The West Aim: Did visions of the West match the realities of Westward settlement?

Imagining the West

Realities of Westward Settlement

I. Gov’t Provides Land for Settlement A. In 1860s, railroads received land grants, which prompted westward settlement B. Morrill Land-Grant Act (1862) – gov’t gave land to states to fund agricultural colleges. States sold the land to bankers and land speculators, who made big profits C. Homestead Act (1862) – Offered 160 acres of land to settlers who: were 21 years old paid a $10 registration fee agreed to build a house and occupy their homestead for at least six months a year agreed to farm the land for 5 years

II. Exodusters To escape the slave-like conditions in the South, 50,000 blacks organized a mass migration, or exodus, to Kansas

III. Economic Opportunity Mining (“boom towns”) Ranchers Commercial farming

IV. Frederick Jackson Turner’s “Frontier Thesis” The frontier had shaped American character Frontier was a safety valve for the east and promoted equality, individualism, inventiveness, etc. By 1890, he argued, frontier no longer existed (census)

VI. Native American Policy Indian Wars Nearly 400 treaties with Indians had been broken by whites 1864 – Sand Creek Massacre 1866-Red Cloud War 1876-Battle of Little Big Horn 1890-Battle of Wounded Knee Dawes Act (1887) Attempt to Americanize the Native Americans Broke up tribes and granted land directly to Indians as individuals or families Granted land deeds and citizenship to Native Americans who abandoned tribal ways Reduced size of Indian population and left them impoverished Boarding Schools Forced Native Americans to assimilate into American society i.e., Carlisle Century of Dishonor, by author Helen Hunt Jackson Exposed to the public the American government’s mistreatment of Native Americans