Homesteading and Settling the Frontier

Morretta, Alison. Homesteading and Settling the Frontier. Part of the Primary Sources of Westward Expansion. 2018. 64p. ISBN 978-1-5026-2641-7. Available at 978.02 MOR on the library shelves.

The Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican War added a significant amount of territory to the United States, stretching the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific. As a result, a significant amount of land ended up in the federal government’s hands. Eager to encourage settlers to populate this area, Congress passed the Homestead Act in 1862, during the Civil War, to ensure that anyone over 18 could claim up to 160 acres of land, including women and freed slaves.

Most fertile lands were grabbed by speculators and railroad companies, yet over 1.6 million claims were filed with the Federal Government, for land stretching over 420,000 square miles west of the Mississippi River. This created a rush for land, as people headed west in the thousands. Traveling was difficult, however, due to weather, diseases, and Native Americans who resisted the taking of their land. Once there, settlers had to also contend with primitive living conditions and a lack of lumber. Houses were built out of sod and hay. Equipment and supplies were expensive.

Though life was hard, many found freedom in the west. Women could own property and work the land. Ex-slaves could too. Women anchored the new communities, creating social groups and providing education to children. They received the right to vote earlier than their Eastern counterparts, as their contributions to society were recognized. Other consequences, however, were negative, such as the removal of Native Americans to reservations away from the best land, and the butchering of most bison.

Fans of history will appreciate the portrait of life on the prairie and the influence it had on the development of the United States.

Books in the Primary Sources of Westward Expansion series include Native American Resistance, Homesteading and Settling the Frontier, The Gold Rush, The Transcontinental Railroad, Lewis and Clark and Exploring the Louisiana Purchase, and Manifest Destiny and the Mexican-American War.