Essay On Post Civil War Dbq

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Mina Farooqi The era following the close of the Civil War saw a shift in government attitudes away from laissez faire; the government no longer practiced non-interference in the direction of economic affairs, rather initiated policies that shaped the economy. The government initiated the building of private companies including railroad networks, while providing essential loans, subsidies and grants of public land, thus transforming US capitalism. The entire industrial US was the product of a massive public-private partnership in which the government played critical roles. Federal power allowed for the launch of the transcontinental rail project and communication lines, which opened up the vast Western frontier for farming, trade, tourism and …show more content…

Railroads replaced much slower, less efficient modes of transport with an all weather, 24 hour, year round alternative. The Railroads, in conjunction with telegraph lines, and steamships connected the nation and opened vast regions to the development of industries. Railroads, eager to sell land on the Great Plains granted to them by the government, advertised migration in conjunction with land speculators, transatlantic steamship lines and western territories. The government initiated Homestead Act allowed for the establishment of farms along the frontier, and built up the interior west which was only occupied by Natives, for it allowed 160 acres of land to anyone who was willing to farm it for five years. The Morrill Land Act allowed 140 million acres of federal lands to be sold by states to raise money for the establishment of public universities/ land grant colleges to broaden educational opportunities and foster technical and scientific expertise, thus allowing agricultural education to be available to migrants with little experience, thus opening up the prospect of western settlement to urban workers in the East. A series of geological surveys allowed for unknown western terrain to be charted and resources cataloged. In order to encourage the development of western resources, Congress passed the General Mining Act of 1872, allowing anyone who discovered minerals on

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