Settling the West

Unit 1 Part 1

Factors Encouraging Settlement

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Several factors encouraged Western settlement.

- The Railroads <-The Most Important One
- The Homestead Act of 1862
- The end of Reconstruction
- The Myth of the West

The Homestead Act of 1862

- The Act granted 160 acres in the Midwest to anyone
willing to live and farm the land for 5 years.
- Draws huge numbers of diverse people easterners, blacks, immigrants etc.
- The drawback is that the arid midwest makes
profitability difficult with only 160 acres.

The Morrill Land Grant Act

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Passed by Congress to create designated spaces for higher learning.

These colleges are referred to as Agricultural and Technical schools.
- Leads to the formation of numerous colleges and extends the
opportunity for education to many lower and middle class
children.

The Railroads
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The single greatest factor in settling the West.

Sold land from land grants cheaply
Bureau of Immigration encouraged settlement in the West.
Advertised myths to encourage settlement.
- Climate would cure all disease
- Women could find husbands, men could get rich quick

Ranching
-

Between 1836 & 1860 unowned cattle multiplied on the open range to 3-4
million (along with the 12-15 million buffalo) (Free Money!!!)
Distinguished only by branding owners didnt have to own much land
The Long Drive was established by 1866 where herds were driven to rail
centers in Kansas and Missouri
-

Routes were known as trails

The most famous was the Chisholm Trail - San Antonio to Abilene.

Farming
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High crop prices for wheat/corn encouraged cash crop farming

Large scale farming becomes a business
- Need mega $ to buy new combines, etc.
Emergence of bonanza farms
- Cyrus McCormicks mechanical reaper allows large farms to be
incredibly profitable.
- Pushes small farmers off the land
- Hired hands (Mexicans, Chinese) to work the farms
of American farms operated by tenants

Economic Problems
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CASH CROPS made farmers dependent on high prices

Foreign competition drove it down
DEFLATION farmers caught in debt cycle
have to produce more to pay back fixed debts
Overproduction drives prices down
MORTGAGES high interest; foreclosures
DEPENDENT ON RR for shipping high rates
Government Farm Policy
Government policy also hurt farmers
Govt favored industrial classes & urban areas
Local property taxes high

Cont.
Protective tariffs for industry; nothing for farmers
- Farmers were at mercy of corporations, trusts, agents:
- Machinery, fertilizer, barbed wire all controlled by major trusts
- Middlemen take cut of sales & kept prices high
- Storage rates for grain in warehouse & elevators high; RR freight
rates also high

The Exodusters
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Many freedmen will travel west to claim homesteading lands in Kansas

- Primarily an attempt to escape Jim Crow.