Federal Government's Role In Westward Expansion

During 1865 to 1890, the United States was continuing to develop and expand westward. New inventions and ideas continued to industrialize the United States as it continued to grow and thrive, resulting from immigration. Being swarmed by incoming immigrants from Asia, expansion was necessary, and it was about time they explored uncharted territories. The federal government’s contribution to the development of the American West included the expanding the railroad system, also the federal government played a substantial role in the degeneracy of Native American life and the land and wildlife they impacted through their journey to the west. The federal government took the leading role in westward expansion, and it would not have been possible …show more content…
Many people had to survive paycheck to paycheck just to live in the ghettos and slums, barely able to afford food for themselves and their family. With the hopeful expansion of the country westward, it would create more jobs and opportunities for those arriving into the country. The floods of Chinese immigrants coming to America were willing to work for cheaper wages and for longer hours, so they would work on the railroads, no matter the working conditions they faced. When the railroad was completed, travel time was drastically decreased. For someone traveling from east to west it would generally take six months, the railroad cut travel time to just three and a half days. Without the …show more content…
As whites continued encroaching on the Indian tribe’s land, without permission, the Native Americans became understandably hostile towards them. Before the hostility, white people tried to enforce a “peace policy,” which in exchange for food and clothing from the church, Native Americans had to promise to abandon cultural traditions and adapt to the American ways. Christians would try to force their religion on the Indians, in hopes to change their views and accept their own removal from the west. Natives were invariably being forced into smaller reservations, making it nearly impossible to thrive, thus evoking their hostile mindset towards American intruders. Americans were ignorant on matters regarding Native land, having a painstakingly different view on what it was, who it belonged to, and who was previously there. They believed it was theirs to explore and conquer, paying no mind to the people who already dominated the area. Native Americans were treated more like property and less like people with genuine emotions and rights. Indians were forcibly isolated on small, scattered reservation, awarded to them by