Homestead Law: An Allusion To The Homestead Law

However, there were many positive economic aspects for American citizens who were moving westward. The Homestead Act of 1862 was an incentive for people to move

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

During the Civil War a special act of Congress, known as the Homestead Act of 1862, made it possible that federal land in the west, divided

On May 20, 1862, the Homestead Act was passed (Homestead Act). This act stated that any adult citizen who had never borne arms against the United States government could claim 160 acres of surveyed government land (Homestead Act). The government

After the Civil War there were many factors that contributed the changes that occurred in farming in America. Among them was the drive for the South to renew and regain what had been lost due to the war. Leaders saw it as a time to diversify and turn towards industrialization. The Industrial revolution was underway and with it brought many new inventions that would lead to growth in the farming industry. The wide open space between the East and the West called “The Frontier” was open for homesteading. New immigrants with their farming knowledge and ability were flooding the East and West gates of the U.S. This was a time in American history when Americans

The environment of the west had played a major role in shaping the settlement West of the Mississippi River. As expressed in the map of the land West of the Mississippi, the geography had a significant impact on settlement. This explains the location of Grasslands, Forests, Deserts, and the location of rivers throughout western land. The geography of the land had a direct impact on the Homestead Act of 1862, which gave citizens 160 acres of land in the west as long as they stayed on the land for five years. Due to

There were acts passed during the Gilded Age that promoted Westward expansion, and, as a result, allowed for businesses to rise to prominence. The Morrill Grants, notably in 1890, established many agricultural and vocational colleges in the United States to promote more industry supplemented with an educated workforce to grow in the sparsely populated West. (Westward expansion.) The Homestead Act also was a source of motivation for many aspiring wealth-seekers to settle West. (Homestead Act.) The settlement of the West allowed for the rise of the railroad industry, both private and government-operated, which was one of the stepping stones in the steep quest for industry. Railroads allowed for easy access and shipment of raw materials from one edge of the country to another. Also in support of Westward Expansion was Frederick Jackson Turner, who promoted Westward settlement in his Frontier Thesis. In this thesis, he claims that the West is America’s ultimate frontier, and stressed the process of settling the frontier. (Turner Thesis.) Westward expansion and the settlement of the frontier saw the rise of the railroad industry and American business, and also allowed for certain entrepreneurs throughout the country to take advantage of their opportunity, despite causing harm to many small businesses that were practicing fair business methods. (Ida

Westward Expansion started with President Thomas Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase from the French for only fifteen million dollars. This allowed landless families to migrate from where they currently were to a new place with fresh lands to claim. This had a few effects such as increasing the size of the country, while providing land and means for income to families. During the course of westward expansion the size of the United States took a drastic population increase, with the overall population going from five million to seventy-six million. This set the U.S. on the fast track to expand out to the west coast. Abraham Lincoln signed in to law the Homestead Act, which gave people willing to

Document B talks about how it was also hard for colored farmers to make a living especially after the Civil War. “They had to get the local merchant or someone else to supply the food for the family to eat while the first crop was being made.” (Document B) After the Civil War they didn’t have much land and many became homesteaders who were given 160 acres along with regulations they must follow. Only 40% of the applicants actually completed the process and were given the extra land promised for them completion of 160 acres. However many found it difficult to make profit off such little amount of land during that time, for that was the reason most failed to finish

After the Transcontinental Railroad, a railway that stretched across the entire US, was completed in 1869, there were new opportunities expanding in the West. According to the Homestead Act Document which was written in May of 1862, people could obtain free land when under certain conditions, such as “...who has never borne arms against the United States Government…,” and being an approved citizen of the United States. These people were allowed a certain allotment of land in the west, and all they had to do was move there. This allowed expansion for the US, and it made more room for the massive amounts of immigrants pouring in to the country. The Homestead Act of 1862 created a positive effect on the people coming into the United States, and it helped to expand the territory of the country to potentially develop more towns and opportunities for

Westward expansion was a new thing and time in our country and had many impacts on the American people and ways of life. The government made it available to buy a lot more of land in the West. Our government gave opportunities for people to move west for a better life or more land in the west. The government gave opportunities like the homestead act where the government would give families 160 acres of land if they moved west at the time this deal was going on. This act was signed into law by President Lincoln in 1862. People moved west for any opportunity they could. People moved for a new life, more land, and more opportunities in

The westward movement gained momentum rapidly after the Revolution. The frontier advance, slowed by the Indian uprisings, was quickly resumed after 1815 when Britain no longer gave support to various Indian tribes. The availability of cheap land that could be purchased on credit because of the Harrison Land Law made the areas west of the Appalachians to the Rockies very appealing. The movement can be likened to a procession of settlement. The first settlers were hunters, traders and explorers. After them, farmers began to settle the land to give the region stability for the United States.

The Westward expansion provided settlers with fertile lands and according to the Homestead Act, settlers did not require to be an American citizen to fill for lands. Farmers farmed extensively, which led to smaller agriculture’s share of the economy. Although the country was producing more than its consumption, statistically; reflect a decline in the importance of farming, the farmers exported the excess. However, the migration from rural to urban areas increased due to the dominance of wage labor and the rise of industrial America, such as railroads. At this era, the whole economy seemed like to revolve around railroads, every company needs railroad to export/import goods, or accessible transportation, and it was a major supplement that powered the industrial economy. The steel rails accounted for an enormous percentage of the steel production in the United States, also a major consumer of coal and lumber, opened an unlimited

Free land led to new opportunities, and it was up to each individual and their desire to work hard and climb the economic and social ladder: “…each frontier did indeed furnish a new field of opportunity, a gate of escape from the bondage of the past; and freshness, and confidence, and scorn of older society…”(Turner, 100). Everything was open to the man who knew how to seize the opportunity. The self-made man became the ideal of the West, and eventually every man in the U.S.A. should be like him.

Near UCSF’s San Francisco General campus, a tired doctor could be forgiven for overlooking The Homestead as a happy hour choice. With peanut shells on the floor, tastefully ironic boudoir paintings on the walls, and cocktails with names like Corpse Reviver #2, the bar could be yet another Mission hipster hole-in-the-wall. But The Homestead is more than just a place for bearded twenty-somethings (and their omnipresent dogs) to get a pickle and a $2 Tecate. In fact, the bar is the birthplace of UCSF’s Institute for Global Orthopedics and Traumatology, a small, innovative program with big worldwide intentions. Sure, IGOT has a proper home in an elegant brick building near General’s main entrance, but the heart and soul of the program is the Thursday