Moving West

Question 1

Homestead Act (1862)

Answer 1

-Congress gives 160 acres in West to anyone who moves for 5 years
-Encouraged Westward settlement
-The way the lands were issued was abused and not used as intended
-Caused tension between settlers and Native Americans

Question 2

Exodusters

Answer 2

-African Americans who moved from South to Kansas after Reconstruction

Question 3

Transcontinental Railroad

Answer 3

-Completed in Promontory, Utah in 1869
-Railroads contributed most to westward expansion

Question 4

Dawes Act

Answer 4

-Was to carry out assimilation of the Indians (process of Americanizing the Native Americans - encouraged farming)
-Plan to make Native Americans give up their beliefs and way of life to become part of white culture
-Carlisle School of Learning trained many Native American children American ways