Homestead and Kinkaid Act - Abraham Lincoln and Moses Kinkaid

[Eva Elisabeth]

Several sources say that Lincoln, due to the war and his adherence to the Whig theory of the presidency, had just little to do with most of the enactments and measures he signed (thus also with the Homestead Act). Was it really like this? And what about his two pocket vetoes? (Especially his refusal to sign the Wade-Davis Bill, I would doubt this was just a "passive" action).