What role did the federal government play in the exploration of the West? The role the federal government played in westward exploration is uncountable. There were many key things the federal government a few noteworthy were the Homestead Act, the federal postal service, and railroads. However, these were just a few roles that the federal government had a huge part in, settlers were optimistic moving west. Firstly, the Homestead Act was enacted during the Civil war in 1862. Declaring any citizen, hopeful citizen or as long as you have not acted in a war against the united states can acquire 160 acres of federal lands. Conditional on the terms of improving the land with buildings or farming. In five years of meeting the conditions the citizens would then become landowners, also there were a couple options for citizens to speed up that process, or pay for their land outright. Although the idea of the Act was to spur the westward migration, it fell short according to Our Documents “Most of the land went to speculators, cattlemen, miners, lumbermen, and railroads. Of some 500 million acres dispersed by the General Land Office between 1862 and 1904, only 80 million acres went to homesteaders” (Our Documents - Homestead Act (1862) , paragraph 4). …show more content…
Furthering the correspondence between extended families, while giving businesses a fast and easy way to stay involved with clients and opportunities. The postal service is another way that politics was spread from the east coast to the west. Stamp a day says “ In 1823, ten years after the Post Office had first begun to use steamboats to carry mail between post towns where no roads existed, waterways were declared post roads. All railroads in the United States were designated as post routes, after the passage of the Act of July 7, 1838. Mail service by railroad increased rapidly thereafter” (Jochim 2017, paragraph
result of this purchase, the U.S. population was able to expand and increase. The Federalist favored the sale of large land parcels to wealthy speculators instead of small parcel sales to farmers and contributed to the inflation of land values. Federalists were in control so they could determine anything that they wanted as far as the land goes. Thomas Jefferson was aloud to spend 10 million dollars on the Louisiana Purchase. However, he spent 15 million dollars putting the US in a 5 million dollar debt. “In a government which is founded by the people, who possess exclusively th...
On the east coast people were also being taken advantage of by the government. As a result of the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, the government began giving out land grants ‒through the Homestead Act of 1862‒ for Americans to live on and farm; the only problem was that another culture was already living on the land: the Sioux Nation. After the S...
There were lots of possible causes for the civil war, the westward expansions being one of them. 1 Some of the problems with the westward expansion were that the settlers found life hard. The Government promised all those who could pay a $10 registration fee, 160 acres of land would be theirs in the West. The aim of the Homestead Act in 1862 was to encourage people to take up farming and help sustain the settler communities. The problem was that many settlers didn’t know how to farm and they found that the conditions and climate was too harsh to work in. It was also hard to farm with the lack of vegetation and the hot weather. There were also problems with where the boundaries should be drawn for the expansion. They also didn’t know how large the population of a territory should be before Statehood could be granted. These were the questions that the Government had to ask themselves about the expansion. Therefore thi...
The time of westward expansion was filled of hardships and challenges for the citizens of America. They left their homes at their own will to help make life better for themselves, and would letter recognize how they helped our country expand. The people of the Oregon trail risked their lives to help better their lives and expand and improve the country of America. However, no reward comes without work, and the emigrants of the Oregon Trail definitely had it cut out for them. They faced challenges tougher than anyone elses during the time of westward expansion.The Emigrants of the Oregon trail had the the most difficult time surviving and thriving in the west because of environmental difficulties, illness abundance, and accident occurrence.
The availability of inexpensive land in the American West provided opportunity for many Americans to fulfill the American dream of individualism, economic opportunity and personal freedom. Immigrants, former slaves and other settlers moved across the country to become western farmers and ranchers to make a new life. One of the reasons why the west was a land of opportunity for the farmers and ranchers was the large quantity of cheap available land. This allowed for many Americans, both rich and poor, to buy land for farming and raising cattle. The Homestead Act of 1862 aided the process. The Homestead Act gave title to 160 acres of federal land to farmers who staked a claim and lived on the land for five years. Alternatively, a farmer could buy the land after six months for $1.25 an acre. Many blacks and immigrants joined the westward expansion, looking for a better life. Immigrants saw the land as opportunity because many could not own land in the countries where they were born. For example, in Nebraska, a fourth of the population was foreign born. These immigrants transformed...
Steamboats were invented in the early 1800's, but it took until the 1820's to make them a common site on U.S. rivers. In the 1840's their popularity kept rising as they continued to increase the amount of trade possible. The reaper, for farming, was also developed in 1831. This allowed more farming in the west on the prairies. Many other farming machines were also developed during this time period, they all made farming in the west much more popular, easier, and profitable. The Trans-continental railroad was started in 1862, even though other trains were already running in different parts of the U.S. The telegraph also went up along with the railroads, although the first time it was used was in 1844. All four of these major technological advancements made the United States really get going on their Manifest Destiny.
The exploration of the West could have had the greatest economic impact on the United States ever. After the west had now been explored, they realized they had a great deal of land that now had to be settled. The land was so vast and so cheap that it was sold for very low prices and sometimes just given away. This caused a huge surge of people to begin flowing west and sparked westward expansion. People began setting up farms and more and more people had opportunities to make a good living.
At the time Andrew Jackson was president, there was a fast growing population and a desire for more land. Because of this, expansion was inevitable. To the west, many native Indian tribes were settled. Andrew Jackson spent a good deal of his presidency dealing with the removal of the Indians in western land. Throughout the 1800’s, westward expansion harmed the natives, was an invasion of their land, which led to war and tension between the natives and America, specifically the Cherokee Nation.
“By 1840 almost 7 million Americans had migrated westward in hopes of securing land and being prosperous” (Westward Expansion Facts. Westward Expansion Facts. N.p., n.d Web. 16 Sept. 2016). This movement is called Western Expansion. The movement brought new beginnings and hope to many northerners and southerners. Western expansion not only affected the lives of many Americans, but the Natives living on the land. Throughout the 1860s to 1890s, the movement West altered the lives of Native Americans forever. Settlers deconstructed the Native Americans land in the mindset to grow their economy. Americans attacked and killed large amounts of Natives for no reasonable reason. Also, in hopes to Americanize the natives, they taught and imposed their
In order for the government to expand, it needed money. In an attempt to secure additional revenue, the government stopped granting land to the settlement for disbursement amongst their church members and began selling it instead. Anyone, regardless of church affiliation or status, could now obtain their own land by purchasing it directly from the government. The price of the land was determined by its distance from town, the condition of the soil, and whether it had been cleared or improved upon.
Another goal of African Americans was the ownership of land. To the freedmen, land ownership was equivalent to economic independency. However, they were mistaken. Economic independency was an unrealistic goal in the southern environment. As former slaves, African Americans were very familiar to the agricultural life style. As a result of Sherman's raids across the south, large plots of land were left uninhabited. Vast amounts of freedmen took the opportunity to occupy these lands. In 1866, Congress also passed the Southern Homestead Act giving African Americans access to public lands in five southern states. Contrary to what the freedmen believed, land ownership did not ensure financial success. Most land owned by African Americans was small and had an inferior value compared to white farms.
With the East and the West being brought together by the railroad, goods were able to go to m...
The first post office in the United States was established in seventeen seventy-five, which makes it the oldest most reliable post service in history. It is a well know fact that in the beginning, this business was called the Pony Express, which began in eighteen sixty. Years later the US Post office has become the largest company that we rely on to deliver our mail. This mailing institution delivers more mail to a larger area than any other delivery service in the world. They are rendering assistance to more than one million people in North America. There are over six hundred thousand employees and in excess of thirty four thousand facilities nationwide. This institution thrives to provide customer service, available products, transport of products, and accessibility to all consumers. The United States Postal Service is a reliable, excellent, and efficient delivery service. They supply a wide variety of convenient products to help with any shipping needs consumers may have.
Homesteading has evolved since The Homestead Act of 1862. It was a way for Americans to claim a piece of land and an opportunity to work hard and make buildings that would bring revenue. The problems that many Americans faced included isolation, weather and being able to farm efficiently. These problems where experienced by families with men that had control over the family wanting to claim land. It was not easy for the homesteaders to settle on the great planes. Building a house with wood was not an option due to it being limited, so they made sod houses. Living in a sod house was not easy as they faced dirt and deceases. The sod houses often leaked and consist of massive amount of fleas and bedbugs. The homesteaders fixed these problems by thickly coating the floor with whitewash and the ceiling with clay. The housework was not easy when there was no wood for fuel or any candles. The only way for women to b...
The expansion of the United States is such a vital part of American history, yet some often forget how it all happened. Many thriving settlers were given an extraordinary opportunity starting on January 1, 1863 that would end up laying the floor work for many Midwestern and Western citizens today. The rights and responsibilities to live on and maintain 160 acres of land may seem like a lot to take in for a student learning about an Act about land from the 1860s. However, think about all the people the Homestead Act of 1862 affected. There was a lot of pressure on the original homesteaders to make good use of their newfound land, the government was giving out land that wasn’t exactly theirs, and the Native American would have some their rights stolen.