A new home in America part 2

A new home in America part 2

Homestead

• A homestead is an area of land that includes a house and its buildings

The Homestead Act

• This act made it possible for Americans to get 160 acres of land for very little money

How did a person become a homesteader?

• Agree to build a house and live on the land for 5 years

• After that, the person would own the land

• Thousands of families traveled west to find a new home

• The reason why it was 5 years was because people needed time to settle into communities

Who were homesteaders?

• Immigrants

• Slaves

• 
  

Benefits of being homesteaders

• Start new lives

• Farm and feed their families

• Start new communities

• Enjoy religious freedom

Difficulties faced by homesteaders

• Lack of materials- built houses with anything they could find

• Carried water in buckets

• Grew all of their food

• Neighbors were far away from each other so it was difficult to get help

• Many people returned home because life on the frontier as a homesteader was too harsh

Gold Rush

Multiple Choice

Why did immigrants from China form their own communities during the gold rush in California?

• A.To meet their need for financial well-being

• B.To protect themselves from the Chinese government

• C.To become a new state in the United States of America

• D.To exclude other immigrants from taking too many jobs