The Great West and the Rise of the Debtor (1860-1896)

Compare and contrast the different groups of peoples who migrates to the West and describe the problems they experienced

Vivi , Lexi , Kelsey, Amber, Summer

Important Groups People

• Miners• Native Americans• White Farmers• Ethnic Minorities• Mormons

Mormons

• Moved to West because of tension in New England

• Joseph smith (founder of the Mormon religion) was murdered in Illinois, so Brigham Young lead the Mormons to the west (Salt Lake City, Utah) for religious freedom.

White Farmers and Freedman

• To rebuild after the Civil War• Opportunities to own land• Homestead Act of 1862: granted 160 acres of land to

any settler agreeing to cultivate the land for five years• Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862: gov’t gave land to

colleges who were going to research better farming technologies

• Oklahoma Land Rush 1889: gov’t granted land in Indian territory to white settlers (sooners)

Miners

• Gold rush: “Get rich quick!”• 49ers came for the rushes• Comstock Lode: the Nevada silver rush• Rushes caused problems with the Native

Americans

Challenges of the Westward Movement

• Life in the west was hard• Little rain, no trees, prairie grasses• Had to build sod houses: grass and mud block,

warm in the winter and cool in the summer, but problem with bugs

• Water scarcity: dig wells

Challenges: Women

• Hard jobs• Shorter life expectancy• Had cared for children• Cooked, cleaned, own doctors, own farm

Challenge: Minorities

• Hard lives, faced hardships and hostility • Chinese:

-Exclusion Act-Built western railroads

• Chinese and Japanese ended up in the west because they went around the other way, landing in like California

Challenges: Minorities Cont…

• Irish:– built eastern railroads– Dangerous jobs (no one else wanted)

Political Cartoon

Quiz1.       Who formed the Mormons? 2.       Who led the Mormons out of the east to the west? 3.       What railroads did the Irish build? 4.       What railroads did the Chinese build?5.       Describe the rolls of women during the Westward expansion. 6.       Who were the 49ers?7.       What did people of the west live in? 8.       Why did they live in these houses?9.       What were the main reasons why peopled moved to the west? 10.   What was the Homestead Act?11.    What was the Morrill Land Grant Act 1862? 12.   Where did the Comstock Lode take place? 13.   The caused people to move west to “get rich quick”.

Game