1. Moving West

2. The West Push Factors Pull Factors Government incentives
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

3. Pacific Railway Acts
1862, 1864
Large land grants to Union Pacific RR and Central Pacific RR
175 million acres

4. 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
NY took timber land from Wisconsin to fund Cornell University
The purpose of the land-grant colleges was without excluding other scientific and classical studies and including military tactic, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the State may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professionals in life

5. 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

6. 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”

8. Homesteader Homes Built with available materials (sod) Small
Functional as a shelter

9. Sodhouse on American Prairie

16. Homesteader lifestyle
Difficult
Subsistence farmers
Some livestock
Storms
Distance
Lack of building materials

17. Check It What’s the difference between a push and a pull factor?
What were three push factors?
What were three pull factors?
What impact did the Pacific Railway Act, the Homestead Act and the Morrill Land Grant Act have upon westward expansion?
Describe the life of a homesteader.
In what ways did the Homestead Act and the Indian Relocation Act have a similar impact upon America?

18. Homesteading and Primary Sources
Each group gets a set of Primary Source docs
Complete the Primary Source Activity within your group