The act is designed to give legal ownership to those squatting on federally-held lands. In order to be eligible, a person must be be a head of household, a single man over the age of 21 or a widow, a citizen of the United States (and therefore white), and must have lived on the land for at least 14 months. In order to retain their claim, squatters are required to "improve" the land through farming. If the land is left fallow for more than six months, the government has the right to take it back. The act will be primarily applied in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Michigan, but specifies that it will also include any state that comes into existence after the Act has passed.