Essay On The Westward Movement

During the mid-late 1800s, economic and industrial developments profoundly transformed the land and the peoples of the American West. Immigrants and non-Indians who longed for new opportunities in life settled there. This influx of westward movement was primarily initiated as a result of deliberate policy by the federal government. Since the United States government secured more land in central North America after the Louisiana Purchase and annexation of southern and western states (Boyer 317), the Republicans were eager to designate public plots of land (considered as Native American property) for independent farmers. By passing a series of acts in 1862 to encourage non Indians to expand to the west, the U.S. government guided non-Indians
to migrate to the West and to productively and profitably use their land (Boyer 442).
During the Civil War, when the Union had hoped to stop the spread of slavery to western states and territories, northern Republicans desired to manage its development through land acts that increased expansion by new settlers to the Great Plains (Boyer 442).
For example, the Homestead Act granted ownership of up to 160 acres of land to any citizen that was able to farm in it for 5 years, and around 400,000 families went to do so (Boyer 442). The Morrill Act granted millions of acres of federal land to states to promote education by constructing universities (Boyer 442) . Unfortunately, since so many prospective migrants took advantage of the government’s policies, they ran into ownership issues with Indians and took 12 million acres of land from them in Oklahoma (Boyer 442). Homesteaders were faced with more problems in the Great Plains, since they needed to make use of the land to pay for their supplies and transportation, but it was not ideal for farming; it had scarce amounts of trees and a limited supply of water (Boyer 444).To help, the U.S.D.A. assisted new farmers by figuring out the best types of wheat for the Great Plains and teaching farmers innovative techniques of dry farming (Boyer 445). The combination of desperation from the new settlers to survive while facing new difficulties and the consistent guidance by the U.S. drove the technological and economical development in farming practices that eventually established suitable life in the American
West. Another crucial land act passed by the Union was the Pacific Railway Act, which encouraged railroad companies to link the east and west coasts (Boyer 442) to promote economic growth and industrial development. Not only did it provide new settlers with a more efficient mode of transportation, but it fostered the development of railheads (Boyer 450). From the spring to fall, ranchers had cowboys herd thousands of cattles on long drives to the east, and they stopped in the railheads, also known as cattle town. These bustling towns were populated and shaped by people of all different social backgrounds--from doctors to lawyers to simple families (Boyer 451). The U.S. government encouraged cattle ranching since it created economic and industrial growth in the west and the east. This is why they decided to take more American Indian territory as federal land, and ranching was able to spread even further west. The new public land was offered as open range for cattle grazing; it provided access to free pastureland (Boyer 452). As a result, profits from cattle ranching greatly increased, especially corresponding with the introduction of cattle breeds from the East Coast and Europe and large investment companies that created ranches of thousands to millions of acres.
Westward expansion shaped the land and the peoples of the American West. After it was developed and organized by government policies, notably the land acts of 1862, life in the western states and territories had significantly changed