Heading West – Push/Pull!

Think of three reasons why you may have been pushed to go West.

(Let’s be honest . . . Why would anyone want to go here?)

In 1780, 2.7 million people lived in 13 states

Fifty years later . . .

In 1830, 12 million people lived in 24 states

Why do people

move west?

The average family had

five children at this time!

Push Factors Cause People to Leave Home!

Why did Cowboys leave home?

What forced Exodusters to move?

Why did Native Americans migrate West?

Push Factors

Think about . . .

What “pushed” you out of bed today?

Pull Factors Draws People to New Location!

Why did Railroad Workers end up in California?

What led Mormons to settle in Utah?

Pull Factors

Think about this . . .

What “pulled” you to SS today?

Push Factors to the West

Overcrowding (you need a new place to live)

Need for jobs (displaced workers)

Ethnic/Religious repression

Refuge for outlaws

Land (cheap and plentiful)

Riches (gold, silver, later oil)

Freedom of religion/beliefs

Family connections

Jobs and new opportunities

Pull Factors to the West

Adventure!

Or maybe to find LOVE

Perhaps a mail-order bride?

Kiss Me!

Today . . .

What are some modern day examples of push/pull?

–Poor economy - people move for jobs

–Environmental disasters (Hurricane Katrina, Japanese and Haitian Earthquakes)

What encouraged (or pushed) so many Americans to go West (or did they get pulled West)?

A belief in the philosophy of Manifest Destiny, which stated that …..

…. God, …, clearly wanted hard–working American(s) to occupy North America. It was inevitable and good that the United States occupy the continent “from sea to shining sea.”

“It is,” he wrote, “our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.”

John L. O’Sullivan (editor) gave these ideas a name: Manifest Destiny

End here on Friday, 2/27

What incentives does the government provide to help fulfill this “manifest destiny” and pull people west?

Incentives to go west #1:Homestead Act (1862)

for approximately $10, settlers could have 160 acres of western land, if

they met certain criteria:

• American citizens who were 21 years or older, or the head of a household

• Built a home on their lot, and lived in it at least 6 mos. of the year

• Farmed the land for 5 years or more

• Daniel Freeman was the first American to file a homestead claim for land under the Homestead Act of 1862.

• Almanzo Wilder received a patent granting him title to 160 acres in Dakota Territory that for five years he had homesteaded with his wife Laura Ingalls Wilder.

• Homesteaders would often display the patent as proof of their hard work.

Mr. & Mrs. David Vincent and daughter, Martha, by their sod house near White River, South Dakota

Sod •Tough layer of prairie sod. The turf is held together for a depth of about a foot. The durability of the sod layer prevents erosion from taking place at the same rate as on the deposits below it.

Sod Houses - Interior

•Imagine the isolation felt by the homesteaders!

End here on Tuesday, 3/03

Incentives to go West #2:The Pacific Railways Act (1862/1864)

–Granted railroads 10 square miles on either side of each track they laid to the west

What did the railroads do with all that land?

They Sold It!!

Incentive to go West #3:

Morrill-Land Grants (1862 initial)

–Gave land to state educational facilities with curriculum tied to agriculture and mechanical arts (Texas A&M, Oklahoma A&M, etc.)

…states were given land in the west in exchange for opening up colleges – even Delaware! (1890 version of the grant)

End here on Wednesday, 3/04

A question to ponder . . .

The Homestead Act, Pacific Railways Act, and Morrill Land Grants are government incentives and their method to conquer the land.

What Technology and/or Tools might the people need?Change the last box of your notes from “Potential Conflicts”

The item in the foreground, not the train in the background

Mechanical Reapers

Sod busting plows

Mechanized tractors

Tools to work the land!

Keys to Farming on the Plains

John Deere – high quality farm equipment to work the plains.

Cyrus McCormick – developed the reaper for working the large crops.

What potential conflicts might occur as a result of all this movement?