Settlement on the Great Plains

Overview

• You will be examining primary sources for the purpose of answering the following question:– How were the Great Plains settled?

American Progress by John Gast, 1872

In 20-30 words, summarize what this source indicates about the settlement of the Great Plains

The Homestead Act May 20, 1862 AN ACT to secure homesteads to actual settlers on the public

domain.Be it enacted, That any person who is the head of a family, or who

has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have filed his declaration of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization laws of the United States, and who has never borne arms against the United States Government or given aid and comfort to its enemies, shall, from and after the first of January, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, be entitled to enter one quarter-section or a less quantity of unappropriated public lands…

In 20-30 words, summarize what this source indicates about the settlement of the Great Plains

In 20-30 words, summarize what this source indicates about the settlement of the Great Plains

Article published in Harper’s Weekly on May 17, 1879

Answering the question• You will now answer the guiding question (how

were the Great Plains settled?) in a single, well organized paragraph that references at least two of the sources

• You will be graded, in part, on the standard Short Constructed Response Rubric– In addition to the four categories in the rubric, you will

also be graded on grammar/style and on your use of the sources

– This is formal writing: no 1st person, no slang, no contractions

• Your paragraph is due on Friday, 8/30