In America, starting in the 16th century, land grants were given for the purpose of establishing settlements, missions, and farms. England started with a 'headright system', used both by the Virginia Company of London and the Plymouth Colony, but later used primarily in colonies south of Maryland. Under this system, emigrants or those paying for their passage would receive land if they could survived for a certain period of time - many indentured servants did not survive their contracts. The enslaved Africans were not eligible in most of the headright systems, although certain freedman of color could acquire land.
As English colonial law developed, headrights became patents and a patentee was required to improve the land. Under this doctrine of planting and seeding, the patentee was expected to cultivate 1-acre of land and build a small house on the property, otherwise the patent would revert to the local government.
As English colonial law developed, headrights became patents and a patentee was required to improve the land. Under this doctrine of planting and seeding, the patentee was expected to cultivate 1-acre of land and build a small house on the property, otherwise the patent would revert to the local government.
The Frontier’s Impact on America History
The American character was shaped by the vast frontier experience and abundance of unlimited resources, Americans were nurtured, educated and molded by the promises that the open frontier offered. As long as there was ample available land, there was unlimited opportunity. However, the experience of being out in the frontier was not easy, often a single family maybe isolated until a small community could take root. It was their rugged determination and self-reliance that became a defining American characteristic.
As these frontiersmen pushed westward, Americans became more and more separated from their ancestors’ European way of life.
The Blue Ridge Mountains was primarily the fall line (a narrow zone that marks the geological boundary between an upland region and a plain, distinguished by the occurrence of falls and rapids where rivers and streams cross it.) for those in the eastern Piedmont region where rushing water was a convenient source of power and marked the frontier towards the latter end of the 17th century, circa, 1650 to 1699.
Settlements slowly moved through the Appalachians and into the Alleghenies beginning of the 1700s and through the American Revolution. Future President Thomas Jefferson crafted the Ordinance of 1784 which carved out ten prospective states west of the Appalachian Mountains and established the basis for the Public Land Survey System.
As these frontiersmen pushed westward, Americans became more and more separated from their ancestors’ European way of life.
The Blue Ridge Mountains was primarily the fall line (a narrow zone that marks the geological boundary between an upland region and a plain, distinguished by the occurrence of falls and rapids where rivers and streams cross it.) for those in the eastern Piedmont region where rushing water was a convenient source of power and marked the frontier towards the latter end of the 17th century, circa, 1650 to 1699.
Settlements slowly moved through the Appalachians and into the Alleghenies beginning of the 1700s and through the American Revolution. Future President Thomas Jefferson crafted the Ordinance of 1784 which carved out ten prospective states west of the Appalachian Mountains and established the basis for the Public Land Survey System.
Government Land Grants
Starting with the American Revolutionary War, United States veterans often received land grants instead of backpay or other remuneration. Bounty-land warrants, often for 160 acres, were issued to United States military veterans from 1775 to 1855, thus including veterans of the American Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War as well as various Indian wars.
Starting with the American Revolutionary War, United States veterans often received land grants instead of backpay or other remuneration. Bounty-land warrants, often for 160 acres, were issued to United States military veterans from 1775 to 1855, thus including veterans of the American Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War as well as various Indian wars.
1825 - The Davidsons move into western Illinois Schuyler Co., with land grants awarded from Battle of 1812 - New Orleans
The American migration had reached the Mississippi River by the first quarter of the 19th century - 1800 - 1825; and the Missouri River in less than thirty years later, and then to the belt of the Rocky Mountains and the arid tract of the western part of the Great Plains east of the Rocky Mountains, a region that is mostly semi-arid grassland and steppe, often referred to as the High Plains, by mid-century. Within the 1840s we see the beginning of an earnest push to the west coast, with the 1849 Gold Rush of Callifornia becoming the tipping point.
With each new generation of traders, farmers, cattlemen, miners and city builders -- each successive wave claimed as much of the land for themselves as they could, until at last, the frontier finally disappeared.
The ever changing frontier shaped the American social and economic character and molded our historical, social, and economic development. The "American character" enshrined in endless literature and folklore, was coarse and strong, but inquisitive -- intelligent in a practical, common sense way, but not always book-learned. It was individualistic and freedom-loving. It could be violent, fighting for what one believed in -- and what one claimed as its own. All these characteristics were born in that frontier existence and molded by this uniquely American experience.
The ever changing frontier shaped the American social and economic character and molded our historical, social, and economic development. The "American character" enshrined in endless literature and folklore, was coarse and strong, but inquisitive -- intelligent in a practical, common sense way, but not always book-learned. It was individualistic and freedom-loving. It could be violent, fighting for what one believed in -- and what one claimed as its own. All these characteristics were born in that frontier existence and molded by this uniquely American experience.
Most important factor was the fact that free land has continually laid on the western borders of the United States. Whenever social conditions tended to crystallize in the East, whenever capital tended to press on labor, or political restraints impede the freedom of the masses, there was a gateway of escape to the freer conditions of the frontier. These free lands promoted individualism, economic equality, freedom to rise, democracy. Men would not accept inferior wages and a permanent position of social subordination when this promised land of freedom and equality was theirs for the taking. Who would rest content under oppressive legislative conditions when by a slight effort he might reach a land wherein to become a coworker in the building of free cities and free states on the lines of his own ideal? In a word, the free lands meant free opportunities. Their existence has differentiated the American democracy from the democracies which have preceded it, because ever, as democracy in the East took the form of highly specialized and complicated industrial society, in the West it kept in touch with primitive conditions, and by action and reaction these two forces have shaped our history.
Davidson Wagon Train. - Take the Oregon Trail to Portland Oregon in 1850
Davidson Ranch circa 1870 Oregon
Jordan Homestead circa 1870 Oregon
1890s
Available land had been the key to the economic growth of this country, and hence responsible for changing people's cultural traits. This relationship between land and societal development was recognized by others during this period. At the end of the 19th century, the frontier was closed, and thus ended a significant chapter in the history of this nation and of the world.
As a result of the closing of the frontier, several significant changes occurred. As the availability of free land was basically exhausted, the Great West diminished as a factor in American development. Free land had always acted as an economic safety valve, providing all with a chance to get a living. Free land also meant higher wages, because employers had to induce their workers not to seek better opportunities in the West. At the closing of the frontier, we entered a period of concentration -- of capital, as with monopolies and trusts -- and of labor, responding with unions and cooperation. Connected with both of these changes was an impetus for expansion beyond the continental limits of the United States -- expansion that was both political and social. Lastly, America embarked on a new journey, seeking a political frontier. Americans had, however, inherited that frontier spirit of individualism and democratic idealism.
The frontier experience that was so central to the American history had come to a close. The center of gravity of the American Spirit had shifted. For many, the end-times had arrived.
It was a difficult decade, filled with angry anti-government rhetoric.
Either way, it all sounds very familiar.
Available land had been the key to the economic growth of this country, and hence responsible for changing people's cultural traits. This relationship between land and societal development was recognized by others during this period. At the end of the 19th century, the frontier was closed, and thus ended a significant chapter in the history of this nation and of the world.
As a result of the closing of the frontier, several significant changes occurred. As the availability of free land was basically exhausted, the Great West diminished as a factor in American development. Free land had always acted as an economic safety valve, providing all with a chance to get a living. Free land also meant higher wages, because employers had to induce their workers not to seek better opportunities in the West. At the closing of the frontier, we entered a period of concentration -- of capital, as with monopolies and trusts -- and of labor, responding with unions and cooperation. Connected with both of these changes was an impetus for expansion beyond the continental limits of the United States -- expansion that was both political and social. Lastly, America embarked on a new journey, seeking a political frontier. Americans had, however, inherited that frontier spirit of individualism and democratic idealism.
The frontier experience that was so central to the American history had come to a close. The center of gravity of the American Spirit had shifted. For many, the end-times had arrived.
It was a difficult decade, filled with angry anti-government rhetoric.
Either way, it all sounds very familiar.
- Americans had a definite sense that something important was ending in the American way of life as they knew it was with their parents’ generation
- People believed that a phase of American way of life was coming to an end
- Times were changing, the old ways were losing their value
- Armed conflicts within our own borders with extremist paramilitary groups and death of a zealous radical spiritualist
- Mass numbers of ostracized immigrants were coming into our country in alarming numbers that were considered dangerous to society
- There was an ongoing unpopular war abroad that was openly bi-partisan
- Conservatives were looking to extend the lessons of America’s past into the future
- Shrewd politicians were changing voting requirements so that immigrants could virtually vote as soon as they got of the boat
- The populace was demanding that politicians to be “ugly honest”, looking for an antidote for the notoriously corrupt political machine as both parties were trying to put a distance between themselves and the perceived widespread graft
- Financial crisis and panic led to a severe drain on the American treasury
- Questions of the legitimacy of the Presidency
- Politically it was the fiscally conservatives vs. the progressive agenda of redistribution of currency standards at an inflationary rate
- Populist movement to start a third political party
- Over 600 banks fail, 15,000 business go bankrupt, stock market drops to new low.
- Depression and widespread unemployment
- Lack of trust of leading financiers on Wall Street, who wielded too much economic power over the country
- People demanded how much were the CEOs were making on their government bailouts
- There was distrust and hostility on part of the aggrieved, which gave rise to a populist’s reaction, who generally employs the rhetoric of distrust of groups that they identify as elite.
- Populists defend themselves as defenders of true values of traditional virtures.
- Popular type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more. Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism.
- New influential books of science of psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism
End of the line. Southern Oregon
The 1890s represented a transitional time of political, economic, social, diplomatic, and cultural change. During the decade there was a widespread belief that the American frontier had vanished and as the formative influence in American history had disappeared. A notion that open land out west had ceased to exist, people could no longer look west to put down new roots.
Americans felt they were up against the end of their history as they had known it and were on the edge of something different.
Americans felt they were up against the end of their history as they had known it and were on the edge of something different.