A Hundred and Sixty Acres I got a

A Hundred and Sixty Acres I got a hundred and sixty acres in the valley Got a hundred and sixty acres of the best Got an old stove there that'll cook three square And a bunk where I can lay me down to rest. Up at dawn to greet the sun I've forgotten what a care or worry means Head for home when day is done With my pocket money jinglin' in my jeans. I´ve got a hundred and sixty acres full of sunshine Got a hundred and sixty million stars above Got an old paint hoss, I'm the guy who's boss On the hundred and sixty acres that I love!

Up at dawn to greet the sun I´ve forgotten what a care or worry means Head for home when day is done With my pocket money jinglin' in my jeans. I´ve got a hundred and sixty acres full of sunshine Got a hundred and sixty million stars above Got an old paint hoss, I'm the guy who's boss On the hundred and sixty acres that I love!

Lesson Objectives • To identify the groups of people who became homesteaders • To examine the role of the US Government and Railroad companies in encouraging the movement West • To hypothesise possible problems homesteaders faced

Who became Homesteaders and why?

• Young men with a sense of adventure and no other commitments could group together and claim large amounts of land

Families would all move West and share the back Breaking work

Women – usually groups Of sisters would move West but this was more unusual

Ex-slaves would move West to be free of Racism and earn a living without persecution

Ex-Civil War soldiers became Homesteaders after the war Ended and they were no longer needed in the army

Railroad companies advertised heavily for people to move West and they even advertised abroad in places like Eastern Europe where people wanted to escape poverty

• Settlers allowed to have free of charge 160 acres of land • The terms stated that homesteaders had to build a house on the land live there for five years. After that time they would receive the deeds to land. • 1873 - the act was extended through the Timber Culture Act. This provided another 160 acres of land as long as 40 acres were planted with trees. This was later reduced to 10 acres.

Problems with the Homestead Act What was good about the Homestead Act? • Critics said the amount of land was to small for a family to survive • It became possible for Homesteaders to get as much as 480 acres of land. This meant families could make more profit. • Land was more or less fertile depending where you were • Land speculators got their employees to apply for land then buy it off them to sell for higher profits • This was further extended to 640 acres. • It played a significant part in encouraging settlement on the Plains.