Looking to the West (1860-1900)

1. Looking to the West (1860-1900) Moving West

2. Push Factors Crowding back East Displaced farmers Former slaves Eastern farmland expensive Ethnic and religious repression in Europe Haven for outlaws Pull Factors Government incentives Pacific Railway Act Morrill Land-Grant Act Homestead Act Private Property Miners Ranchers Farmers The West

3. “Push” Factors The Civil War had displaced thousands of farmers, former slaves, and other workers. Eastern farmland was too costly. Failed entrepreneurs sought a second chance in a new locations. Ethnic and religious repression caused people to seek the freedom of the west. Outlaws sought refuge. “Pull” Factors The Pacific Railway Acts of 1862 and 1864 Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862 Land speculators Homestead Act, 1862 Legally enforceable property rights The Lure of the West When geographers study reasons for major migrations, they look at what they call push-pull factors-events and conditions that either force (push) people to move elsewhere or strongly attract (pull) them to do so. Here are some push-pull factors for moving west.

4. GO WEST, YOUNG MAN! • The Myth of the Frontier • “Manifest Destiny” • Civil War over • Adventure • Resources • Wealth (Gold, Cattle, Land)

5. Settlers From Far and Wide • German-speaking immigrants arrived seeking farmland. They brought the Lutheran religion with its emphasis on hard work and education. • Lutherans from Scandinavia settled the northern plains from Iowa to Minnesota to the Dakotas, many pursuing dairy farming. • Irish, Italians, European Jews, and Chinese settled in concentrated communities on the West coast. They took jobs in mining and railroad construction that brought them to the American interior. • After the Civil War, thousands of African Americans rode or walked westward, often fleeing violence and exploitation. • Benjamin “Pap” Singleton led groups of southern blacks on a mass “Exodus,” a trek inspired by the biblical account of the Israelites’ flight from Egypt to a prophesied homeland. Hence, the settlers called themselves Exodusters. Some 50,000 or more Exodusters migrated west.

6. Pacific Railway Acts • 1862, 1864 • Large land grants to Union Pacific RR and Central Pacific RR • 175 million acres

7. Morrill Land Grant Act • 1862 • State governments received millions of acres of land to: • Sell • Create land grant colleges for agricultural and mechanical arts

8. Homestead Act • 1862 • Small fee, settlers received 160 acres if: • 21 yrs old • Citizens or immigrants filing for citizenship • Minimum sized house • Lived on claim 6 months out of the year • Farm the land for 5 years in a row • 372,000 farms • 80 million acres

9. Exodusters • Free blacks looking for new start after the Civil War • Most headed to Kansas (“pulled” by the Homestead Act and free land. • Exodusters based on the biblical “Exodus” of the Hebrews from Egypt - leaving bondage for freedom in the “Promised Land”

10. Exodusters - Nebraska Connection:

11. Homesteader Homes • Built with available materials (sod) • Small • Functional as a shelter

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27. Homesteader lifestyle • Difficult • Subsistence farmers • Some livestock • Grasshoppers • Storms • Distance • Lack of building materials

28. Homesteader Conclusion