George Will things that the Homestead Act serves as model for conservatism. Will has one of the best one-sentence descriptions of conservatism I have seen in a long time: "Unpack the implications of those two sentences [from the Inaugural] and you will find the core of conservatism updated for Republicans who think of themselves as a party of governance rather than of opposition to government, and who have come to terms with this fact: Americans talk like Jeffersonians but expect to be governed by Hamiltonians."
It sounds like he has been sitting in on my History 430 class. He closes with: "That is the crux of modern conservatism -- government taking strong measures to foster in the citizenry the attitudes and aptitudes necessary for increased individual independence."
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