Gold rush and mining opportunities (silver in Nevada) The opportunity to work in the cattle industry; to be a “cowboy” Faster travel to the West by railroad; availability of supplies due to the railroad. The opportunity to own land cheaply under the Homestead Act.

The term “carpetbaggers” refers to Northerners who moved to the South after the Civil War, during Reconstruction. Many carpetbaggers were said to have moved South for their own financial and political gains. Scalawags were white Southerners who cooperated politically with black freedmen and Northern newcomers.

A much bigger second wave began with World War II when more than 4 million southerners moved north or west, grew even larger in the 1950s when at least 4.3 million left the South, remained near that level through the 1960s, and then declined in the 1970s and following decades.

Connecting the two American coasts made the economic export of Western resources to Eastern markets easier than ever before. The railroad also facilitated westward expansion, escalating conflicts between Native American tribes and settlers who now had easier access to new territories.

The Homestead Act encouraged western migration by providing settlers with 160 acres of land in exchange for a nominal filing fee. Among its provisions was a five-year requirement of continuous residence before receiving the title to the land and the settlers had to be, or in the process of becoming, U.S. citizens.

The concept of manifest destiny, coined by a newspaper editor, justified American expansion across the continent. The phrase “manifest destiny” suggested that expansion across the American continent was obvious, inevitable, and a divine right of the United States.

The United States’ militant westward expansion in the 19th century profound affected American Indians and contributed to tensions over slavery.

And unpredictable weather, water shortages and remoteness led many homesteaders to abandon their claims well before the five-year mark. But with improvements in rail lines and growing populations, new towns and states were created. “One hundred years ago the Congress passed the Homestead Act,” President John F.

In some Christian traditions (e.g., Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, Methodism) an elder is an ordained person who serves a local church or churches and who has been ordained to a ministry of word, sacrament and order, filling the preaching and pastoral offices.

Nine ways to support the rights of indigenous people

1. Focus on the priorities.
2. Include indigenous people in discussions of land use.
3. Apply the law to ensure land rights are protected.
4. Build public awareness.
5. Recognise their role in conservation.
6. Bridge the gap between policy and practice.
7. Encourage the state to fulfil wider rights.
8. Don’t speak for indigenous people.