• Push factor, what causes or forces people to leave
• Pull factor, what leads or attracts people to a specific place?
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Overcrowding
Need for jobs
Ethnic/Religious repression
Refuge for outlaws
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Land (cheap and plentiful)
Riches (gold, silver, oil)
Freedom of religion/beliefs
Family connections
Jobs and new opportunities
Adventure
Maybe to find love
• Many people moved out west
because they believed in the
philosophy of Manifest Destiny,
which was the belief that America
was destined to expand from coast
to coast
• The primary method of travel to
the west was stagecoach, wagon
or horseback, some even walked
• Most who traveled out West were
hoping for a new life
• A lot were given incentives to go
by the US Government, like the
Homestead Act or the Pacific
Railways Act
• An immigrant is a person who moves from one
country or region to another in order to make a new
home.
Picture from: http://www.hmongstudies.org/HmongCulturalCenterESLProgramPhotos05.html
• Passed by Congress on May 20, 1862 to get people to move to
the Great Plains.
• Any citizen of the United States could claim 160 acres of
government land.
• After paying a small fee, homesteaders were to improve their
land by living on it, building a dwelling (home), and planting
crops. If the settlers fulfilled these requirements, and remained
on their homestead for a period of five years, the land became
their property.
• With the Homestead Act 270 million acres of land was
available for people to live on.
• What was the Homestead Act?
• What did settlers have to do to become owners of the land?
What are some problems that could arise from the
Homestead Act?
• Though the requirements of the Homestead Act seemed easy,
many people still had problems.
• Many who took claims had little or no farming experience.
• Much of the land in the Great Plains was not good for farming
even if you were a great farmer. It was dry and not good for
many crops.
*The Homestead Act lasted for 124 years. In this time over 2
million people claimed land. Of that 2 million, less than half
lived on the land long enough to become an owner.
• Why would the following groups of people
want to settle in the West?
• Single Women
• Freed Slaves
• Immigrants
• If you lived in the 1870s would you want to move to the
frontier? Why or why not?
• Analyze the push and pull factors that an immigrant coming to
America would face during this time.
• What do you think life was like once you settled there? Easy?
Difficult? Fun? Boring?