We are beginning a new unit on Westward Expansion in Social Studies this week. Settlers were encouraged to move westward after the Civil War and Reconstruction. Many of them were encouraged to move by things such as the Homestead Act, which gave 160 acres of land to American citizens who were committed to settling on the land and who could pay the $10 registration fee. However, farming on the plains proved much more difficult than many settlers thought it would be. Thousands of African Americans also moved west after the Civil War to escape life in the South. Mining, ranching, and lumbering also attracted settlers to the West. This westward expansion also greatly affected the lives of Native Americans who lived in much of the territory out west. We will be learning about all of these things and more during this new unit. Check out this video below to decide if you lived in this time period if you would have moved west.
Would you move?
