Looking to the West (1860-1900)
◊Moving West
The West
◊ 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 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.
“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
GO WEST, YOUNG MAN!
◊ The Myth of
the Frontier
◊ “Manifest
Destiny”
◊ Civil War over
◊ Adventure
◊ Resources
◊ Wealth (Gold,
Cattle, Land)
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.
Pacific Railway Acts
◊ 1862, 1864
◊ Large land grants to
Union Pacific RR and
Central Pacific RR
◊ 175 million acres
Morrill Land Grant Act
◊ 1862
◊ State governments received
millions of acres of land to:
• Sell
• Create land grant colleges for
agricultural and mechanical arts
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
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”
Exodusters - Nebraska Connection:
Homesteader Homes
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◊ Built with available
materials (sod)
◊ Small
◊ Functional as a
shelter
19_5.jpg
Homesteader lifestyle
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◊ Difficult
◊ Subsistence
farmers
◊ Some livestock
◊ Grasshoppers
◊ Storms
◊ Distance
◊ Lack of
building
materials
Homesteader Conclusion
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