Westward Movement What factors influenced American growth and expansion in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century?

After the Civil War, the westward movement of settlers intensified in the gigantic region between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean.

Cowboys The years immediately before and after the Civil War were the era of the American cowboy Long cattle drives for hundreds of miles over unfenced open land in the West, the only way to get cattle to market

Open Range grazing Barbed wire “gang” rivalries

Rebuild Southerners, including African Americans in particular; moved west to seek new opportunities after the Civil War.

Homestead Act of 1862 160 acres of land to the head of the household -gave free public land in the western territories to settlers who would live on and farm the land

New Technologies Railroads Mechanical reaper Opened new lands in the West for settlement Made farming profitable by increasing the efficiency of production and linking resources and markets

By the turn of the century, the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains regions of the American West were no longer a mostly unsettled frontier, but were fast becoming regions of farms, ranches, and towns.

Indian Removal Began in 1832 (Indian Removal Act) and continued through the early 20th century

Many Indian Conflicts! Little Bighorn “Custer’s Last Stand” Wounded Knee Sand Creek