Settlement in the West

• What year was the Homestead Act?

  1862
• Why was the Civil War significant to settlement in the West?

  It changed America and led to a new wave of settlement in the West. Post-war reconstruction was important. ONe consequence of the American Civil War was the Homestead Act of 1862. Before the American Civil War, the southern states blocked plans to give away family-sized farm plots in the West because they wanted to promote large plantation farms worked by slaves. When the southern states split from the USA ( up until 1865 ), the Homestead Act could be passed into law
• What did the Homestead Act 1862 provide an incentive for?


  People to take up unclaimed land in the West and build a new life there
• What were the aims of the Homestead Act 1862?


  The US government wanted to encourage the settlement of the West by individual farmers rather than rich landowners buying up all the land in the West which is why the land was available very cheaply, most American citizens could file a claim for the land, homesteaders had to be able to prove they had lived on the land and improved it, homesteaders weren't allowed to file more than one claim
• How old did you have to be to file a claim?

  At least 21 or 18 if you fought for the North in the American Civil War
• Who could file a claim?

  American men and women and former slaves but not Native Americans or Confederate soldiers
• How much did it cost to file a claim?

  $10. If you worked the land for 5 years it would become your property for a further payment of $30
• How much land was given per person in the Homestead Act 1862?

  160 acres
• What were the consequences of the Homestead Act 1862?


  Over 6 million acres of federal land was homesteaded by 1876, 80 million acres was homesteaded by the end of the Act in the 1930s, the promise of free land was an important pull factor for immigration to the USA, it was significant in encouraging white settlement of the Plains especially in Nebraska where half of all settled land was homesteaded
• What were the limitations of the Homestead Act 1862?


  There was a high dropout in homesteading as 60% of claims were never 'proved up' often because of problems farming the Plains especially because the plots were too small for the dry Plains environment, the government gave 300 million acres to railroad acres who sold it to settlers which was more influential than the Homestead Act 1862 in settling the West, despite the government's aims rich landowners found lots of ways to buy up land using the Homestead Act
• When was the first transcontinental railroad built?

  1869
• When was the Pacific Railroad Act?

  1862
• Why did the US government need railroads to connect the east and west coasts?


  Railroads would enable troops to be moved around to control Native American uprisings, allow all Americans to keep in touch creating national unity, help to fulfil white Americans' Manifest Destiny by making it easier to migrate and secure more areas of the country, let federal officers reach new settlements that were having problems with law and order, promote the settlement of the West, transport goods to ports in Oregon and California which were well positioned to trade with the Far East
• The Pacific Railroad Act 1862

  The southern states had blocked the proposed route of the first transcontinental railroad ( Omaha to Sacramento ) because it benefited the North not the South so the Pacific Railroad Act could not be passed until the southern states temporarily left the Union in 1861. The Pacific Railroad Act granted the enormous job of building the first transcontinental railroad to 2 companies: the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific
• Which 2 companies built the first transcontinental railroad?

  Union Pacific and Central Pacific
• Did the US government support the first transcontinental railroad?


  There was massive federal financial support: $61 million in loans ( $16,000 for every mile of track laid, $48,000 per mile in the mountains ), 45 million acres of free land for the railroad companies to sell to settlers, the government also agreed treaties with Native Americans along the route to move them away to new reservations
• How did railroads promote settlement?

  By 1880 the railroad companies had settled 200 million acres in the West as they sold plots of land along their routes and set up towns at railheads, railroad 'Bureaus of Immigration' sent agents to Europe to persuade immigrants to come West and buy their land, the railroad companies used effective marketing to sell the idea of settling in the West
• Where was the first transcontinental railroad completed?

  Promontory Point, Utah 1869
• What period saw the development of different technological solutions to some of the problems of farming on the Plains?

  1862- 1876 saw the development of different technological solutions to some of the problems of farming the Plains as well as different farming methods. However many of these solutions were did not become widespread in the Plains until the 1880s and 1890s
• What problems were there with farming on the Plains?

  Lack of timber as there were not many trees, lack of water, hard arid land where crops would not grow, natural disasters e.g. prairie fires and pests destroyed crops, land holdings were too small, disease and lack of medical care, lack of education, isolation
• Why was a lack of timber a problem for life on the Plains?

  There was nothing to build houses with, there was nothing to make fences to contain cattle and protect crops from animals, there was nothing to use for heating and cooking
• Why was a lack of water a problem for life on the Plains?

  There was low rainfall and few rivers and lakes
• Why was hard, arid land a problem for settlers on the Plains?

  Ploughs often broke going through deep-rooted grass, low rainfall prevented growth of crops like maize and wheat which farmers were growing back east
• Why were natural disasters a problem for settlers on the Plains?

  Pests such as grasshoppers could destroy a whole season's crop, fire spread quickly and burned everything
• What is meant by land holdings were too small?

  The 160 acres allocated in the Homestead Act 1862 could not support the average family
• Why was disease a problem for settlers on the Plains?

  Sod houses were hard to keep clean and had no sanitation
• Why was there a lack of education on the Plains?

  Most homesteads were too far away from towns with schools
• Why was isolation a problem for settlers on the Plains?

  Life was lonely and tough on the Plains
• What were the solutions to a lack of timber on the Plains?

  People built sod houses made from blocks of earth, in 1874 Joseph Glidden invented barbed wire which was quick and cheap to erect, women collected dried buffalo and cattle dung which was used for fuel
• What was the solution to the lack of water on the Plains?

  Drills were developed to find underground water, then wind pumps were built to bring water to the surface
• What were the solutions to hard, arid land on the Plains?

  Mass-produced and stronger machinery from eastern factories helped cultivate land more easily, new techniques like dry farming which conserved rainwater were used, migrants from Russia used Turkey Red wheat which thrived on the Plains
• What was the solution to natural disasters on the Plains?

  There was no solution. Homesteaders could be bankrupted by such disasters
• What was the solution to land holdings being too small on the Plains?

  The Timber Culture Act 1873 let homesteaders have another 160 acres of they promised to plant trees on half of it. The Desert Land Act 1877 let settlers buy 640 acres of desert land cheaply
• What was the solution to disease on the Plains?

  Women cared for the sick using their own remedies. As communities grew doctors arrived
• What was the solution to the lack of education on the Plains?

  Women taught the young. As communities grew single female teachers arrived and schools developed
• What were the solutions to isolation on the Plains?

  Railroads improved travel and brought much needed supplies to homesteaders, communities worked together to build schools and churches, women homesteaders formed valuable social networks
• What factors added to pressures on law and order in the West?

  The Civil War and railroads
• Why did the American Civil War have significant impacts on lawlessness in the West?

  Young men from the defeated southern states often resented the victorious US government and its laws, large numbers of young men had been traumatised and wounded by the experience of the war and found it hard to fit in to regular society, the war devastated the South's economy leaving many without jobs
• How did railroads have an impact on lawlessness in the West?

  The new towns created by the railroads in the West were known as 'Hell on Wheels' which were notorious for gambling, prostitution and heavy drinking, they often grew very quickly and had no local law enforcement, some were 'cow towns' where cowboys who had just been paid after weeks of driving cattle enjoyed drinking, dancing and fighting, trains replaced stagecoaches for transporting valuables which made them a target for train robbers
• Who were the Pinkertons?

  A private detective company. Banks, railroad and stagecoach companies employed them to track down robbers and thieves as well as provide general advice and protection