The area we know today as Elmwood was still a wandering haunt of the Omaha, Pawnee, and Otoe

Sugar Creek: Life on the Illinois Illinois Prairie, a monograph written by John Mack Faragher discusses the life of settlers in Sugar Creek a town of Sagaman county, Illinois. Faragher argues the discoveries of the environment, society, culture, and economy in Sugar Creek throughout the nineteenth century and the changes, development, improvements with it. There are four common themes throughout the monograph: First, the kicking out of the Kickapoo and other Indians in place of Anglo-Americans. Second, the relationship and changes between men and women’s roles throughout the nineteenth century. Third, the community life and the sensibility of bringing the town together. Finally, the transition of agriculture and the innovations that changed the town. Faragher uses many censuses, charts, and records to get an idea of the transition of life in Sugar Creek and the affects it had on the community. Although Faragher presents many arguments he does not entirely discuss the men’s involvement in contrast to women’s roles in the household and town.

History is like a die. It can have a small or large number of sides, but it can never have just one. Regarding the United States Westward Expansion in the Post-Civil War era, there were many sides to be taken into account, including (but not limited to) the Apache Indians, the US Government workers and soldiers, the American Elite, journalists, and scholars. How historians and others perceive this era is dependent on the primary sources available. By looking at sources such as Apache Chief Geronimo’s Story of His Life, Harvard Educated Ranch Manager Richard Trimble’s Letters to his Mother, and Financial Editor H.D. Lloyd’s “Story of a Great Monopoly”, one can unearth little nuggets of information that help determine how the process of incorporation affected large and diverse groups of people.

Emmons, D., & Udall, S. L. (2003). Part II: Settlement in the Old West: Correcting the Record. In Forgotten Founders: Rethinking the History of the Old West. [http://site.ebrary.com/lib/westerngovernors/docDetail.action?docID=10081834&page=154]. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/westerngovernors/docDetail.action?docID=10081834&page=154

Oklahoma was once referred to as the “Unassigned Lands” (Fugate,138). This land was land inside Indian Territory that had not been claimed by one of the tribes (Hoig). Whites believed they were entitled to this land and wanted to get the statement across that America is a “white man’s country” (Dorman, 38). Immediately after Benjamin Harrison, the United States of America’s president at the time, announced the land would be opened for settlement, people began gathering their belongings, loading their wagons, or preparing their horses for travel. Thousands of people crowded the borders of the Unassigned Lands in hopes of establishing a settlement in the area (Fugate,140). At noon on April 22, 1889, people dashed across the land with their belongings seeking a plot of land. The Oklahoma Land Run was an exciting, puzzling, and in some cases, a violent day in Oklahoma’s history.

One of the many subjects of critical importance in American history was the relocation of American Indians, known as the Indian Removal. President Andrew Jackson favored the rapid settlement of Western and Southern lands by whites, therefore he wanted to make a drastic change, and he certainly did. In his two terms as president, Jackson worked to implement his vision of a politics of opportunity for all white men (The American Promise, 285). He held the belief that previous efforts to promote the assimilation of Indian peoples had failed. In his 1830 letter to Congress, Jackson announced the benefits resulting from the relocation of the native people, and the “pecuniary advantages” that such movement would bestow on the Anglo American population

The purpose of the Homestead Act of 1862 was to promote westward migration within the United States of America. By examining the jarring environmental conditions present throughout the Great Plain region and the duplicitous state

The comparison of the early Westward movement and the Euroamerican settlement of Oklahoma were almost identical. The Indian tribal leaders “Twin C’s” and “Coercion” decided to move onto former Indian lands obtained by the U.S government. The Indians, pioneer farmers, and their families had to live in rude shelters. The Indians needs and wishes were as usual ignored by the government.

Throughout the years, following the civil war (1860’s-1900’s), the United States was guilty of genocide on the behalf of the Native Americans. The Natives were discriminated against and were pressured into abandoning the Midwest and the Great Plains due to excruciating circumstances. The Homestead and Pacific Railroad Acts pushed the Native Americans to the brink of existence. The policies within the acts targeted these tribes in order to pursue the goals of the government. The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed the selling of hundreds of acres of land to families, therefore tripling the amount of farms from two million to six million in a matter of decades. This led to over 500,000 natives migrating westward, while families inhabiting the former

On April 17th, I attended an Honors College thesis presentation by Barbara Armeta, an American Studies major here at UMass Lowell. Throughout her presentation, she explains the research she did on a ranch owned by her family and the history of the land. Armeta started her presentation by going all the way back through her family line to the end of the Spanish - American war. She introduced Electa Ousley, who was one of the first women in Gilroy, CA to be granted the right to claim her own land. Ousley and her husband were one of the early pioneers in Santa Clara County who made the wagon train journey during the Gold Rush.

Congress passed the Homestead Act, in 1862, which enabled Americans the ability to file a claim for 160 acres of land. The land could transfer ownership from the U.S. to the individual if bought outright for 1.25 per acre or after 5 years of living and improving the land. The incredible deal the Homestead Act offered promoted the settling of western lands and growth of the United States. Homestead Act acted as the catalyst in the development of the pressures on the Unassigned Lands to homestead settlement and the eventual creation of Oklahoma

These early years of Franklin were a model of how Mormon and Cache Valley settlements developed both in the ways in which land became divided, and how city lots measured out to (approximately 1 ¼ acres) accommodate a garden, barn, and outbuildings. While recollecting the simple life of Franklin’s early years, Joshua Hawkes said that “the prospect appeared good…our house was but a log one and not that very stylish. I put in a small crop of wheat and had some volunteers which made us an ample amount for the season.” In the center of the fort stood a bowery where formal worship services and council meetings took place as well as a community well, and corral to conceal cattle from night-time Indian raids and attacks from wild animals. Besides these, every man also had a cane lot east of town, on which he raised sugar cane, along with hay lands lying south and west of town, near the cemetery. Broom corn was also later grown east of town, in which the corn and stalks were turned into homemade brooms. Early settlers such as Everett C. Van Orden, became attracted to pasture lands west of Franklin. Later with the Homestead Law being placed in Lewiston, and in 1869 a land office being established in Salt Lake City it made it possible for others to occupy land legally with a five-year residence required for ownership. As a result of the Homestead Law and Franklin’s available land, families such as the Van Orden’s claimed up to 160 acres of land in Lewiston,

After reading chapters 1 and 2 in our textbook I discovered many policies that were instated to help in the expansion of the West. The one I would like to discuss is the Homestead Act of 1862. Shortly after the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was instated (moving many Native Americans off of western territories), many white individuals were hungry for more land. George Henry Evans, a labor leader in the House, felt he had a solution to the job deficit problem arising in the East. If he could provide these low income individuals with low-cost or free land, it could help eliminate the issue. Most of the abolitionist were in favor of this act, feeling that it could help end issues associated with slavery and the poor. While

Most of us have learnt about the Trail of Tears as an event in American history, but not many of us have ever explored why the removal of the Indians to the West was more than an issue of mere land ownership. Here, the meaning and importance of land to the original Cherokee Nation of the Southeastern United States is investigated. American land was seen as a way for white settlers to profit, but the Cherokee held the land within their hearts. Their removal meant much more to them than just the loss of a material world. Historical events, documentations by the Cherokee, and maps showing the loss of Cherokee land work together to give a true Cherokee

When the time comes to leave one’s land, the true value of it is revealed. Grampa decides he “ain’t a goin’” because even though the Oklahoman land is “no good” it is still his land (Steinbeck 111). The connection to the land is through memories and history, not because of profit. The connection is underlying in the identity of the people who live on it. The same connection between the people and the land

As many headed westward in the mid 1800’s, many were also concerned about the destruction of Indian civilization, wildlife, and wilderness as eastern settlements spread westward. Explorers also began to take quite an interest this new land in the west, specifically