The Significance of the American Frontier and Railroad System The American Frontier and Railroad System provided a new and shining horizon for the majority of American civilians. Prior to the Westward expansion of America, majority of the territory located within the west remained uninhabited and untamed. The Homestead act, which was signed by Lincoln in 1862, provided willing settlers 160 acres of land. The only requirements for the settlers was five years of continuous residence on the land and a small fee. This was a major contributor for western expansion and cultivation of the land. Additionally, this was the one of the first time within history where the authority put forth effort to help and promote becoming a landowner
By 1800 the least amount of land owned is 320 acres. The settlers had to pay 4 payments for $1.25 pre acre until 1854. The Federal Government makes a law that they only had to pay for 30 years, then 54 years in 1785. They could only own 640 acres for a township split into 36 sections. 1854 they made the cost for 12 ½ cents. The Legislation was stymied three times in 1852, 1854, 1859. They passed the Homestead act in 1859 [the House of representatives passed it], in 1862 the homestead came law. This was before the slavery removal act. In 1862 you could pay a $1.25 per acre for six months after the Civil-War. The people who did have the Homestead act for 160 acres were mostly
From 1864s to the beginning of the 20th century the American economy was transformed from free-market to monopoly and became a typical imperialist country. The economy was quick growing in the new ranges in the nation.This period saw the settlement of Anglo-American in the western fields, which were unlimited unmoving grounds possessed by Indians through The Homestead Act of 1862. The western boondocks had the capacity bring various improvements through commercializing of mining, rail route transport, and cultivating and dairy cattle organizations.
It was originally opposed by Northern manufacturers, who feared the loss of inexpensive labor; and Southern slaveholders, who feared the development of free soil. It was intended to branch Western immigration, but numerous frontiersmen would fail and arrive home. The Homestead Act provided settlers with 160 acres of surveyed public land. By living on the property for five years and improving it, a small fee would grant the settler the land. This served as a way to encourage the development of the family farm and fill in the normally unoccupied region in the Great Plains in which railroads facilitated this growth. Because of the severe environmental circumstances of the Great Plain region, the Homestead Act turned out to be less effective than anticipated.
Has there ever been a super big change in your life just randomly? Which do you believe the transcontinental railroad changed the United States more politically, socially, or economically? The transcontinental railroad changed the United States most socially because it changed the relationships with the indians, moved people west, and changed the different ethnic groups in the US.
Inventions like the iPhone have paved the road for social, economical, and political improvements. It allowed many opportunities for people to capitalize on whether it be economically like amazon, or socially like youtube as did the railroad that connected the states together. The transcontinental railroad most impacted America economically through encouraging imports and exports amongst the states, making transportation cheaper, and opening up cities along the railroad itself.
562-3). The resulting support of Westerners for this measure contributed in no small part to Lincoln’s victory that year. Representative Galusha Grow reintroduced the Homestead Bill to Congress in Lincoln’s first term, and on May 20, 1862 the president officially signed it into law (Porterfield 27). By signing the law, he created a method of westward expansion that would exist for the next 123 years and eventually was responsible for the settlement of over 270 million acres of the American landscape (Poterfield
In 1852 a political group (Free Soil Party) demand that people would be allowed to acquire free homesteads.The free homestead act was known as the most important act for the welfare The People passed in the US. Homesteads are tracts of land acquired under the homestead Act. The people of The West were poor, so of course they approved of the bill, but there was strong
Any American including freed slaves could claim a land up to 160 acres for free if they worked on the land for 5 years (Doc. B). What this meant for the Native Americans was that they now have less land to hunt on so they are resorted to the reservations. Forty-eight million acres were given away. In 1872 there was an advertisement on the Homestead Act showing millions of acres in Iowa and Nebraska (Doc. E). Also in 1862, the Morrill Land-Grant Act was created to allow the creation of land-grant colleges in the US (Doc. C). It was a huge uplift to higher education in
The Homestead Act was a vital part of the Westward Expansion and a unique opportunity for people. The Homestead Act was the first time the government had ever offered free land, and the land was offered to anyone, regardless of citizenship, gender, or adulthood. Even teenagers wanting a new life started homesteads because the minimum age was 15 to own a piece of land according to the Homestead Act. It was an opportunity for many people to start their life over and to build something. However, the way was hard and fraught with difficulty but the rewards were worth the effort.
for it (Cooke 254). If it had been left to the government, it would have taken
The First Transcontinental Railroad, completed in 1869 by the U.S. government under president and former Army general Ulysses S. Grant, was a defining moment in American history. The railroad, which stretches across 1,900 miles of mountainous terrain, was completed nearly 6 years after construction began in 1863. The First Transcontinental Railroad became the cornerstone of the economic prosperity in the western United States, allowing American citizens to conveniently travel to the west coast in a matter of days. The creation of this railroad, along with the American dream of unifying the coasts, is what ultimately drove Americans to colonizing and transforming the west into the urban environment it is today. Significantly, this railroad became the physical manifestation of Manifest Destiny, or the idea that America not only could, but was destined to be connected between its coasts. The First Transcontinental Railroad became the physical manifestation of the American Identities consisting of American Exceptionalism, Manifest Destiny, as well as the fundamental American ideals such as prosperity, freedom, and democracy which were first brought to the continent in the 1600s.
The Transcontinental railroad was the most prolific tool for United States western expansion and acted as jet fuel to the fire of the United States economy. The railroad revolutionized transportation of goods and the freedom that Americans now had to travel from coast-to-coast.
After America acquired the West, the need for efficient transportation heightened. Ideas circulated about a railroad that would spread across the continent from East to West. Republican congresses ruled for the federal funding of railroad construction, however, all actions were halted for a few years on account of a war. Following the American Civil War of 1861-1865, the race to build transcontinental railroad began in 1866. Lincoln approved Pacific Railway Act of 1862, granting two railroad companies the right to build the first American transcontinental railroad, (Clark 432).
Since the beginning of recorded history, mankind has been caught in the middle of being
In a bid to encourage people onto the Plains advertisements told success stories of those who had claimed land under the terms of the Homestead Act and had become successful. It divided 2.5 million acres of Plains land into sections or homesteads of 160 acres. People could now claim 160 acres of land. The only requirement on their part was that they paid a small charge and built a house or added something to the land such as a house or a well and lived on the land for at least 5 years.