfortunate debtor of a home and the means of an honest subsistence. Georgia's 1841 Poor Man's Law secured from seizure 20 acres (and an additional 5 acres for each child) to any white