The largest economic expansion in American history by far occurred in the wake of the Civil War after President Abraham Lincoln signed The Homestead Act of 1862 into law. This legendary piece of legislation GRANTED citizens 160 acres of public land with the understanding that they live on it for 5 years, improve it (i.e. build a home), and pay a small registration fee. In all the US government GRANTED more than 270 million acres to 1.6 million homesteaders who collectively opened up America west of the Mississippi.

©2016 Bloomberg News O1MO9G6JTSEA (Bloomberg) — Roughly 45 minutes before Donald Trump’s campaign would announce on Tuesday that he was skipping Thursday night’s Fox News debate, as always giddily tipping the Republican race into chaos in a yet another pique of strategic petulance (or is it petulant strategy?), Ted Cruz was