Notes+About+Random+Stuff


 * STUFF...**


 * Encomienda-** The king sends rich people to a chunk of land and he says that you can use the Indians that live on that land. But soon just using the Indians turns into making the Indians their slaves. But with all the people coming over, the Indians get sick because their immune systems aren't used to the new diseases. So the Indians start dying from things like Small Pox. So they start using other people from around the world for slaves.


 * Joint Stock-** The king and queen dont' have enough money so they tell a business that if they will buy a boat and get enough people to start a colony, that they will give them a chunk of land for free. And the joint stock companies form. And if they have a good idea, then they have permission from the king to go over there. The Virginia Company is an example. James Smith was in charge and they make a colony called Jamestown.


 * Jamestown-** They came over and they had a horrible time. They were starving. They couldn't grow anything, and the Indians would steal their food. Then they found tobacco. They start selling tobacco to the rich people back where they came from. They bought alot of it. Then somebody else starting selling tobacco from another part of the world. And in walks John Rolfe...


 * John Rolfe-** in 1609 John Rolfe came to Jamestown. He brought with him tobacco seeds from the Carribean. And they start selling it like crazy. He saves the town from their financial heart ache. John Rolfe was the person who really married Pocahontas. NOT John smith.


 * Colonialism**- in other words: "colonial stuff". The mother country (great britain) sends people over to the new world. From 1607- 1776 great britain owned us. the goal of mercantilism is to get wealth with gold. and to do that they work with a trading thing where they buy from themselves. britian basically owns both sides. england can say what you charge, and who you sell it to. and england makes it so that the colonies have to buy things from england because they don't have stuff like iron, steet, wool clothes. But they DO have rum! thus starts a triangluar trade between africa, the americas, and new england. africa sends slaves to the americans, the americas send sugar to new england, and new england sends rum to africa.


 * Salutary neglect**. neglect is ignoring something. and england does this to the americas. they ignore them for about 100 years. from 1650-1763. england passes a few laws, like the navigation acts. it deals with who can ship stuff to the americas. and then something big happens, the war between england and france. then england decided that they need to own america again. but america doesn't like that, so they fought back.


 * Religious Freedom In New England**: the catholic church started in europe. almost everybody was part of it. they start a reformation which starts different churces.They're all basically the same escept for a few differences. The church of england has people called the puritans that think that the church of england is too much like catholic. england doesn't like them and some of them are sent out of the country. the mayflower comes to america with alot of these puritans. they formed a society, and they have rules like death for murder. anne hutchinson is a lady that starts having bible meetings in her house. she thinks that we don't need a pastor to intrepret the bible, the bible does not support treating women as second-class citizens, slavery is an evil according to the scriptures. we can have different intrepretations of the bible and be free to act upon them. they find her guilty of preaching false doctrine and she is forced to leave.


 * Salem Witchcraft Trials:** before the salem witch trials there wer many god fearers and they were all in fear that the devil would try and take control of someones soul. the salem witchcraft trials happened during the 1690's. a doctor started saying someone's daughter was possessed by the devil, and people thought it was witch craft. in salem you would be hung at the stake, not burned. europe was the only place that you could be burned. there were 27 total deaths because of witch craft. 104 people were accused of being related to witch craft. mary esty was the first accused witch to be proven not guilty, but she was later hung.


 * Ben Franklin:** was born in boston on january 17, 1706. his parents wanted him to have a career with the curch. but they could only afford to educate him for 2 years. he worked for his father until he was 12. then he became an aprentice to his brother james. his brother was abusing him and he ran away. he stayed with a woman who had a daughter named deborah. he wanted to marry her, but her mother said no. then later he actually lived with her and they were technically married. he did alot of good things for our country. he established the first hospital, the pennsylvania hospital. he wrote an autobiography in french. he was good friends with george washington. Benjamin franklin died april 17 1790 at the age of 84. he invented bifocals, because he got tired of constantly taking off and putting back on his glasses. he also invented the franklin stove. he also founded electricity. he was one of the best get things done people. he was pretty blunt and he called it as he saw it.


 * George Washington:** was born to a good family on feb. 22, 1732. was a genuine gentleman and had good manners. he spend most of his childhood on his family's estate on pope's creek on the potomac river. his dad died in 1743, and george dicided he wanted to live with his half brother at mount vernon. then his brother died in 1752. in 1759, he married martha dandridge custis. she had two kids already. and she was very wealthy. george had many high points in his life and one of them was the american revolution. he and his army won the battle of yorktown. he was the country's first president. he was carefull and knew he need to build something that would help the future presidents. washington did a good job for 4 years, and then they decided to re-elect him for another four years. he declined the opportunity to serve as president for a third term. he died on december 14 1799. he is widely recognized as one of the greatest presidents ever in office.


 * French and Indian War:** this war took more lives than the american revolution. part of the 7 years war, 1756-1763. part of the 7 years war happened in america, but we call it the french and indian war. its called the french and indian war becuase the indians helped fight, they mostly helped the french. so we call it the french and indian war because that's who we fought. george washington is a young commander. he tries to fight in pittsburge and gets his but kicked. but later the english win and france basically pulls out almost completely from america. they issue the proclamation of 1763.


 * Proclamation of 1763:** it says that the british are not going to let the colonies expand into the new territory that they just won. the fisherman on the coast dont care but the farmers care because there isn't enough land. and britain decided that the colonies should pay fo the war. so the colonies aren't really happy about either of those rules. britian also does something called the navigation acts.


 * Navigation Acts:** they were designed to protect the english empire. but nobody really cared about them. and then the war comes along and england freaks out and restricts america's trading to only england. and they could only sell it at really low prices. and they couldn't buy anything cheap. so they weren't making money. but there were some good acts. theres one where britian can't grow their own tobacco, but the americas can. and the americans have to buy everthing else. since the navigaion acts were now being enforced, the americans react and they actually set up a huge black market with the dutch. well, it's more like pirates than the black market.


 * Sons of Liberty:** they were a group of shopkeepers and workers that formed a group to go against the stamp act. they had some pretty important people in their group, like a newpaper owner, and a printer. they're upset because the act says that they have to pay lots of taxes, and they don't like it. they get a dummy of andrew olliver (the tax guy). they hang the dummy from a tree. the sherriff's were told to clean it up but they couldn't because there was a big protest. other people burned down andrew's house, but off the head of the dummy, and threw rocks at him and his family when they passed. they're kind of taking it out of hand. because it's really not ok for them to be doing that.


 * Boston Massacre:** it happened on March 5th, 1770. during it, 5 people died, 6 were wounded. the reason is because some british troups showed up in massachusets to inforce the taxes. a soldire went to a wig maker to get a wig. and the apprentice says that he didn't pay for it, and they're arguing about it. another soldire comes in and hits the apprentice. more people come in and the soldiers had to run for they're lives. the government gave them some other soldiers to protect them. the common people start throwing snowballs at the soldiers. they soldiers get mad and they start loading their guns. the first guy to die was a black man who had a club that swung it at a soldier but it misses the guy and hits the gun. the gun drops to the ground and they both go for the gun. the soldiers gets the gun and shoots the man. pandamonium spreads everywhere like wildfire. the soldiers go to court and they are charged with shooting in an unarmed crowd. the sons of liberty get mad and print in the newspaper that it was a massacre. but the court finds the some of the soldiers innocent and some of them were found guilty of manslaughter. unfortunately the manslaughter people were put in jail, but for only 2 days.


 * Intolerable Acts:** put into place in 1774. there are 5 of them. it closes the port of boston so that they can't sell anything. they say that the port wont be opened until they pay for the tea that they dumped in the water (boston tea party). the quartering act says that the soldiers can stay wherever they need to and you can't do anything about it. the administration of justice acts gave the governer permision to move a trial to another colony or to england if he didn't think the trial would be fair.


 * Common Sense:** theres a guy named tom paine. mr little thinks that tom was a loser in life. but he shows up in america at about the time when the americas are thinking about breaking away from england. he puts out his ideas in a newpaper and doesn't put his name on it. it gets read by alot of people. he talks about cavemen and how they didn't need alot of government. but as our society growed, the needs of government got bigger. the last half of his argument is that england has not been fair to the colonies. he's very anti-king of england. his article his in 1776. about 20% of the colonies think that they should break away from england. but the other 80% dont think they should. but the 20% that agree with him are the sons of liberty, so they actually have some power in the colonies. they start calling for a convention to discuss what should be done. the first proposal is that to tell the king that they appreciate what he's done for them, but there needs to be some changes. its overrulled, because alot of the people don't want to get the king mad at them. the people of virignia have been instructed to break away from england. while this is happening, something is happeneing. it has to do the the sons of liberty. theys start to gather guns and ammunition and hide them. they want to be prepared just incase theres a war. the sons of liberty are hiding out.


 * Lexington & Concord:** word gets out that the leaders of the sons of liberty are hiding out in concord. they send soldiers to try and find them and get the ammo that they have. but to get to concord they have to go through lexington. in lexington there are 700 british soldiers, but only 75 colonists. a few of the sons of liberty have been instructed to ride their horses and tell them if the british are coming. the 75 colonists line up on the town green and tell the british soldiers that they can't go through. somebody shot, but nobody knows which side it was. the soldiers get through, and the british get to concord and they can't find the guns. so the british soldiers go back and they meet up with the same colonists, except that theres more of them. the british aren't fighting back, because that's not how they do things. the soldiers finally get back to boston, and they had 273 soldiers are killed. and there were 94 colonists killed. word gets back to the people in the meeting, and they decide to break away from england because the soldiers killed their people.


 * Declaration of Independence:** theres a group of people inside the meeting that are in charge of writing the declaration of independence. some of the names are John Adams, ben franklin, livingston, jefferson, and sherman. jefferson was in charge of the actual writing of it. jefferson wrote alot of drafts, but then they finally came up with a final draft. its written like a letter to the king of england. it also says that when a government abuses its citizens, the citizens not only have the right, but the obligation to do something about it. england wasn't too happy about it, so they send even more soldiers. they colonists are still split between wanting to break away and not wanting to. for the most part, the rich people didn't want to break away. but the poor people do want to break away and start their own country. the war starts between the colonists and the soldiers, and they have to choose some generals. they choose george washington. they also chose some other very good leaders to work with washington.


 * Revolutionary War:** the war starts off. but it isn't going very well for the colonists. washington is leading a group of farmers against the trained british army. it starts in boston, and they lose. and they have to back off to a fort. they try to defend the fort, but they lose anyway. then they sneak out at night. if they hadn't snuck out, the war would have been over in 2 months. they decide to sneak back in, and they actually win when they sneak back in. the british take over philedelphia and they decide that they want to split the colonists in half, and then conquer the one half, and then conquer the other. but the leader decides that he doesn't want to leave philedelphia. the colonists are winning in the north, and are forcing this guys soldiers back towards philedelphia. but the guy in philedelphia doesn't send any troops to stop them because he's happy in philedelphia. ben franklin gets the french to send supplies. but they send it on a boat, and it will take 4 months for it to get there. meanwhile, the army is at valley forge.


 * Valley Forge:** the army gets there in december of 1777. its freezing cold and they don't have any food. they have a guy (von stuben) there that is teaching them how to fight better. and their uniforms are ragged. about one fourth of the ten thousand men died at valley forge. while they were at valley forge, they gained confidence in their fighting, and they believe that they will win battles once winter is over. but some of the soldiers are deserting, because they don't want to fight anymore. they shoot the deserters, and they train hard for the spring.


 * French Support:** america will not win without french support. the french were really mad at england already, so they decided that they will help the colonists. they loaned money for military supplies, like uniforms and guns and stuff. they also send over their navy to help out, and to block off the british navy so the british soldiers can't get supplies. they force the british to surrender at yorktown. but the colonists were polite to them, and fed them dinner. but they didn't feed one guy, because he was a jerk. the colonists win the war, and they can start their own country. they have to write a peace treaty, but that will take a while to write.

1-"United States of America" 2- Each state retains rights not given to central government 3- Unified in case of war and for general welfare 4- Freedom of movement, but extradition 5- One vote for each state in Congress 6- Central government makes war and peace, army, navy, but state militias only 7- high officers chosen by Central government, lesser officers by states 8- US expenditures paid by state legislatures based on property values 9- Central government sets weights and measures, coins, final court 10- Committee of States when Congress not in session 11- 9 states agree for admitting a new state, Canada pre-approved 12- Confederation assumes prior war debt 13- Articles can be altered only by unanimous state agreement
 * Articles of Confederation:** It took 4 years to make this document. its basically saying that the states have their own rights. there are 13 articles.


 * Constitutional Convention:** also known as the philedelphia convention, and several other names. it commenced on may 25 and did not dismiss until septemver 17, 1787. it was held in the pennsylvania state house. 55 delegates from 12 of the 13 states attended. there were alot of different plans about either changing the articles or starting over completely. prior to the convention, the delegats from virginia met. they came up with what they called the virginia plan. the plan was a bicameral (2 house) legislature. the members of the lower house would be elected by the people and the member of the upper house would be elected by the lower house. the virginia plan proposed that each house would be elected according to population, contrary to the representation set out by the articles of confederation where each state had one vote. an executive branc existed only to make certain the will of the legislative branch was fullfilled. the virginia plaan also had a judiciary branch and gave both the judiciary and executive branch the power to veto. as a response to the virginia plan, william paterson, from new jersy, asked for an adjournment of the convertion to study the plan, because the virginia plan was going to limit what the smaller states could vote on. a group of delegates from the small states met and they created the new jersey plan. this plan featured a congress, but it granted it more powers, such as the pwer to tax and enforce the collection of such taxes. the plan also made room for a multiperson executive. so instead of having 1 president, there would be a group of people acting as president. the plan was rejected, but gave the smaller states a point to rally around. there were also a couple of other plans. because the biggest problem plaugin the converntion from moving forward was the representation of legislature, a delegate from connecticut, roger sherman, proped that teh house of representatives be represented according to population and the upper house be represented as before with one vote and only one vote. the issue of representatin threatened to break up the convention. smaller states were instructed to leave the convention. this plan was originally rejected. it wasn't until late july that the large states compromised and the senate we have today was agreed upon. another issue was slavery. the south wanted the slaves to count so they could vote for, but they didn't want them to count enough to be taxed. they made it that a slave would count as 3/5 of a person. and they came up with a compromise that congress would have the power to ban slave importation in 20 years. finally in late july, the constitution was finally ready to be written. a committee was appointed to draft the document based on the points they had agreed upon. a second committee produced the final version and submitted it for approbal and signing on september 17, 1787. of the 55 delegates, only 39 states acutally signed the constitution.


 * Jay's Treaty:** its a treaty between england and the US. the us wanted the british soldiers to leave and they wanted a border between the us and canada. and britian is catching the us trading ships that are going to france. and they didn't want the british to give guns to the indians anymore. the british agreed to it. after the treaty was passed, the us decides to trade with england, as well as france.


 * XYZ Affiar:** during the french revolution, the minister to france went to see the leaders of the government. three french agents (publicly known as X, Y, and Z) told the minister and his group that the only why that they could see tallyran (the leader of france) is if they paid a bribe of 50,000 francs, a 10 million dollar loan to france, a $250,000 personal bribe to tallyran and a formal apology from the u.s. president (john adams) for comments he had made. the u.s. was mad and offended and traded almost exclusively with england because of it.


 * Alien & Sedition Acts:** people are pouring into the us because of their great potential. john adams passes these 2 acts. the Alien act that says if you are in the country for 14 years or less, that they can kick them out if they want to. the Sedition act says taht if you write something that goes against the president or his government, than they can throw you in jail.


 * War of 1812:** england is attacking the us (again) and this time canada is involved. we are starting to build the white house. and england and canada come and burn it down. the president had to leave the white house. there is a general fighting for the us named andrew jackson (he later becomes president). the war is fought mostly in the south. its the last battle that garuntees us our national freedom.


 * National Bank:** the bandk is owned by the government instead of by a private corporation. during john adam's presidency, he stated a national bank. jefferson gets elected president and gets rid of the national bank. about 25 years later, another national bank gets formed. andrew jackson deems it illegal and gets rid of it again. there isn't a national bank today. but we do have FDIC (federal deposit insurance company). it insures bank customers by guaranteeing $100.000 dollars back in case of a bank failing.


 * Whiskey Rebellion:** in 1791, alexander hamilton put a 25% tax on whiskey to raise money to pay soldiers and the national debt. it made the corn farmers mad and in 1794, there was a fight between the whiskey boys and george washington's federal troops. the federal troops captured about 75 workers, took them back to the east and put them on trial. most are acquitted of the charges because they didn't have much of anything to do with it.


 * Louisiana Purchase:** the sale of 828,800 sq. miles of french land to the united states in 1803. the u.s. paid about 15 million dollars for it. farmers back then used the new orleans port bcause it was easier to ship down the mississippi river. france decided that they don't want to let the u.s. use it anymore. the u.s. offers to first buy new orleans for 8 million, but napoleon decided to sell all of the french territory for 15 million. the louisana purchase is where louis and clark explored.


 * Compromise of 1820:** is a compromise that formed a political line at 36 30' N line. all the new states that formed north of the line was automatically a free state, and every state that formed south of the line was a slavery state.


 * Educational Reform:** this is my expert topic, check out my page about it.

before women started trying to get their rights, the opinions towards women were very mean. they were thought of as the root of all evil, they were considered intulectually inferior, and male children were preferred over female children. women wanted to be able to vote, to hold public office, to work, equal pay, own property, education, serve in the military, enter into legal contracts, and have and to have marital, parental, and religious rights. the declaration of sentiments was drafted by Elizabeth Stanton for the women's rights convention in seneca falls in july 19-20, 1848. (here's a [|site] that has the declarations of sentiments on it). because of Elizabeth Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Paulina Wrights Davis, Carry Chapmen Catt, and several other important ladies, women today now have almost equal rights as men. They can vote, they can own property, get a good education, join the military/airforce/marines, they can hold public office, and more. they pretty much got everything they were fighting for. Random bit of info: women were the first protest group in U.S. history to picket the white house. since then this tactic has been used many times by many different groups.
 * Women's rights:**

the temperance movement was organized to cut back on the consumption of liquor, and for complete abstinance from liquor. the idea of temperance has been around for a long time, but it never really came to a head until the 19th century and early 20th century. the movement was filled with alot of women who were sick of their husbands being drunk all the time. some of the more noteable women are Carry Nation, and Susan B. Anthony (susan was also a big part of the movement for women's rights). Carry Nation had a husband when she was young who was a heavy drinker. when her chile got ill, she blamed it on her drunk husband. she left him and he died six month later. she later married David Nation, who was a preacher at a christian church. she helped set up the woman's christian temperance union. when the town passed a prohibition law the saloons did not close. which made Carry Nation very mad. so she began trying to close them herself. at first she just prayed in front of the saloon, then she later started throwing rocks and bricks and other hard objects at the saloon. she went even farther and even began throwing hatchets. she divorced her husband and went to nearby towns and continued closing saloons, and also continuing being arrested. she finally died on a stage in January of 1911. The results of the temperance movement was government regulation, instruction on alchoholism in school, and the 18 amendment which made alcohol illegal. (but the 18th amendment didn't really do any good because the 21st amendment made alcohol legal again.
 * Temperance:**


 * Trade/Labor Unions:** a union is an organization of workers that want to achieve common goals, like better working conditions, or better pay. the sometimes use strikes and lockouts. the can include workers, past workers and unemployed people. unions used to be illegal. but they're not anymore. in the early 1800's a lot of men from big cities came up with the trade union movement. the main reason for starting the trade union was to set up strikes. but they didn't have enough people and it collapsed. the IWW (the international workers of the world) was formed in june 1905 at a convention of 200 socialists, anarchists, and radical trade unions from all over the US. "An injury to one is an injury to all" was IWW's motto. the IWW's goal was to promote worker solidarity in the revolutanionary struggle to overthrow the employing class. IWW was formed because a belief of many that the AFL had failed to organize the US working class.


 * Underground Railroad:** the slaves in the south really hated being slaves. so they tried to escape to the north. most of them were aiming for the northern states, if not canada. the north were told that if they found escaped slaves they were supposed to send them back to where they came from. the slaves used the underground railroad to get to the north. the underground railroad was a series of secret routs and save houses. the safe houses were a place where the slaves could stop and hide for a night. the underground railroad was used by at least 1800 slaves in the united states to escape to free states and canada. they were helped by abolitionists who felt bad for the slaves. they were also helped by other runaway slaves that had gone before. one of those people was Harriet Tubman. she's very famouse for helping the slaves get out of the south. she would help groups of slaves along a trail from one safe house to another.


 * Bleeding Kansas:** was also known as the border wat. it was a run of violent events. bleeding kansas was the fight over the constitution that would run knasas and would be pro-slavery. john brown led a group of men into the kansas territory on an attact at a pro-slavery settlement at pottawatomie creek. brown's group led seven pro-slavery men from the homes and killed five of them. brown let the remaining 2 go back to their homes. the name bleeding kansas was brought about by the pro-slavery people and the anti-slavery people fighting and killing each other.

"... I believe to have interfered as I have done,... in behalf of His despised poor, was not wrong, but right. Now, if it be deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the futherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children, and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disreguarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I submit: so let it be done." -- John Brown
 * John Brown:** was a man who was a part of the bleeding kansas. he was very opposed to slavery. in 1855 he, his 5 sons and others that were opposed to slavery went into kansas and killed several of the people that were pro-slavery. after than brown returned east and began to think seriously about his plan for a war in virginia against slavery. he wanted to create an army and sought money to fund his army. in 1859 he and 21 other men raided the federal arsenal at harpers ferry. brown was wounded and captured. they took him to charlestown virginia where he was tried and convicted of treason. he was hanged on december 2, 1859."


 * 1860 Election**: the election was between lincoln and douglas. lincoln didn't do any real speaking while he was running for president. the election was held in november and lincoln won. but it was only people in the north that voted for him. back in that time, lincoln couldnt do anything as president until like march or april. and during that period of time, the south decided they didn't want lincoln and president and they decided theat they would leave and form their own country.


 * Secession:** the south wasn't happy with abraham lincoln becoming the president. so south carolina decides that they want to leave the country. they want to make their own country. they pass a succession act that means they're leaving the country. and other southern states join them. and president lincoln hasn't even been inogurated yet. and they want more states to join their group called the confederate states of america (CSA)


 * CSA:** jefferson davis was made president of the confederate states of america. they had 11 southern states. they're a new country. its basically the united states, but the way the south thought it should be. every state gets to keep their own rules, and laws. tennessee is kinda a split state, half of them wants to leave the usa and half of them doesn't. they tried to get some military leaders too. some politicians come over too (like jefferson davis). in april after president lincoln is president, they say that they're going to try to stop them from leaving the country. because they feel that if one state leaves the country, that the government will fall. fort sumpter is a fort thats on a island. the south goes to take it over but they say that they won't surrender until their food runs out. then president lincoln sends supplies to the fort. he makes sure that he doesn't start the war. the south get angry and they start the war. president lincoln comes up with a plan called the anaconda plan.


 * Anaconda:** they name it after Winnfield Scott, who was a general. but it was really lincoln's plan. the plan was to block the southern ports and take control of the mississippi river, which would split the confederacy and would cut off southern trade.


 * Civil War:** it starts in april 1861 and the anaconda plan comes to play in the summer, like june-ish. the first battle of bull run happened right outside of washington dc. the south realize that they need to capture the capitol so that they can end the war before it really started. some people thought that this battle woult be fun to watch. so people come in their carriages and sit on the hill to watch the battle. the south get some reinforcement and they win. the usa soldiers retreat and the south recall their troops to figure out how many people they lost and to regroup. if they hadn't regrouped, they probably would have been able to take washington dc. but his general doesn't want to do anything else. president lincoln fires his general and hires a new one. and the new one doesn't do anything either, so he fires the new one and he hires general grant, who actually goes out and does something. and the war goes on for a couple of years. in 1862 lincoln is starting to think about ending slavery. the south were having their slaves fight, but they weren't letting them have guns. when the north capture the slaves, they free them. but the south doesn't like that. in january he decides to free the slaves.


 * Emancipation:** a procolamation made by lincoln. it says that any state that left the union, they're slaves are free. so the slaves are trying to do whatever they can to excape or get captured so they can be free. in 1864 its pretty clear that the north is going to win. the south realizes that they are desperate. lincoln sends out another proclamation called the amnesty proclamation. it says that any southern soldier (except a certain few) can come over to the north and if they promise to follow the constitution, they can be free. lincoln is running for president again. he chooses a democrat to be his vice president, named andrew johnson. lincoln comes up with a reconstrution plan.


 * Reconstruction:** the nation is being reconstructed. 1865-1867. the plan says that they don't care about states rights anymore, all that matters is to be a strong country.

Homesteading: 1862 provided public land acts to any adult citizen who pay a registration fee and who will agree to live on it for at least 5 years. its like 20 bucks. but they also had to improve it in a way. like farm something or plant a garden or something that shows that you actually live there. oaklahoma is a big state that did that. its also the reason that oaklahome is called the sooner state. because they were giving away this homesteading lots, but you couldn't get one until a certain time, you had to stay on one side of the border. but several groups of people went over the line and picked their land before it was time. they picked it out sooner than they were supposed to. and that's why oaklahoma is the sooner state.

Immigration: ellis island was a big part of the immigration. its an island in new york harbor. immigration is when someone comes from another part of the world. many people who immigrated to america came from england, russia (the jews- like Fiddler on the Roof), ireland (potatoe famine- something killed the potatoes so they were starving), and southern europe. there was a big boom of immigration in 1921 and there were some acts that were limiting immigration.

Ellis Island: was a big part of the immigration. in 1892 to 1954 it was one of the main entries to the u.s. alot of the immigrants came in sick. there were like 20 questions that every person had to answer. alot of them were so sick that they died before they got off ellis island. they ask them questions to make sure that they can support themselves, or if the government has to support them. alot of family names changed when they came to america. some changed their names on purpose. 40% of our ancesters came through ellis island. 2% of the immigrant didn't pass and got sent back to their country. theres the same thing on the other coast called Angel Island which was in california.