Results of the Railroad Railroad companies provided better transportation for people and goods. They also sold land to settlers, which encouraged people to move West. New railroads helped businesses. West- ern timber companies, miners, ranchers, and farmers shipped wood, metals, meat, and grain east by railroad.

The discovery of gold in California helped to speed development of the western United States. Soon after the Civil War ended in eighteen sixty-five, thousands of Americans began to move west to settle the land.

The establishment of roads and canals, and later, railroads, was a critical factor in the settlement of the West.

Land, mining, and improved transportation by rail brought settlers to the American West during the Gilded Age.

What were the factors that drew settlers west during the first half of the 19th century? People going west for free land, escape religious persecution, economic opportunity (lost everything in the Panic), go West to start over (optimism = westward expansion), and to find gold and silver.

During the Westward Expansion there were some push and pull factors. Some pull factors were that there had been a few opportunities and not enough jobs for people, pushing them to move west. There was a bad economy and many displaced people. Gold was a really big pull factor to thousands of settlers who moved westward.

Push pull factors

• •
• • Overcrowding • Need for jobs • Ethnic/Religious repression • Refuge for outlaws.
• • Land (cheap and plentiful) • Riches (gold, silver, oil) • Freedom of religion/beliefs • Family connections • Jobs and new opportunities • Adventure • Maybe to find love.

Which groups were already in the West? What is happening to them? Native Americans were already in the West because were t their homes during the Trail of Tears.

Why did people choose to settle in the west in the late 1800s? The desire to start a new life and seek fortunes.

Some senators argued that the US had no right to any Mexican territory other than Texas. Some argued that New Mexico and Cali even combined were worthless. Other senators opposed the treaty because they wanted more land.

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.

Life in the camps was often very crude and rough. By 1900, much of the nation’s railroad system was in place. The railroad opened the way for the settlement of the West, provided new economic opportunities, stimulated the development of town and communities, and generally tied the country together.

Settlers refused to help American Indians find better sources of water. Settlers helped American Indians preserve native plants and animals. Settlers spread diseases that killed thousands of American Indians.

Reality: White Americans did not settle the West, but rather, they conquered it.

The 1860s and the 1890s gave birth to the period known as the Wild West and laid a foundation to its ensuing mythology. It was an era of cowboys, Indians, pioneers, outlaws and gunslingers brought together by the purposes of expansion, defense, greed and reinvention.

To further encourage western settlement, Congress passed the Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862. It gave state governments millions of acres of western lands, which the states could then sell to raise money for the creation of “land grant” colleges specializing in agriculture and mechanical arts.

– Their era, called the Wild West or the American Frontier, lasted from right after the Civil War ended in 1865 until around 1895.

Westward Expansion generally had negative effects on the Native Americans. Native Americans were forced to live on reservations. The buffalo, an important resource, experienced rapid population decline. Military conflict between Whites and Native Americans resulted in many deaths.

Does the good of Westward Expansion outweigh the bad? The good outcomes outweighed the bad. Americans were able to obtain more resources such as land and gold which created more income. It allowed the population to spread out so cities weren’t over populated and opened up more opportunities for jobs.