Western Movement and Railroads. This essay is about western settlement and how the railroads turned out to be better agents of migration than many government homesteading organizations.

The free-homestead policy of 1862 seemed to work very well. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, more(prenominal) Ameri bunss move to the West than ever before. Removal of Indian claims to the visit seemed to cast off nothing in the way of the westward movement. patronage overambitious lend policies by the General Land Office, homesteaders were go intimately with many obstacles, including fraud, speculation, and land monopoly (Draffan). The majority of Western settlement potentiometer be credited to the railroads, which proved to be far moderate homesteading agents than those established by many government agencies. The original masked of the Homestead Act was to defeat land monopoly. Many farmers, however, lacked the economic means to move West and manage a farm. fewer still undersas welld the new type of agriculture (Blum, 453) that the salient Plains required. Instead, speculators and merged interests were able to reap in profits, and fraud and c orruption lots marked the process of land transactions (Draffan). The Homestead Acts biggest weakness however, was not taking into account conditions on the frontier. Its east framers did not consider that 160-acre plots were too large for irrigated farming and too down in the mouth for dry farming (Blum, 453). Even when Easterners attempted to edict the land policy, they failed. The Timber and Desert Land Acts, served only to deplume timbre tycoons and cattlemen.

In the end, homesteaders were often forced to settle on slight fruitful tracts, or pay the higher value asked by speculators. Farmers finally received a break, with the railroads. Unde! r the peaceful stun Act, land grants made possible the speedy facial demeanor (Draffan) of the Union Pacific, Central Pacific, Northern Pacific, Santa Fe, and Southern Pacific railroads. transmit by railroad promoters to believe in a great(p) West that had only to be tickled with a hoe to gag with a harvest(Pence), mass... If you want to get a ripe essay, order it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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