Critical Thinking 13-2

How successful were government efforts to promote settlement of the great plains?

The government had great success in promoting the settlement of the great plains. One way they promoted westward expansion was through the creation of railroads. The creation of railroads gave the option of transporting goods, mainly farm crops across the country with ease.

However, the governments main attraction for the settlement in the west was the homestead act. With the homestead act, people would travel westward to claim what ever land they could, and keep it for no charge. This was extremely appealing to the people, especially the farmers in need of more crop space.

Because of the Homestead act, the plains in the western United States became highly populated. People in the east saw this populate westward expansion, more and more citizens decided to move west and claim of purchase their own land.