reasons to move west

286 Words2 Pages
There were many reasons settlers moved westward. Many people were looking to strike rich and find good farming land. One reason people wanted to “go west” is that settlers wanted to discover gold in California. (2a) Settlers also wanted to get good fertile land to farm in the west. (2b) The Great Plains was a good place to find great land. People were going west so they can get rich and own many things. (oi) People were trying to get land so they can start a new house with their new families. (oi) The struggle of traveling west to discover gold, silver, copper and land was called the California gold rush. (oi) One big reason many people were moving west was to be able to live with the Homestead Act. (3) Under the Homestead Act, each homesteader, or home owner, obtained 160 acres of land from the government. (3) The act was a really big reason people moved west because everyone wanted the free good farming land from the government. Homes were a big part of settlers moving west because the West had very good timber to build houses, and very good land to start a house. (6b) Another reason people were moving west is that many people wanted to escape the racism that was happening in the east. Those people who were trying to escape racism were called exodusters. (oi) Moving west was a good option in the 1800’s because there were so many reasons to travel. Reasons such as to discover gold and riches, get rich land, and escape racism. One more reason is that it was easy to travel on trains. Moving west was the best thing to do back
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