MOVING WEST THE WEST Push Factors Crowding back

MOVING WEST

THE WEST • Push Factors – Crowding back East – Displaced farmers – Former slaves – Eastern farmland was expensive – Ethnic and religious repression in Europe • Pull Factors – Government incentives • Pacific Railway Act • Morrill Land-Grant Act • Homestead Act – Private Property • Miners • Ranchers • Farmers

PACIFIC RAILWAY ACTS • 1862, 1864 • Large land grants to Union Pacific RR and Central Pacific RR • 175 million acres

MORRILL LAND GRANT ACT • 1862 • Each state government received 30, 000 acres of federal land, they can: – Sell it – Create land grant colleges for agricultural and mechanical arts • If their state doesn’t have enough land to give out the state was given a “scrip” that allowed them to take land from other states

HOMESTEAD ACT • 1862 • Small fee, settlers received 160 acres if: – 21 yrs old – Build a house – Live there at least 6 months of the year – Farm the land for 5 years in a row • 372, 000 farms • 80 million acres

EXODUSTERS • Freedmen looking for new start after the Civil War • Most headed to Kansas - “pulled” by the Homestead Act and free land • Exodusters based on the biblical “Exodus” of the Hebrews from Egypt - leaving bondage for freedom in the “Promised Land”

HOMESTEADER HOMES • Built with available materials (sod) • Small • Functional as a shelter

HOMESTEADER LIFESTYLE • Difficult • Subsistence farmers • Some livestock • Storms • Distance • Lack of building materials

CHECK IT 1. What’s the difference between a push and a pull factor? 2. What were three push factors? 3. What were three pull factors? 4. What impact did the Pacific Railway Act, the Homestead Act and the Morrill Land Grant Act have upon westward expansion? 5. Describe the life of a homesteader. 6. In what ways did the Homestead Act and the Indian Relocation Act have a similar impact upon America?

HOMESTEADING AND PRIMARY SOURCES • Each group gets a set of Primary Source docs • Complete the Primary Source Activity within your group