1. Westward Expansion

2. United States Land Acquisition  Throughout the early and mid-1800’s the United States under the banner of Manifest Destiny gained tremendous amounts of territory. Texas Mexican Cession Oregon Gadsden Purchase

3. Settlement of the West:  Homestead Act of 1862: The Homestead Act was a United States Federal law that gave an applicant freehold title to 160 acres of undeveloped land outside of the original 13 colonies. The new law required three steps: file an application, improve the land, and file for deed of title. Anyone who had never taken up arms against the U.S. Government, including freed slaves, could file an application and improvements to a local land office. Homestead Act of 1862:

4. Settlement of the West…Cont.  With Manifest Destiny and new open land in the west came millions of new settlers from immigrants to freed slaves. These lands opened tremendous markets for goods as well as large ranches and farms. Imagine Texas without the Longhorn Cattle, or Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakota’s without corn and grain.

5. Settlement of the West…Cont.  In the west new lands gave many people new opportunities in new occupations. Cowboys were needed to drive their cattle from Texas and Oklahoma to the trains in Kansas City which led to the slaughterhouses in the Midwest… Chicago A way of connecting both coasts was needed as well, as the trip from New York to San Francisco could take months to go around the tip of South America.

7. The Transcontinental Railroad  The need to connect the coasts was met by the creation of the Transcontinental Railroad. Trans- Across  The Railroad was created by the Union Pacific (UP) and the Central Pacific (CP) Railroads. The UP started laying track in Nebraska and worked their way west. The CP started at Sacramento, California and worked east through the Cascade Range of the Rocky Mountains.

8. The Transcontinental Railroad… Cont  The Railroad was begun on January 8, 1863 and Completed on May 8, 1869 at Promontory Point, Utah. It first opened for traffic on May 10, 1869.  The workers on the railroad made up a diverse mix of people. Chinese, Irish, former slaves, blacks all worked together to create this massive engineering marvel.