What happened after the Civil War that caused the West to be settled?

The completion of the railroads to the West following the Civil War opened up vast areas of the region to settlement and economic development. White settlers from the East poured across the Mississippi to mine, farm, and ranch.

How did the Civil War affect settlement in the West?

Signed into law by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, the Homestead Act encouraged westward migration and settlement by providing 160-acre tracts of land west of the Mississippi at little cost, in return for a promise to improve the land.

What was the settlement of the West?

The years following the War of 1812 saw a massive migration of white settlers into the Old Northwest, the Old Southwest and the Far West. Between the years 1800 and 1820 the American population nearly doubled and by 1830 a quarter of the people lived west of the Appalachians.

How did the West develop during and after Reconstruction?

After the Civil War and period of Reconstruction faded, expansion began again in the late 1800s. Now western settlers were spurred onward by the development of the transcontinental railroad, a major byproduct of the period of industrialization that had begun in earnest.

Why was the West settled?

Manifest Destiny This was referring to the idea that Americans had the right to move west and take the land, since not only was it something that they had the right to do, but it was also a right given to them by God. People latched onto the idea that there was a rich and fertile land they had a right to own.

What problems did settlers face when they moved out west?

Once they embarked, settlers faced numerous challenges: oxen dying of thirst, overloaded wagons, and dysentery, among others. Trails were poorly marked and hard to follow, and travelers often lost their way. Guidebooks attempted to advise travelers, but they were often unreliable.

What was the first settlement in the West?

The first white Americans to move west were the mountain men, who went to the Rockies to hunt beaver, bear and elk in the 1820s and 1830s. Then, in 1841, a wagon train pioneered the 3,200km-long Oregon Trail to the woodland areas of the north-west coast of America.

When was the West settled?

July 4, 1776Western United States / Date settled

What were the results of westward expansion?

The sparsely populated western regions of the continent became folded into a nation with enormous potential for power. The hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved west established new communities. New territories gave the country access to greater natural resources and the Pacific trade.

What were four reasons settlers moved west?

Suggested Teaching Instructions

• Gold rush and mining opportunities (silver in Nevada)
• The opportunity to work in the cattle industry to be a “cowboy”
• Faster travel to the West by railroad availability of supplies due to the railroad.
• The opportunity to own land cheaply under the Homestead Act.

When was west settled?

While the settling of the American West began in earnest in the 1840s, the most famous period in the region’s history, the Wild West, began in 1865 after the American Civil War, which was the war fought between the Northern and Southern United States between 1861 and 1865, and ended in the late 1890s and early 1900s.

How did settlers Change west?

White settlers pushed Indian tribes off their lands. Resistance by the tribes often led to wars with the U.S. military, wars the tribes usually lost. As western lands came under white control, settlers turned grasslands into farms and ranches and hunters nearly wiped out the region’s vast buffalo herds.

What was the biggest impact of westward expansion?

Westward Expansion had the biggest impact on the economy and there were several positive outcomes as a result of Manifest Destiny. First, Westward Expansion led to the creation of many new technologies including steamboats, canals and the transcontinental railroads.

What are the 5 reasons for westward expansion?

What were 5 reasons for westward expansion?	free land railroad gold and silver adventure and opportunity cattle
What were some challenges the cowboys faced on the long drive?	Violent storms, wind, rain, moving rivers, stampedes, rustlers, hot sun, discrimination, and 15 hours on the saddle

What was an impact of settlement on the environment of the West?

Settlers created advanced irrigation systems to water their farmland. Cattle drives caused problems of overgrazing, making the land only suitable for farmland.

What were the positive effects of post Civil War westward expansion?

As it doubled the land area of the U.S., it also increased goods, services and wealth. Some advocates said that not only did the movement increase the size of the country, expanding to other countries and not just states, but it also added to farm lands needed to produce products and poultry.

Why did the settlers move west?

Pioneers and settlers moved out west for different reasons. Some of them wanted to claim free land for ranching and farming from the government through the Homestead Act. Others came to California during the gold rush to strike it rich. Even others, such as the Mormons, moved west to avoid persecution.

Why was the westward expansion so important?

However, westward expansion provided the United States with vast natural resources and ports along the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts for expanding trade, key elements in creating the superpower America is today.

What were effects of the westward expansion?

What factors led to the settlement of the West in the years following the war?

What factors led to the settlement of the West in the years following the War? The need for balance between free and slave states. The Northerners wanted land and land exhaustion of growing tobacco was growing. This all contributed to settlement of the West.

What happened to the west after the Civil War?

Despite the close relationship between the West and the slavery politics that produced the Civil War, once historians reach the secession crisis, which began in the wake of Abraham Lincoln’s 1860 election, the West disappears from the main historical narrative.

Why did reconstruction end in the south?

When Democrats waged a campaign of violence to take control of Mississippi in 1875, Grant refused to send federal troops, marking the end of federal support for Reconstruction-era state governments in the South. By 1876, only Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina were still in Republican hands.

Was the west settled by government handouts?

Myth #6: The west was settled by exceptional and individualistic American initiative, not by government handouts. Reality. The frontier could not have been settled without large scale assistance from the federal government. If playback doesn’t begin shortly, try restarting your device.

What led to violence in the south after Reconstruction?

After 1867, an increasing number of southern whites turned to violence in response to the revolutionary changes of Radical Reconstruction. The Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist organizations targeted local Republican leaders, white and black, and other African Americans who challenged white authority.