History - Westward Expansion - Farmers Flashcards
Who were the farmers that headed west?
Mostly white Americans from the eastern states
Some European migrants
Exodusters/black Americans from the south
Name factors that encouraged farmers to go west side n the 19th century
The homestead act of 1862 - cheap land provided by the government
New life, new beginnings
Who were the exodusters, and why did they migrate to Kansas in 1879?
Large and spontaneous migration of black Americans from the southern slave States to Kansas (the promised land)
Led by a group of men including Henry Adams and Benjamin pap singleton.
Migrated because they thought they could find prosperity in Kansas due to its long struggle against slavery. It was also the home of the abolitionist John brown
What was the name of the town that was set up by the exodusters in Kansas?
Necodemus
Black population in Kansas increased from 16000 to 43000 by 1880.
What ultimately caused the demise of Necodemus?
Financial depression and the exclusion from the railroads that passed six miles to the south
Between 1870 and 1890, where did farmers migrate to, and what effect did this have on the west?
By use of the railroad tracks, Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. Last territory settled was Oklahoma in 1889.
This migration tamed the old west and closed the frontier
What challenges did the new farmers face?
Poor weather conditions such as drought of 1886 and freezing winter
Difficult land to farm due to deep rooted prairie
No timber, houses made of sod
Plagues of locusts and grasshoppers ruined plantations
What new inventions in the late 19th century made farming in the west easier?
Barbed wire in the 1870’s to stop cattle drives across private land
Equipment to dig wells
Steel gang plot
Special harrows to break up tough soil
Mechanical reapers, binders and steam threshing machines
