We are now putting an end to the Westward Migration chapter. We covered a lot of things in the chapter. We discussed things such as who went west, where they went west, what they brought with them, when they went, and how and why did they go there in the first place.
Ok, so the whole reason why the people started moving west was because of the Homestead act in the 1800's. The Homestead Act was a whole bunch of advertisement. The Homestead Act gave a chance for people to make their lives better. For $10 dollars anyone could have land in the West, which got them 160 acres of land. Everyone thought this would be an easy way to live if only they had more land, but they were wrong because there were many hard decisions and difficult land to travel.
Some groups of people that were known to travel West were Religious people, Farmers, Families, Women, Speculators and also African-Americans. Religious people moved West to get religious freedom and to help spread their religion to other people. Farmers moved West to gain more profit and move land to benefit as farm property. Families moved west to they could have more land and make a better life for themselves as well as their children. Women moved West to be more independent and prove themselves. Speculators moved to the West to set out for gold and make money off of the gold rush. Free African-Americans also moved west to get away from slavery and have a brand new life of their own.
When the migration took place most of the people settled closer to the west coast, such as California, Oregon, Arizona, and Nevada. The travel to these states was very dangerous and no one told them how hard it was going to be. The migrators had to travel long and hard distances and faced many obstacle such as mountains, lack of water and indians.
In all these hardships, they learned to overcome and they did that is what made this migration so inspirational.
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8 comments:
I find it strange that so many people would be willing to risk their lives for new land. Sure, many wanted freedom in different aspects, but I guess it just shows to what extent they wanted the freedoms. You're right, it really is inspirational, what all those people did. And I guess when you think about it, we probably would've done the same! Curiosity of what's out there and owning land for only ten dollars would've been great for me.
Your blog was great. It held a lot of information in it. I like how you talked about the homestead act and explained it very well also. You covered mainly most of the chapter in a few paragraphs. WEell don!
You had a really good blog. I agree with Clair on why its so strange that they risked their life like that. I dont think i would have been able to do all of what they did and went throught. But i guess back than, you gotta do what you gotta do.
It's pretty amazing how many people were eager to move west despite the dangerous obstacles. Having to walk miles and miles in dry, hot weather had to be unbearable. As you stated, these diverse individuals were motivated to make a decent living and gain political freedoms in the west. In my opinion, the odds of being successful were shallow, and the people who made it were lucky.
it's funny how gullible Americans were when they moved west. they thought that it would be an easy life and they would get rich quick but they didn't think about the obstacles they would face once out there. I liked how you explained the homestead act, it was very easy to understand. keep up the good work :)
This was a very good blog. I learned that most families settled in the west coast. The reason why many people migrated to the west was for wealth and religious freedom. There is a similarity in any reason to go west, is make a person life better. And we do the same thing every day we might not walk for miles, but we make choices that we believe that will make our lives better. And also like how you showed that the migration was so inspirational.
i liked your blog alot. i liked how you explained on what kinda of hardships there were and i kinda get like how people wanted to move west maybe start a new life or just to get rich really quick.
I think you did a good job of explaining why people took the risk of moving out into an unknown land, and risking everything for success. This was a good breakdown of all the obstacles people faced
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