Improved
transportation resulted in a new rush of migration.
There were other incentives: a gold-mining bonanza
in California and the growing profitability of
open-range cattle grazing. With the Homestead Act
(1862), the federal government further encouraged
western settlement, allowing families to claim
160-acre tracts of land. The act was largely
symbolic: The acreage was too small for raising
livestock and too large for irrigated farming. So,
many homesteaders failed.
advertisement
The federal government
pushed on. The Morrill Act (1882) fulfilled the
vision of the Northwest Ordinance by giving states
public land for colleges. And government-financed
dams and irrigation networks brought the West badly
needed electricity. Yet, in one sense, the
founders' territorial visions were not
completely realized until the Eisenhower
administration. In 1956, Congress passed the
National Interstate and Defense Highways Act,
establishing a federally funded system of smooth,
high-speed roads. It was the largest public-works
project in history and one that utterly transformed
patterns of mobility and community development.
Along these ribbons of asphalt, it might be said, a
continental nation was truly born.
How The Flag Got Its Stripes?
George Washington is
credited with saying: "We take the stars from
heaven, the red from our mother country, separating
it by white stripes, showing that we have separated
from her, and the white stripes shall go down to
posterity representing liberty." But in fact
the Second Continental Congress dictated in 1777 how
many stars and stripes there should be on the flag:
13, one for each of the colonies. Later, when
Vermont and Kentucky joined the union, Congress
added two more stars and stripes. But, realizing
that adding a stripe for every new state might make
for a lopsided flag, the lawmakers in 1818 went back
to the original 13 stripes and agreed to honor each
new state with a star. -Katy Kelly
