Settlement FAQs

how did the federal government support western settlement

by Lamont Rolfson Published 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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The Federal government responded with measures (Homestead Act, transcontinental railroad) and military campaigns designed to encourage settlement, solidify Union control of the trans-Mississippi West, and further marginalize the physical and cultural presence of tribes native to the West.Aug 14, 2017

How did the federal government decide to settle the west?

The Federal government created a set of rules for surveying the West, making land available for little or no money, and then admitting new states to the Union as they formed on western lands. The Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 created rules for the settling of western lands and the admission of these lands as states.

How did the government help the westward expansion?

These rules were followed throughout the west, with the one exception of disagreement over slavery in new states. The government protected western settlement with troops and pushed the Native Americans off western lands. The Federal government also financed the constructed of the first transcontinental railroad in the west.

How did the transcontinental railroad encourage settlers to settle the west?

Another reason is the Transcontinental Railroad, which allowed settlers to travel much faster than wagons. Q: How did the federal government help encourage the settlement of the West?

How did the US Government's perceptions of protection affect the west?

Mirroring Emanuel Leutze's mural study, the federal government's perceptions of protection had already helped redefine and accelerate the Western Movement and shape the region's future for decades to come. By the end of the war, the foundation for a distinctly different West had been laid.

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Why did the Federal government encourage westward migration and settlement?

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE Born largely out of President Abraham Lincoln's growing concern that a potential Union defeat in the early stages of the Civil War might result in the expansion of slavery westward, Lincoln hoped that such laws would encourage the expansion of a “free soil” mentality across the West.

How did the Federal government facilitate expansion of the United States into the western regions of the continent?

Answer to Review Question To encourage this process, Congress passed the Homestead Act and the Pacific Railway Act in 1862. The government also constructed and maintained forts that assisted in the process of westward expansion.

What action did the US government take to increase Western settlement in the 1800s?

The 1862 Homestead Act accelerated settlement of U.S. western territory by allowing any American, including freed slaves, to put in a claim for up to 160 free acres of federal land.

What was a priority of the government to help Westward Expansion?

The large number of Americans living west of the Appalachians made the management of westward migration a top priority for the new federal government, which hoped to peaceably maintain political authority over its western citizens and allow the settlers to extend the political boundaries of the young nation with their ...

Why did the United States government encourage people to settle the Northwest Territory and other Western lands?

Why do you think that the federal government encouraged the settlement of the Northwest Territory and other western lands? The federal government may have wanted to make sure that it could prevent other countries from trying to take the lands away from the United States by making sure the area was settled.

Which is a step taken by federal government during the Civil War to help create a national economy quizlet?

Which is a step taken by the federal government during the Civil War to help create a national economy? authorized federal government to issue paper money.

What was the purpose of the Homestead Act of 1862 quizlet?

US Congress made the Homestead act in 1862. The purpose was to encourage settlement in the west. It offered migrators free title to public land if they built a home and improved the property for 5 years.

What were the western volunteers filling in behind the Regular Army soldiers?

The western volunteers filling in behind the Regular Army soldiers were of a distinctly different mettle. As one officer noted, they were men "made of stern stuff. . . inured to mountain life. . . pioneers and miners; men self-reliant and enduring" but also prone to have "advocated the extermination of the Indians.".

What was the Confederacy's plan for the Southwest?

Using Texas as a base, the Confederate plan focused on dislodging Union forces from the Southwest and continuing north to the resource-rich mines of Colorado, and possibly on to the California gold fields.

What was the impact of the American Indians on the West?

Although advanced under the mantle of protection, the nation's American Indian population in the West bore the cost of these military and political undertakings, which accelerated the dispossession of American Indians and threatened the security of their lands, property, culture, and core existence.

Why were the soldiers in the Army spirited east?

Originally meant to protect the interests of a minority of settlers and miners , these soldiers were ill-positioned for guaranteeing the well being of nearly 97% of the U.S. population that resided east of the Missouri River . These regular soldiers were spirited east as quickly as possible. With more than 10,000 soldiers serving in the western posts, this eastward movement triggered concerns over security for those left behind. President Abraham Lincoln soon authorized raising of volunteers within the states and territories "to aid in enforcing the laws and protecting public property," to replace many of the departing Regular Army soldiers and established additional forts to protect new interests. California, for example, quickly raised an infantry regiment and five cavalry companies "for the protection of the Overland Mail Route between California and the Eastern States, by way of Salt Lake City."

What were the consequences of the expansionist Civil War?

In the expansionist Civil War-era, Federal American Indian policies often resulted in violated treaties, violence, and the end of access to traditional lands, trade and migratory routes, water, food sources, and cultural practices.

What was the role of the Territorial Patronage?

Territorial patronage was a vital tool for Lincoln. The ability to appoint men of his choice to key territorial roles -such as governors, secretaries, federal district judgeships, land office commissioners, and territorial marshals - served not only to recognize those who had lent support to him but also to institutionalize support for the issues he valued. With seven western territories ripe for patronage appointments in 1861, Lincoln predominantly named Republican supporters - known pejoratively as "The Tribe of Abraham" -to the territories' thirty-five prime positions and dozens of others. These included gubernatorial nominees William Gilpin of Colorado Territory and William Jayne of Dakota Territory, who both supported federal financing of the transcontinental railroad.

What was the Westward Movement?

Until the eve of the Civil War, the Westward Movement was Manifest Destiny incarnate; as such, it was consistently popularized as an East-to-West phenomenon. As unabashedly romanticized in Leutze's 1861 mural study, established routes -including the Oregon, California and Santa Fe Trails -siphoned settlers and miners westward . In response to calls for their protection from the American Indians, the federal government responded by establishing frontier and coastal forts garrisoned by Regular Army soldiers. By 1861, almost 75% of the Army's soldiers served at dozens of posts west of the Mississippi River, ranging from Pickett's post in Washington Territory to Fort Point in California's San Francisco Bay to forts scattered throughout the Southwest. The civil war brought dramatic change to these outposts. Shortly before the bombardment of Fort Sumter, U.S. Army responsibility for national protection and security set in motion an unprecedented eastward movement of soldiers and equipment.

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