Federal Government's Role In Westward Exploration

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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

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