THE ACTS OF WESTERN
EXPANSION
Semester 2,
Day 12
OBJECTIVES
Students will be able to
Analyze the various acts of Western
Expansion and identify how those acts
impacted settlement and agriculture
Explain what cheap money and inflation
could do to a farmer’s income
WARM UP
In the period from 1860 to 1900, the Federal
Government encouraged the settlement of the West by
A. passing an increased number of liberal immigration
laws
B. selling the most fertile public land to Native
American Indians
C. providing free transportation to settlers moving to
the frontier
D. granting tracts of land to railroad companies to
encourage construction
ANSWER
D
Explanation
Much of the western railroad system was
encouraged by land grants from the federal
government. This system aided the spread of
rail lines westward, but was also froth with
corruption and scandal as kickbacks and
bribes were commonplace in determining
where the railroad was to be placed.
KANSAS NEBRASKA ACT
 Passed by Congress on May 30, 1854
 allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to
decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their
borders
 served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which
prohibited slavery north of latitude 36 °30´
 pro-slavery and anti -slavery supporters rushed in to settle
Kansas to affect the outcome of the first election held there
after the law went into effect.
 Pro-slavery settlers carried the election but were charged with
fraud by anti-slavery settlers, and the results were not accepted
by them.
 The anti-slavery settlers held another election, however pro slavery settlers refused to vote
 This resulted in the establishment of two opposing legislatures
within the Kansas territory.
 All the violence led to Kansas being referred to Bleeding Kansas
PREEMPTION ACT
 AKA Distribution Preemption Act
 Passed on September 4, 1841 by Pres. John Tyler
 The Preemption Act of 1841 permitted "squatters" who were
living on federal government owned land to purchase up to
160 acres (65 ha) at a very low price (not less than $1 .25 per
acre, or $3.09 per hectare) before the land was to be of fered
for sale to the general public. To qualify under the law, the
"squatter" had to be :
 a "head of household";
 a single man over 21, or a widow;
 a citizen of the United States (or an immigrant intending to become
naturalized); and
 a resident of the claimed land for a minimum of 14 months .
 Helped establish manifest destiny in the US
HOMESTEAD ACT
 Signed into Law by Pres. Lincoln on May 20, 1862
 Anyone who had never taken up arms against the
U.S. government (including freed slaves and women),
was 21 years or older, or the head of a family, could
file an application to claim a federal land grant.
There was also a residency requirement .
 Between 1862 and 1934, the federal government
granted 1.6 million homesteads and distributed
270,000,000 acres (420,000 sq mi) of federal land
for private ownership. This was a total of 10% of all
land in the United States
 40% who attempted a claim got it
ACTS POST 1862
 Southern Homestead Act of 1866
 Enacted to allow poor tenant farmers and sharecroppers in the south
become land owners in the southern United States during
reconstruction
 The Timber Culture Act of 1873
 granted up to 160 acres of land to a homesteader who would plant
at least 40 acres of trees
 Kinkaid Amendment of 1904
 granted larger homestead tracts, up to 640 acres, to homesteaders
in western Nebraska
 Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909
 Gave marginal (dry) land claims 320 acres
 The Stock-Raising Homestead Act of 1916
 640 acres for Ranching purposes
PEACE POLICY
 1869 – 1881
 Pres. U. Grants policy of non -political humane treatment of
Native Americans
 it aimed to place Native Americans on reservations where, in
collaboration with Christian Church organizations, the Office of
Indian Affairs would provide Native Americans with moral and
competent Indian agents, establish churches and schools, teach
agriculture and civilized pursuits and provide high -quality
supplies at reasonable prices
 1872- he allotting of Indian reservations to religious
organizations as exclusive religious domains
 73 agencies- Methodist, Catholics, Quakers, Baptists, Unitarian,
Presbeterian, episcopalian, etc.
 ended when the government heeded the protests of religious
organizations whose missionaries had been removed from
reservations on which they had not been assigned
TREAT Y OF FORT LARAMIE
 Aka Sioux Treaty
 Passed into law on April 29, 1868
 Between the US and 3 bands of the Lakota, Yanktonai Dakota,
and Arapaho Nation
 guaranteeing to the Lakota ownership of the Black Hills, and
further land and hunting rights in South Dakota, Wyoming,
and Montana
 an article intended to "ensure the civilization" of the Lakota,
financial incentives for them to farm land and become
competitive, and stipulations that minors should be provided
with an "English education" at a "mission building"
 Gov’t provided teachers, blacksmiths, a farmer, a miller, a
carpenter, an engineer and a government agent for the
reservation
DAWES ACT
 AKA General Allotment Act or the Dawes Severalty Act
 Passed into law by congress in 1887
 authorized the President of the United States to survey
American Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments for
individual Indians. Those who accepted allotments and lived
separately from the tribe would be granted United States
citizenship
 Amended in 1891 and again in 1906 by the Burke Act
 the act further provided that citizenship not be granted to
Native American individuals until at the time of the final
validation of their trust patents, at the end of the probationary
period of 25 years
CURTIS ACT
AKA Act for the Protection of the People of Indian Territory
Passed in 1898
an amendment to the United States Dawes Act
brought about the allotment process of lands of the Five
Civilized Tribes of Indian Territory: the Choctaw, Chickasaw,
Muscogee, Cherokee, and Seminole
 Intended to:
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establish the concept of individual land holdings
new enrollments be performed under the Dawes Act
Made large parts of these lands open to settlement by whites
provided for the incorporation of towns in Indian Territory
establishment of public schools
residents could vote for city officials
LAND REVISION ACT
 1891
 gave the president the authority to "set aside and
reserve...any part of the public lands wholly or partly covered
with timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or
not.“
 did not explicitly authorize the use or development of resources on
Reservations
 lightening irrigation requirements, and extended from 6 to 14
months the time needed to commute a homestead claim into
a preemption right under which title could be bought for
$1 .25 an acre.
FEELINGS CHECK
Did we achieve the objective?
Students will be able to
Analyze the various acts of
Western Expansion and identify
how those acts impacted
settlement and agriculture
CHEAP MONEY ACTIVIT Y
For the remainder of class I would like you to
do Parts A and B of the Farmers Demand
Cheap Money Activity. I will be collecting this
on Friday 2/6 with the DBQ. This assignment
was not originally on your syllabus. My bad.
Each section will get 2 points for my flub!
IF you do part C I will allot you 5 bonus points
to the over all score on your DBQ, but only if it
is turned in on Friday!!!!