Westward Expansion Roles

The Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny negatively impacted the economic vision of America. Acres of land became cheaper to buy because Americans “ rapidly moved across the North American continent and used their belief in Manifest Destiny.” In Document 2, the poster shows, that land in the West was very cheap and it included a 10 year credit allowing a lot of newcomers

After the civil war, government estiabled different policies. Changes occurred one by one. Between 1860-1900, government policies position the farmers and ranchers in the west not only progress on individual opportunity by giving farmers more land opportunity and educational opportunity, but also setback on individual opportunity by giving farmers poor land resource and less market securing credit.

There were many actions taken by the United States government in the late 1800s and early 1900s that encouraged westward expansion in the U.S.. For example, they took care of the Native Americans that were already living out west. They achieved this using various methods, one being passing laws that cleared Native land for the United States. One of these laws was the Dawes’ Act of 1877. The Dawes’ Act of 1877 said that all land previously inhabited by the Native Americans was now given to U.S. families. Another important law that

The Westward Expansion consisted of almost 7 million Americans migrating west, hoping to get land and be wealthy. It is often called Manifest Destiny, because many people believed settlers was intended to expand the west. Because so many people thought this way it was also thought the U.S was physically separated from Europe. This migration of people included people from Spain, France, Mexico, and other countries. The Western Expansion had a part in the foreign policies in the expansion towards the pacific and the way the U.S treated their relationship with other

During the late 1800’s, many settlers were expanding to the West and the Transcontinental Railroad helped them move from the East to the West. Some wanted to gain 160 free acres of land known as the Homestead Act. The Transcontinental Railroad connected the East and the West. The Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad were the companies that built the Transcontinental Railroad; however, the companies were run by greedy men and felt no guilt as they asked the government to pass special bills for them. The railroad cut through many lands and affected the Native Americans in a perilously way. Furthermore, many resources, such as buffalo were slaughtered and were almost made extinct, and Native Americans lost their land to American settlers, as well as these resources.Therefore, the Transcontinental

Overpopulation, new inventions of transportation methods, and new opportunities. These are three of many reasons why Americans in the 1800’s felt urged to move west. Some may claim that Westward expansion was not right for America to do because of the conflicts that were aroused afterward. America would not be the country

In the 1800’s , the Plains Indians moved westward to allow them to  make a better living and have a good life on the frontier because of the Homestead Act. The homestead Acts were several U.S. laws that gave the citizens ownership of land. It gave men and women 160 acres of land free of charge if you paid $10 to claim the land. If you cultivated for at least five years the settler could gain ownership of the land. The government encouraged citizens to move westward and live on the reservation of the Great Plains. The government did this to reduce the amount of land the

People were drawn to the West because it was scene as the last resort to make a living when all else failed in the East. Communication with friends and family who had moved west led these pioneers to believe the journey would be easy and the reward for getting west would be best. And the greatly available land was the strongest pulling factor to people interested in adventuring west. Migration was a personal choice that depended on several key factors, “Age of the head of household; economic status; personal attitudes; and projected costs and benefits of the resettlement.” Most historians agree that the majority of the people who migrated west were middle class and mostly immigrants to the US.

From 1800 to 1875 due to westward expansion, America was able to reach the goal of expanding

During the 1920s Acts were passed in order to limit the number of immigrants entering the country. In the Immigration Act of 1924 quotas for foreigners were cut from three percent to two percent. Restrictions were placed due to concerns over recent years of immigrants contributing to the growing crime and urban problems in the country. Also, immigrants were taking American jobs in the cities because they would work for cheaper which also gave another reason for American to try to limit the number of immigrants coming into the country.

During the 1877 through 1920 the government's role wasn't really expanding, instead people were getting furious that the government weren't really doing anything to improve life so they started going on strikes, making unions, and bringing people of different cause together to try to force the government into being useful. However, this only led to political corruption, people saying they would do something to help the people and people would believe and put their trust into this "person" to only be blackmailed in the end. These "people" were called political bosses and they had their little organization or political machines and people would do them favors to gain jobs or etc. This growing "government" was a mixed bag for the American people,

First of all, Native Americans were settled on a hotbed of natural resources which included oil and precious metals such as silver and gold. There was also much fertile land that would entice farmers and frontiersmen to move out west. On this land there was so much potential economic opportunity for farmers, cattle drivers, miners and many other occupations. The government developed the popular public misconception that the indians were misusing the land and that Americans had the right to take advantage of the opportunities that lie in the west. These ideas led to the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 which authorized encroachment of Indian lands by the US government in order to divide up reservations and control Indian activity. The government tried to force assimilation on Native Americans as well as an attempt to “kill the indian, save the man.” These ideas and policies are similar to those popular during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. Jackson developed a sense of ‘paternalism’ towards indians and believed he was saving them by forcing them to live out west of the Mississippi river away from white culture. The difference was that Jackson did not believe in assimilation of indians into white culture, he believed they should be kept separate. With the help of the Federal government removing indians from land west of the Mississippi, Americans were

The Dawes act of 1887 was a law that allowed distribution of Indian reservation land between tribesmen with the task of making whiteman’s image as responsible farmers. It was presented to congress several times by Sen. Henry L. Dawes from Massachusetts. On February 7, 1887 it was finally enacted under terms that the president presented. It was determined the recipients that were suitable were issued grants. The 160 acres of land was issued to head of households. Another 80 acres would go to each unmarried recipients. It was stipulated that the land could not be alienated for 25 years. Any Indian that received land automatically became citizens of the U.S. They were obligated to state, federal and local laws. All of the supporters of this act

The transformation of the West changed the frontier into a new and growing part of the United States. Over the period of twenty five years the land changed drastically. New technologies were created allowing the expansion of the United States to continue marching forward. The Native Americans were conquered and the railroads brought greater civilizations.

Have you ever wondered about what would 've happened if the westward expansion never occurred? We wouldn 't have many things you know today and America would be a lot smaller. The westward expansion happened during the 1800s and helped shape the modern America. The westward expansion started with the Louisiana Purchase and was made even stronger by the Gold Rush. Many people came to strike it rich or just to start a new life out west. Even though it was before computers and phones, the information spread quickly across the country and started what is called Manifest Destiny. This will tell you about some of the important parts of the westward expansion.