3. An American Tale: Fievel Goes West—Way Out West

4. An American Tale….
What was happening in the Cartoon Clip? What did we see?

5. Who were the settlers seen in the movie clip?
Immigrants from Europe
Those that ventured West would become known as Frontier Settlers
What made this possible?

6. Homestead Act (May 20, 1862)
The Homestead Act –set in motion a program of public land grants to small farmers.
any adult citizen (or person intending to become a citizen) who headed a family could qualify for a grant of 160 acres of public land
paying a small registration fee
living on the land continuously for five years.
If the settler was willing to pay $1.25 an acre,
he could obtain the land after only six
months’ residence.

7. The Lure of the West
When geographers study reasons for major migrations, they look at what they call push-pull factors-events and conditions that either force (push) people to move elsewhere or strongly attract (pull) them to do so. Here are some push-pull factors for moving west.
“Push” Factors
The Civil War had displaced thousands of farmers, former slaves, and other workers.
Eastern farmland was too costly.
Failed entrepreneurs sought a second chance in a new locations.
Ethnic and religious repression caused people to seek the freedom of the west.
Outlaws sought refuge.
“Pull” Factors
The Pacific Railway Acts of 1862 and 1864
Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862
Homestead Act, 1862
Legally enforceable property rights

8. GO WEST, YOUNG MAN! The Myth of the Frontier “Manifest Destiny”
Civil War over
Adventure
Resources
Wealth (Gold, Cattle, Land)

9. What was the benefit and drawback?
By the end of the Civil War, 15,000 homestead claims had been established
Provided a new beginning for Americans who were poor and living in crowded cities
Did not provide the new beginning for urban slum dwellers that some had hoped;
few families had the resources to start farming,
over time, the growing mechanization of agriculture led to the replacement of individual homesteads with a smaller number of much larger farms.

10. Pacific Railway Act
The federal government passed the Pacific Railway Acts of 1862 and 1864 after the South seceded from the Union.
enabled the United States government to make a direct grant of public land to private corporations for the construction of a trans-continental railroad system.
The Union Pacific Railroad, built West from the Missouri River, met the Central Pacific Railroad, East from Sacramento, California.
The two railroad giants met at Promontory Point, Utah, in the spring of By 1890, investors developed five more trans-continental lines.

11. What was the benefit and drawback?
Larger amounts of goods can ship faster
Safer travel then stagecoaches
Helped unpopulated areas get settled easier and faster
Natives lost their land
Natives were moved onto reservations
Tons of buffalo were killed for sport on the trains

12. Dawes Act 1887
Gave the President the power to select what land would be allotted for reservation
Passed to “Americanize” Native Americans
an attempt to transform Indians into independent farmers where most land was infertile
Threatened Indian Culture
If Indians accepted this grant of (their own) land they could then become full American citizens.

14. What was the benefit and drawback?
Opened Indian Territory for settlement, continuing with the idea of manifest destiny
Loss of Native American land
Final defeat for Native Americans in regard to their land