The West Needs the Government In the 1860s Americans began to inhabit the land west of the Mississippi river on the promise of free land and the hope to improve their economic situations. Large investments began to pour into the west based on the economic prospects one of these investments includes the large projects by railway companies. Many settlers who went west did encounter economic success, which painted a portrait of the west inductive to believe that the successes were based on individual motivation and grand old American ingenuity. Still any success experienced in the west would not have been possible without the help of Congress and the United States army. In 1862 Congress Passed the Pacific Railroad Act to establish railroad lines across the U.S. The act provided for large land grants and funding to two of the major railroad companies in the Union Pacific and Central Railroad companies. This helped the development of the transcontinental railroad, which would stretch across the Great Plains to the west coast. The act ultimately awarded over 170 million acres of land to railroad companies to help move along the settlement of the west by improving the means of shipment and transportation. As a result in the large investment railroad companies made in developing the transportation of the west they promoted the land by often helping relocate immigrants and eastern Americans to the plains. Once there German and Irish immigrants often got job's laying track or were sometimes persuaded by the railroad companies to farm and produce cash crops to help repay the debts owed to them for transportation. Many Americans went west in search of land to farm. It is in the land that these settlers came in search of that Congress once again helped contribute to the economic advancement of the west. Congress also in 1862 passed the Homestead Act, which provided 160 acres of free land to any person willing to pay a $10 registration fee and improve the land over at least fiver years. This helped attract many settlers out to the west who hoped for a better life. Many pioneers brought their wives and families and set out in a carriage and settled on the first lot of land they could find. Problems however did arise for settlers who went west promised 160 acres of land and that was simply that there wasn't 160 acres of land to give.
Farmers began to cultivate vast areas of needed crops such as wheat, cotton, and even corn. Document D shows a picture of The Wheat Harvest in 1880, with men on earlier tractors and over 20-30 horses pulling the tractor along the long and wide fields of wheat. As farmers started to accumilate their goods, they needed to be able to transfer the goods across states, maybe from Illinios to Kansas, or Cheyenne to Ohmaha. Some farmers chose to use cattle trails to transport their goods. Document B demonstrates a good mapping of the major railroads in 1870 and 1890. Although cattle trails weren't used in 1890, this document shows the existent of several cattle trails leading into Chyenne, San Antonio, Kansas City and other towns nearby the named ones in 1870. So, farmers began to transport their goods by railroads, which were publically used in Germany by 1550 and migrated to the United States with the help of Colonel John Stevens in 1826. In 1890, railroads expanded not only from California, Nebraska, Utah, Wyoming and Nevada, but up along to Washington, Montana, Michigan, down to New Mexico and Arizona as well. Eastern States such as New Jersey, Tennesse, Virginia and many others were filled with existing railroads prior to 1870, as Colonel John Stevens started out his railroad revolutionzing movement in New Jersey in 1815.
After the Civil War, Americans abandoned the sectional emphasis caused by slavery and developed a national focus. During the period from 1865-1890, Americans completed the settlement of the West. For the farmers and ranchers, the American West was a land of opportunity because land was cheap and the Homestead Act provided land to farmers, including immigrants and blacks, in order to grow crops, raise cattle and make a profit. The American West was also seen as a land of opportunity for miners due to the gold and silver rush in the far west which they believed would make them rich. However, both groups faced many challenges and few achieved great wealth.
Parker, Nathan Howe. Parker's Illustrated Hand Book of the Great West a Record of Statistics and Facts, with Practical Suggestions for Immigrants as to Profitable Investment of Labor & Capital in Industrial Pursuits in the Great West .. New York: American News, 1869. Print.
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...
Initially, back then many would travel on foot or with horses, it would usually take a lot of time taking crops or productions to trade. However, as the industry began to develop, railroads were created, the government began creating more railroads with the use of donations. The railroads began to take up more land as the new transportation system aided many. The use of railroads assisted in creating an enormous domestic market for American raw materials and manufactured goods. Railroads were beneficial in cities and they also played a leading role in the great cityward movement of the last decay of the century. The railroads could carry food and people and ensure them a livelihood by providing both raw
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.
From 1871 to 1900, about another 170,000 miles of railroad tracks were added. Congress approved the Pacific Railway Act in 1862. That authorized construction of a railroad from coast to coast. Counties were able to work together easier due to the less travel time; which created an interconnected society. The use of steam engines made it possible so people could travel further distances much easier than if they were using only horse drawn wagons. The Railroads also created jobs across the United States that aided in the building of cities and towns across the country. With the invention of the steam engine those living in large cities across the country were able to obtain goods faster than they had been able with only horse powered means. Whatever good the railroads did for the country it also was rough on those who built it. Living in railroad construction camps and Laying track was an extremely hard way to live and earn a living. Railroad construction crews had to lay tracks across and through mountain, across lakes and rivers. They also were subjected to extreme weather conditions. The railroad camps draw all types of rough and tough characters, almost all of whom were looking for ways to make easy money, illegally or legally. Living conditions in the camps were often very rough and crude. The federal government aided in the building of transcontinental railroads by land grants. Railroad companies
After America acquired the West, the need for efficient transportation heightened. Ideas circulated about a railroad that would spread across the continent from East to West. Republican congresses ruled for the federal funding of railroad construction, however, all actions were halted for a few years on account of a war. Following the American Civil War of 1861-1865, the race to build transcontinental railroad began in 1866. Lincoln approved Pacific Railway Act of 1862, granting two railroad companies the right to build the first American transcontinental railroad, (Clark 432).
The Panic of 1837 was one such incident involving an unstable currency and financial system resulting in a lack of confidence in both government and the banks. Thus caused a financial crisis in the states; wages, profits, prices went down, while unemployment went up. Many Americans believed that if they could not succeed where they were, they could always move West and start over. The Homestead Act was one of the big factors in motivating the colonist to uproot their lives and go to unchartered territory. The Homestead Act offered free land to the settlers, 160 acres of public land. In trade, homesteaders would pay a small filing fee and were required to complete five years of continuous residency before gaining ownership of the land. After six months of continuous residency, the homesteader had the option of buying the land from the government for $1.25 per acre. For most people, a move West represented a combination of motivations, including the chance to start over in a land where no one could tell them what to do and where they could follow their religion as they
In 1862, the Pacific Railroad Act chartered the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroad Companies, and tasked them with building a transcontinental railroad that would link the United States from east to west. Over the next seven years, the two companies would race toward each other from Sacramento, California on the one side and Omaha, Nebraska on the other, struggling against great risks before they met at Promontory, Utah, on May 10,
During the 1800-1900s America was growing rapidly, the population, the income, immigration; especially the western expansion. There was one main issue, travel and transportation to the West was challenging which affected the lives of the American people. With the Louisiana Purchase deal in 1803, America nearly doubled in size and by 1840 almost 6 million Americans had migrated west with hopes of a better life and acres of land, this increased the need for a more connected United States through new transportation methods. Most rivers ran N-S not E-W; wagons were slow. In 1811 the U.S National government opened the first Federally paid road in Cumberland, Maryland to open up the West for settlers. This was controversial because it crossed many states; those that not support it, did not want to pay for it; this resulted in transportation being left up to individual states or to private investors or wealthy individuals. This new national road offered Americans a speedy more luxurious way to travel but did not solve the nation's transportation issues as this road was not suitable to transporting large amount of goods.
The western frontier was a vast land, with very limited European life during the time before it was “opened” for settlement. The western frontier was opened with the passing of the Homestead Law, which granted free or reduced priced land to the settlers. The frontier became not merely a variety of new settlement, but a place of new beginnings with abundant hardship to be overcome, a land of opportunity, and a new American way of life. Upon the closing of the frontier, Fredrick Jackson Turner wrote a letter to the American Historical Society giving praise to the frontier for the aforementioned role in American history, by presenting the frontier as an important role in influencing the American way of life and the
Mining required heavy equipment and crews of underground miners. People would also go west because of the Homestead Act of 1862. The Homestead Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1862 offered plots of land in the West to anyone who would go and live there. By 1869 there were already a lot of people but when the Transcontinental railroad was built the population of the West sky rocketed. The Transcontinental railroad made it a lot easier to bring supplies and people from East to West. To build this railroad a lot of land had to be used, because of this most indians that lived in this area would lose their land. Indians relied on buffalo so when the railroad was being built the buffalo left because were they ate was gone, because of this the indians lost their food, clothes, and weapons. The promise of adventure was another big reason people moved to the West. For many people, the West seemed to hold the promise of unlimited possibilities. It gave a chance to live an independent life, far from the crowded cities and factories of the East. Formerly enslaved African Americans often saw the West as a place to make a new beginning. So many headed to Kansas in 1879 and 1880 that they came to be called
The railroad coexisted with Western Expansion, the railroad allowed for quicker travel and Western Expansion allowed for the railroad business to progress. The Transcontinental Railroad was a product of Western Expansion and the construction of more railroads. The Transcontinental Railroad began to be built after the Pacific Railroad Act passed in 1862, that promoted and aided the construction of this railroad. The Transcontinental Railroad was built to link the east to the west in the United States. The Central Pacific and The Union Pacific Railroad Companies were appointed the task of completing the railroad where they would race to finish first and reach the west coast. Before the
The settlement of the North American West grew the railroad industry, and the population of railroad and mining workers, making the west a booming place to live. As the transcontinental railroad began to take shape thousands of workers, both foreign and American, came to the west to work. The goal of the transcontinental railroad was to build a railroad that spanned the North American continent, by building two different railroads that eventually connected. Building this giant railroad benefitted both the American economy and the railroad companies. As people moved west new towns sprang up, growing the U.S., and gold and silver poured out, growing the economy. The railroad companies also benefited, they had many low-paid employees building