"The Civil War paved the way for Americans to live, learn and move about in ways that had seemed all but unthinkable just a few years earlier. With these doors of opportunity open, the United States experienced fast money-based growth. People (who …show more content…
To build the line, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific(sets of steel tracks for trains) were granted 400-foot rights-of-way plus 10 square miles of government-owned land for every mile of track built. (taking land by force and calling it yours) in the West. The Home Act, (did/done/put into law) in 1862, gave/given that any adult person (who lawfully lives in a country, state, etc.) (or meant person (who lawfully lives in a country, state, etc.)who had never carried/held arms against the U.S. government) could be granted 160 (areas of land about 200 feet X 220 feet) of surveyed government land after living on it -- and making improvements to it -- for five years. After the Civil War, Union soldiers could deduct the time they had served from the residency needed