Reasons For Moving West

Question 1

What are push factors which made people move west?

Answer 1

• the end of the civil war
• land pressure
• economic problems
• Religious persecution
• improvement communication

Question 2

What was the homestead act?

Answer 2

They would offer 160 acres of land for free for building a home or starting a farm the person must of lives there for 5 years before they could leave

Question 3

What year was the homestead act in?

Answer 3

1862

Question 4

Where was land available?

Answer 4

Kansas, Nebraska and Dakota

Question 5

When was the timber and stone act?

Answer 5

1873

Question 6

What was the timber and stone act?

Answer 6

They gave settlers 160acres of free land on the condition that they planted trees on a quarter of it

Question 7

When was the desert land act?

Answer 7

1877

Question 8

What was the desert land act?

Answer 8

They enabled farmers to buy 640 acres of land

Question 9

When was the timber and stone act?

Answer 9

1878

Question 10

What was the timber and stone act?

Answer 10

They sold timberland in the west for 2.50 dollars per 160 acres for logging and mining

Question 11

What did the government do to the Indians?

Answer 11

Push them on to smaller reservations

Question 12

How was the transport improved?

Answer 12

• the horse and trail - trappers made trials to get through places such as the rock mountains these weren’t safe or easy
• government provided money for roads
• in 1850 Wells Fargo express made it possible to travel by stagecoach from Missouri to California

Question 13

How was communication improved in the west?

Answer 13

• in 1853 William Russell and William Waddell were given a contract to transport military supplies
• in 1857 John Butterfield organised overland mail services covering a distance of 4,480kms it took three week for the mail to get to you
• pony express - where young men would travel on horses to send mail to other this stopped after 2 year because in 1861 the first telegraph message was sent

Question 14

Why were railways built?

Answer 14

• improve trade links with Eastern countries like China
• it would lead to development ports in the west
• it would fulfil manifest destiny
• it would create a better unity between easy and west
• Native American land could be taken by white settlers

Question 15

What helped increase number to the west?

Answer 15

• the railway companies sold land either side of the railway very cheaply
• after the railway was completed it was much easier and dafter to travel west
• the cattle industry was stimulated by the railway

Question 16

What was the promontory point?

Answer 16

By 1862 a million people were traveling by trains they could travel from New York to San Francisco and it would take four days

Question 17

What are pull factors for moving west?

Answer 17

• manifest destiny
• new life as its sort of life what very appealing
• the discovery of gold
• the offers of free land