Western Settlement ( )

Reasons for settling the West: 1. Mining Boom –Gold Rush (1849) and silver strikes –“Get rich quick” –Mining towns created

2. Transcontinental RailroadTranscontinental Railroad Completed in 1869 Union Pacific and Central Pacific work to complete RR line connecting Omaha, Nebraska to Sacramento, California. USA now “smaller”

3. The Homestead ActThe Homestead Act 160 acres of land given to settlers for FREE Land must be farmed for five years

“Manifest Destiny”

4. Manifest Destiny-Americans were destined to move across the continent; America destined to become larger and more powerful.

Impact of Western Settlement on Native Americans The buffalo populations were destroyed US Military put in charge of rounding up Native Americans and placing them on reservations Reservations: small areas of land set aside for Native Americans –Forced to become more like “white” people

The Indian Wars Series of conflicts between the US military and Native American Indians in the West (1860s-1880s) Goal was to remove Indians from their land to make room for white settlers The Battle of Little Bighorn (Custer’s Last Stand) – June 1876

Lt. Colonel George Custer