Monday- Read our textbook. Went over new forum leaders.
Tuesday- Worked in groups again, Bruns quizzed us over our sections and told us what to talk about in our presentation.
Wednesday- Work day for presentations.
Thursday- Started our presentations, chapter 5 went first. Section 1- Indians settled the ground thousands of years ago, hunted buffalo mostly, and once the horse was introduced hunting was much easier. Cattle became a big business, ranchers paid cowboys to drive the cows to St. Louis. Cowboys, farmers, and sheep herders all hated each other.
Friday- Started with section 5-2. Section 2- Homestead act was an act that granted every house 160 acres, and 600,000 families took advantage of it. Several thousand were African Americans. Only about 10% of the land was taken because wood cutters and gold miners took most of the land up. Settlers- Houses were made of sod which always leaked, they also faced hardships- droughts, floods, fires, blizzards, and locust plagues. Challenges for farmers- Good machinery was expensive so the farmers would have to grow more crops and would often have to borrow money just to buy seeds. This would lead to farmers being in debt, they had to pay to ship their grain which also included tax.
Section 3- Problems farmers had- farming in the late 1800's was getting pretty bad, prices for crops were dropping, farmers often mortgaged their farms so they could buy more land. Farming Problems- good land was becoming scarce, railroads were making farmers mad, they were charging excessive prices for shipping and storage.
Populist Movement- Help farmers get out of debt, give them a bigger say in the government.
Comments
Pretty good but get the key questions to help you focus your notes.