Looking to the West.

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Lands are open for settlement during the mid 1800s

• Big business received huge tracts of land that was available from the Louisiana Purchase.
• Railroads received 10 square miles of public land on either side of the track for every mile of track laid by the railroads

Settling Government lands

Two laws passed to encourage settling of the west

Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862

• Government land given to states to sale, with the money from land sales used to create institutions of higher education
• Lands were sold to bankers and land speculators

Homestead Act of 1862

1.      All applicants had to be at least 21 years old or the head of a family

2.      Applicants had to be American citizens or immigrants who had filed for

     citizenship

3.      Applicants had to pay a ten-dollar registration fee

4.      Settlers had to build a house and live on the claim at least six months of the

     year

5.      Settlers had to farm the land actively for 5 consecutive years before they

      could claim ownership

Treatment of minorities

            After the civil war, African Americans moved west looking for land to own without worrying about the pressures of the KKK. “Exodusters” developed farms and were treated better in the west than they were treated in the south.

            Women in the west were able to claim land. They also launched movements in the west regarding women in politics and voting rights of women. Kansas had two towns that passed women suffrage. Wyoming had a state constitution that gave women the right to vote in 1890.

Native American Conflicts

            Native Americans fought the settlers for the land. From 1850 until 1897, the Indians and the settlers had disagreements, which caused and led to the Native Americans being forced to live on reservations. The Indians were attacked at several different locations throughout the west. Two notable attacks occurred at Sand Creek and again at the Massacre at Wounded Knee. To help the Indians, the Dawes Act of 1887 was passed giving land to the displaced Indians. The amount of land owned by Indians reduced by 65% between 1887 and 1934.

Examples of land give away included the opening of Indian Territory to settlers. The land rush of 1889, many people went the night before and are known as boomer sooners.

Farming, Mining and Ranching

            Dry farming was method used in the western parts of United States where the climate was arid. Most farms were huge in the west. Which gave way to the large corporate farms known as Bonanza Farms. These farms produced only one crop and were run by professionals. Trying to keep up with the bonanza farms the private farmer often bought more land than he could manage. Causing many to lose their farms when they couldn’t pay the mortgages.

            Gold strikes in Colorado and California caused many to move to those areas. Using a variety of methods to mine the gold, private miners strived to strike it rich. Large corporations soon took over mining operations in many areas where ore was mined.

            Livestock soon became a different type of gold to be mined. Cattle could be sold from 5 to 6 dollars in Texas and the same cattle could fetch 30 to 50 dollars in Chicago. Long cattle drives from Texas took a long time to get to market. The towns of Abilene, Dodge City, and Ellsworth, Kansas shortened the cattle drives.  Soon bonanza farming started creating huge cattle ranches and using new invention barbed wire to control the cattle.

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Populism

            Tariffs increased the price of goods that the farmers needed. But tariffs also protected the products from cheaper competition from foreign farmers. Deflation of prices meant you can buy more products for your money, however inflation meant that your money couldn’t buy as much as before. People supporting deflation wanted a tight money policy of less money in circulation. Inflation supporters pushed for increase money supplies. In 1873, the nation was put on a Gold Standard, thus reducing the amount of money supply. The silver interests in the west were not happy about this and they wanted to coin silver coins increasing the supply of money. The Bland-Allison Act of 1786 called for the buying and minting of more silver coins, but President Hayes vetoed the act. Congress overrode the veto and passed the act. But the treasury department only printed the bare minimum of new money.

Protesting Farmers

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