Factors That Contributed To The Westward Expansion Of The United States From 1860 To 1890

Life in the nineteenth-century Nebraska was rapidly developing. An increase in automation, industrialization, and modernization all took hold just before the turn of the nineteenth century and furthered its hold across the nation. The Homestead Act of 1954 was a major kick start to get the development of the west rolling and to further settlement across the continent. Many early settlers came from all across the globe. They were newly arrived immigrants, American farmers without land, young families with children, single women, former slaves freed during the Civil War.

The United States was not interested in having people with different cultures, languages, and religions where an older generation of moralists thought it violate a core principle of republicanism, while a younger generation believed that the United States had a role to uplift backward societies. When the foreign policy changed after 1890, the US became an imperialist nation. After the United States bought Alaska from Russia the US quickly decided to look into overseas. Their plan was to take over other foreign lands and slowly gain an empire, and soon become a world power. The two major causes for US expansion after 1890 were for economic benefits and military control overseas.

The Homestead Acts gave 160 acres of government owned land to small farmers who were either U.S. citizens or planing to become one. In exchange these people would pay a small registration fee and had to promise to live on the land for at least five years. Many people thought this was a fair trade off so packed their bags and started heading west.

Westward Expansion Document-Based Question Essay During the mid-1800s there was a large movement for Americans who lived on the East coast to move westward. This caused hardships to the movers to the west, as well as the Native Americans and the Land. The settlers thrived from Westward Expansion, but they unfairly took everything away from the people and the animals who were there before. The movement was mainly started by large deposits of gold found in western areas which made many people want to try and find gold for themselves.

Under the Homestead Act westerners were provided up to 160 acres of land in which they would live and farm for five years before obtaining ownership of the land. Though five years was a rather substantial trade off, the land

The Louisiana Purchase is one of the most momentous accomplishments in the history of the United States. The attainment of the Louisiana territory is arguably the largest land purchase in the world. General Horatio Gates stated this about the Louisiana Purchase “let the land rejoice... for you have bought Louisiana for a song” (Harriss). This attainment of new territory led to additional significant events in history that helped shape America. As a result of the Louisiana territory the way of government was also challenged in what a president may or may not do and if their powers extended past what was specifically laid out in the constitution.

Jimmy Waw Mr. Mancha September 26, 2017 Essay I will describe to you three federal land grants that were instrumental in opening westward expansion in the United States. These three include the Transcontinental Railroad, Homestead Act, and the Morrill Act. The transcontinental railroad is a train route across the United States that was completed in the year 1869. This was a project of two railroad companies called the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific.

History has been distorted and shifted through limited point of views. History is made up of more than just the famous. Common people make up the biggest part of history, rarely is their side of the story heard. According to the central ideas of the texts, Thomas Jefferson’s America 1801 by Stephen Ambrose, American Progress by John Gast, and Chief Joseph Speaks by Chief Joseph, the claim that there is no true history of westward expansion is supported. Thomas Jefferson’s America, 1801 by Stephen Ambrose supports the claim that there is no true history of westward expansion.

The Westward Expansion began in 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase. President Thomas Jefferson wanted to make the United States a better place and to do so he believed that if people moved to the west that the nation would improve. ‘By 1840 almost 7 million Americans had migrated westward in hopes of securing land and being prosperous.’ This was the beginning of the westward expansion with the Louisiana Purchase.

The U.S had gained a lot of land, or frontiers in the West from Mexico. The land was undeveloped, therefore the U.S had to find a way to develop the land. The U.S would come up with the Homestead Act. The Homestead Acts states that any citizen or anyone planning to become a citizen is eligible to gain 160 acres of land, typically to form farms. The plan was intended to make the people stay in that land and create a

In the 1800s, America was expanded from “sea to shining sea”. The expansion was a responsibility of the presidents of the United States. More people came to America which caused farmland to be scarce and decrease. Settlers had to move west for more land and opportunity, which would have not been possible without the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Other than land and opportunity, there were many reasons someone would have chosen to move to the new land in the west.

“In 1820, about 58 towns more than 2500 inhabitants; by 1840, there were 126 such towns, located mostly in the Midwest and Northeast.” The fastest growth occurring in areas were near canals, railroads, and roads because of the easy access of raw and manufactured materials. Toward the later 19th century, the settlers began to move west for cheaper property because the land inhabited near the town built around transportation was getting

The Homestead Act and Pacific Railway Act were both implemented by the government in hopes of igniting Westward expansion. The Homestead Act was finalized in 1862, it allowed “any head of a family or anyone older than 21 could have 160 acres of public land on the payment of small fees” (W&R,133). In short, the Homestead Act allowed the expansion towards the West to be affordable and later (with the introduction of railways) it would prove profitable. The Pacific Railway Act was also passed in 1862 and it “granted a charter of incorporation to the Union Pacific Railroad, which was authorized to build a line from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to the western boundary of Nevada. The Central Pacific, incorporated under the laws of California in 1861, was

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were periods of tremendous urban growth that radically changed the country. Between 1860 and 1910, the population of cities with 2,500 or more residents climbed from 6 million to 46 million. Some of this new urban population came from the American countryside – between 1880 and 1910, about 11 million Americans moved to cities from rural areas. Millions more were immigrants. But in any case, American society, culture, politics, economics – in short, everything -- was changed in the transformation from rural, agricultural country to urban, industrial nation.

How does a changing economy impact the rest of the country? The ways that people got around had a lot to do with the changing economy as well as impacting the rest of the country. The Homestead act also had a large influence on the economy. The railroads helped the city in some ways, but also hurt them.