Ch. 4 Homesteading

October 21st - 25th

During this week we will be examining the move west following the Civil War. We will examine the Homestead Act and how it allowed many immigrants and women own land for the first time! We will also examine how hard it was for settlers to live in the Great Plains, once known as the Desert of America. Finally, we will examine how the United States began to acquire territory outside of the continental U.S. for the first time with the purchase of Alaska and the annexation of Hawaii. This will set us up for the development of the United States as a world power at the turn of the century.

Notes for the Chapter can be found in the link, labeled Ch. 4, at the top of the blog (underneath the title). Since this is a short chapter we will have our Chapter 4 test on Thursday, October 24th.



In Chapter 4 Lesson 1 we learned about why settlers began moving west.

1. 1849 and 1868 prospectors moved west in search of Gold and Silver. This created boom where towns grew rapidly, but once the gold and silver were gone, these towns went bust. 
2. 1862 the Homestead Act allowed anyone 21 years old and head of the family to get 160 acres of land if they worked it for five years. These people became known as homesteaders.
3. Of course, during this time ranchers and farmers had disagreements that led to range wars and fences being put up to block each other from getting to the water.
4. Between 1865 and 1880, Native Americans were forced to move to reservations and as some resisted battles were fought, as in the case of the Battle of Little Bighorn where General Custer and his men were killed by the Sioux Indians led by Crazy Horse.

Chapter 4 Lesson 2:

1. Homesteaders faced a tough life with limited resources and the hardships of the Great Plains, many were not able to last long. Drought, dust storms, insects in the summer, and cold, hard winters, were just a few of the problems. However, some were able to survive thanks to new technologies that were available, such as, the steel plow, windmills to pump water, dry farming method, planting Russian wheat, and the use of the reaper.
2. Ranchers faced long cattle drives to get their cattle to the markets back East, until the railroads were built after the Civil War. While cattle drives still took place, using the railroads were faster and cheaper.

Chapter 4 Lesson 3

1. The United States added two new territories, Alaska and Hawaii.
2. Alaska was bought from Russia for $7 million dollars in 1867 by Secretary of State William Seward. Many people thought this idea was foolish and called this deal Seward's Folly.
3. Eventually gold and other minerals were found in Alaska leading to thousands of prospectors looking to get rich. Alaska's population soon doubled and was on the road to becoming a territory in 1912 and a state in 1959.
4. Hawaii was annexed by the United States in 1898, following the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893. In 1900, Hawaii became a territory and in 1959 became the 50th state.

Chapter 4 test Thursday!!