1.
Homesteading
–
Homesteading is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. Pursued in different ways around the world—and in different historical eras—homesteading is generally differentiated from rural village or commune living by isolation of the homestead, use of the term in the United States dates back to the Homestead Act and before. In sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in nations formerly controlled by the British Empire, in the UK, the term smallholder is the rough equivalent of homesteader. Modern homesteaders often use renewable energy options including solar electricity and wind power, many also choose to plant and grow heirloom vegetables and to raise heritage livestock. Homesteading is not defined by where someone lives, such as the city or the country, renewed interest in homesteading was brought about by U. S. President Franklin D. Roosevelts program of Subsistence Homesteading in the 1930s and 1940s. The attractiveness of back-to-the-land movements dates from the Roman era, and has noted in Asian poetry. The ideas of modern homesteading proponents, such as Ralph Borsodi, self-sufficiency movements in the 1990s and 2000s began to apply the concept to urban and suburban settings, known as urban homesteading. According to author John Seymour, urban homesteading incorporates small-scale, sustainable agriculture, in homesteading, social and government support systems are frequently eschewed in favor of self-reliance and relative deprivation, in order to maximize independence and self-determination. The degree of independence occurs along a spectrum, with many homesteaders creating foodstuffs or crafts to appeal to niche markets in order to meet financial needs. Careful choice of homesteading location is essential for economic success, actual financial savings from adopting a homesteading lifestyle can be significant if planned and executed properly. Many homesteaders express deep satisfaction with their standard of living and feel that their lifestyle is healthier, “Homesteading Remembered, A Sesquicentennial Perspective, ” Agricultural History,87, 1–29. Mid-America Homesteading Conference Modern Homesteading State of Alaska Land Offerings and Remote Recreation Cabins Staking Program Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture – Homesteading
Homesteading
–
Home farming: Bill Stagg turning up his beans, Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. He will next pile them for curing.
2.
Norwegian American
–
Norwegian Americans comprise Americans with ancestral roots from Norway. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the half of the 19th century. There are more than 4.5 million Norwegian Americans according to the most recent U. S. census, Norwegian Americans currently comprise the 10th largest European ancestry group in the United States. Norsemen from Greenland and Iceland were the first Europeans to reach North America, leif Ericson reached North America via Norse settlements in Greenland around the year 1000. Norse settlers from Greenland founded the settlement of LAnse aux Meadows and Point Rosee in Vinland, in what is now Newfoundland and these settlers failed to establish a permanent settlement because of conflicts with indigenous people and within the Norse community. There was a Norwegian presence in New Amsterdam in the part of 17th century. Hans Hansen Bergen, a native of Bergen, Norway, was one of the earliest settlers of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam having immigrated in 1633, another of the first Norwegian settlers was Albert Andriessen Bradt who arrived in New Amsterdam in 1637. Pieter Van Brugh, Mayor of Albany, New York was the grandson of Norwegian immigrants, approximately 60 persons had settled in the Manhattan area before the British take-over in 1664. How many Norwegians that settled in New Netherland is not known, the Netherlands had strong commercial ties with the coastal lumber trade of Norway during the 17th century and many Norwegians immigrated to Amsterdam. Some of them settled in Dutch colonies, although never in large numbers, there were also Norwegian settlers in Pennsylvania in the first half of the 18th century, upstate New York in the latter half of the same century, and in New England during both halves. The earliest immigrants from Norway to America emigrated mostly because of religious motives, as Religious Society of Friends, organized Norwegian immigration to North America began in 1825, when several dozen Norwegians left Stavanger bound for North America on the sloop Restauration under the leadership of Cleng Peerson. To a great extent, this emigration from Norway was borne out of religious persecution, especially for Quakers and a local religious group. The ship landed in New York City, where it was at first impounded for exceeding its passenger limit. After intervention from President John Quincy Adams, the passengers moved on to settle in Kendall, New York with the help of Andreas Stangeland, many of these immigrants moved on from the Kendall Settlement, settling in Illinois and Wisconsin. In July of that year, a group of six dissenting families, seeking a haven from the official Norwegian state church, set sail from Stavanger in an undersized sloop, the Restaurationen. When it arrived in New York harbor after an arduous 14-week journey, the Restaurationen caused a sensation, local Quakers helped the destitute emigrants, who eventually established a community in upstate New York. Today, their descendants are known as sloopers. While about 65 Norwegians emigrated via Sweden and elsewhere in the years, no emigrant ships left Norway for the New World until the 1836 departures of the Den Norske Klippe
Norwegian American
–
A 1925 U.S. postage stamp featuring
the ship Viking honoring the
100th anniversary of Norwegian immigration.
Norwegian American
–
Cleng Peerson.
Norwegian American
–
Norwegian settlers in front of their sod house in
North Dakota in 1898.
Norwegian American
–
A re-enactment of Norwegian farmers making cheese in
Wisconsin.
3.
Sod house
–
The sod house or soddy was a successor to the log cabin during frontier settlement of Canada and the United States. The prairie lacked standard building materials such as wood or stone, however, prairie grass had a much thicker, tougher root structure than modern landscaping grass. Construction of a sod house involved cutting patches of sod in rectangles, often 2×1×6, builders employed a variety of roofing methods. Sod houses accommodate normal doors and windows, the resulting structure was a well-insulated but damp dwelling that was very inexpensive. Sod houses required frequent maintenance and were vulnerable to rain damage, stucco or wood panels often protected the outer walls. Canvas or plaster often lined the interior walls. S, waterman Sod House, Big Springs, Nebraska, NRHP-listed Icelandic turf houses Burdei Canadian Prairies Earth structure Dugout Sod roof Rammed earth Notes Two books by Solomon D
Sod house
–
A sod farm structure in
Iceland
Sod house
–
A sod house in the American
prairie, 1901
Sod house
–
Saskatchewan sod house, circa 1900
Sod house
–
Interior of a sod house, North Dakota, 1937
4.
United States federal law
–
The United States Code is the official compilation and codification of general and permanent federal statutory law. Federal law and treaties, so long as they are in accordance with the Constitution, preempt conflicting state and territorial laws in the 50 U. S. states, however, the scope of federal preemption is limited because the scope of federal power is not universal. Indeed, states may grant their citizens broader rights than the federal Constitution as long as they do not infringe on any federal constitutional rights. Thus, most U. S. law consists primarily of state law, which can and does vary greatly from one state to the next. At both the federal and state levels, the law of the United States is largely derived from the law system of English law. However, American law has diverged greatly from its English ancestor both in terms of substance and procedure, and has incorporated a number of civil law innovations. In the United States, the law is derived from five sources, constitutional law, statutory law, treaties, administrative regulations, where Congress enacts a statute that conflicts with the Constitution, the Supreme Court may find that law unconstitutional and declare it invalid. Notably, a statute does not disappear automatically merely because it has been found unconstitutional, many federal and state statutes have remained on the books for decades after they were ruled to be unconstitutional. However, under the principle of stare decisis, no sensible lower court will enforce an unconstitutional statute, conversely, any court that refuses to enforce a constitutional statute will risk reversal by the Supreme Court. The United States and most Commonwealth countries are heirs to the common law tradition of English law. Certain practices traditionally allowed under English common law were expressly outlawed by the Constitution, such as bills of attainder, as common law courts, U. S. courts have inherited the principle of stare decisis. The actual substance of English law was received into the United States in several ways. Some reception statutes impose a specific date for reception, such as the date of a colonys founding. Thus, contemporary U. S. Second, a number of important British statutes in effect at the time of the Revolution have been independently reenacted by U. S. states. Two examples that many lawyers will recognize are the Statute of Frauds, such English statutes are still regularly cited in contemporary American cases interpreting their modern American descendants. However, it is important to understand that despite the presence of reception statutes, early on, American courts, even after the Revolution, often did cite contemporary English cases. But citations to English decisions gradually disappeared during the 19th century as American courts developed their own principles to resolve the problems of the American people. The number of published volumes of American reports soared from eighteen in 1810 to over 8,000 by 1910
United States federal law
–
The
United States Constitution
United States federal law
–
Law affects every aspect of American life, including
parking lots. Note the citations to statutes on the sign.
United States federal law
–
The
United States Code, the codification of federal statutory law
United States federal law
–
The
Code of Federal Regulations, the codification of federal
administrative law
5.
Mississippi River
–
The Mississippi River is the chief river of the largest drainage system on the North American continent. Flowing entirely in the United States, it rises in northern Minnesota, with its many tributaries, the Mississippis watershed drains all or parts of 31 U. S. states and 2 Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains. The Mississippi ranks as the fourth longest and fifteenth largest river in the world by discharge, the river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Native Americans long lived along the Mississippi River and its tributaries, most were hunter-gatherers, but some, such as the Mound Builders, formed prolific agricultural societies. The arrival of Europeans in the 16th century changed the way of life as first explorers, then settlers. The river served first as a barrier, forming borders for New Spain, New France, and the early United States, and then as a vital transportation artery and communications link. Formed from thick layers of the silt deposits, the Mississippi embayment is one of the most fertile agricultural regions of the country. In recent years, the river has shown a shift towards the Atchafalaya River channel in the Delta. The word itself comes from Messipi, the French rendering of the Anishinaabe name for the river, see below in the History section for additional information. In addition to historical traditions shown by names, there are at least two measures of a rivers identity, one being the largest branch, and the other being the longest branch. Using the largest-branch criterion, the Ohio would be the branch of the Lower Mississippi. Using the longest-branch criterion, the Middle Mississippi-Missouri-Jefferson-Beaverhead-Red Rock-Hellroaring Creek River would be the main branch and its length of at least 3,745 mi is exceeded only by the Nile, the Amazon, and perhaps the Yangtze River among the longest rivers in the world. The source of this waterway is at Browers Spring,8,800 feet above sea level in southwestern Montana and this is exemplified by the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the phrase Trans-Mississippi as used in the name of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. It is common to qualify a regionally superlative landmark in relation to it, the New Madrid Seismic Zone along the river is also noteworthy. These various basic geographical aspects of the river in turn underlie its human history and present uses of the waterway, the Upper Mississippi runs from its headwaters to its confluence with the Missouri River at St. Louis, Missouri. The source of the Upper Mississippi branch is traditionally accepted as Lake Itasca,1,475 feet above sea level in Itasca State Park in Clearwater County, however, the lake is in turn fed by a number of smaller streams. From its origin at Lake Itasca to St. Louis, Missouri, fourteen of these dams are located above Minneapolis in the headwaters region and serve multiple purposes, including power generation and recreation. The remaining 29 dams, beginning in downtown Minneapolis, all locks and were constructed to improve commercial navigation of the upper river
Mississippi River
–
Mississippi River near Fire Point in
Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa
Mississippi River
–
Detailed map of Mississippi River tributary structure
Mississippi River
–
The beginning of the Mississippi River at
Lake Itasca (2004)
Mississippi River
–
Mississippi head of navigation, Coon Rapids Dam
6.
Homestead principle
–
The homestead principle is the principle by which one gains ownership of an unowned natural resource by performing an act of original appropriation. Appropriation could be enacted by putting an unowned resource to active use, proponents of intellectual property hold that ideas can also be homesteaded by originally creating a virtual or tangible representation of them. Others however argue that since tangible manifestations of an idea will be present in many places, including within the minds of people. Homesteading is one of the foundations of Rothbardian anarcho-capitalism, enlightenment philosopher John Locke in his work Second Treatise of Government, published in 1690 advocated the Lockean proviso, which allows for homesteading. Locke famously sees the mixing of labour with land as the source of ownership via homesteading and he writes, Though the earth and all inferior creatures be common to all men, yet every man has a property in his own person. This nobody has any right to but himself, the labour of his body and the work of his hands, we may say, are properly his. However, Locke held that individuals have a right to private property from nature only so long as there is enough. The Lockean proviso maintains that appropriation of unowned resources is a diminution of the rights of others to it and he writes, Most of us think of homesteading unused resources in the old-fashioned sense of clearing a piece of unowned land and farming the soil. Suppose, for example, that an airport is established with a deal of empty land around it. The airport exudes a level of, say, X decibels. A housing development then buys land near the airport, some time later, the homeowners sue the airport for excessive noise interfering with the use and quiet enjoyment of the houses. Excessive noise can be considered a form of aggression but in case the airport has already homesteaded X decibels worth of noise. By its prior claim, the airport now owns the right to emit X decibels of noise in the surrounding area, in legal terms, we can then say that the airport, through homesteading, has earned an easement right to creating X decibels of noise. This homesteaded easement is an example of the ancient legal concept of prescription and he writes, If A uses a certain amount of a resource, how much of that resource is to accrue to his ownership. Our answer is that he owns the technological unit of the resource, the size of that unit depends on the type of good or resource in question, and must be determined by judges, juries, or arbitrators who are expert in the particular resource or industry in question. Taking exclusive possession of it is, in terms of our classification of possible acts, a liberty and its appropriation by a third party may have deprived them of an uncovenanted advantage, but it did not violate their rights. Similarly to de-Jasay, Hans Hermann Hoppe argues that the denial of the homesteading rule entails a performative contradiction, ayn Rand has not elaborated on the characteristics of homesteading, but had expressed support for compatible laws, such as favourably citing the Homestead Act. The government offered a 160-acres farm to any citizen who would settle on it and cultivate it for five years
Homestead principle
–
Under the homestead principle a
farmer putting unowned
land to use gains
ownership over it.
7.
Free Soil
–
The Free Soil Party was a short-lived political party in the United States active in the 1848 and 1852 presidential elections, and in some state elections. Founded in Buffalo, New York, it was a third party, the party leadership consisted of anti-slavery former members of the Whig Party and the Democratic Party. Its main purpose was to oppose the expansion of slavery into the western territories and it opposed slavery in the new territories and sometimes worked to remove existing laws that discriminated against freed African Americans in states such as Ohio. It nominated Martin Van Buren for the presidency in 1848 and John P. Hale for the presidency in 1852, the party membership was largely absorbed by the Republican Party between 1854 and 1856, by way of the Anti-Nebraska movement. The party also called for a tariff for revenue only, the Free Soil Partys main support came from areas of Ohio, upstate New York and western Massachusetts, although other northern states also had representatives. The party contended that slavery undermined the dignity of labor and inhibited social mobility, viewing slavery as an economically inefficient, obsolete institution, Free Soilers believed that slavery should be contained, and that if contained it would ultimately disappear. In 1848 the New York State Democratic convention did not endorse the Wilmot Proviso, almost half the members, known as Barnburners, walked out after denouncing the national platform. Lewis Cass, the Democratic Partys 1848 presidential nominee, supported popular sovereignty for determining the status of slavery in the U. S. territories, the main party leaders were Salmon P. Chase of Ohio and John P. Hale of New Hampshire. The Free Soil candidates won 10% of the vote in 1848 but no electoral votes. The party distanced itself from abolitionism and avoided the moral problems implicit in slavery, members emphasized instead the threat slavery would pose to free white labor and northern businessmen in the new western territories. Although abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison derided the party philosophy as white manism, the 1848 platform pledged to promote limited internal improvements, work for a homestead law, work towards paying off the public debt, and introduce a moderate tariff for revenue only. The Compromise of 1850 temporarily neutralized the issue of slavery and undercut the partys no-compromise position, most Barnburners returned to the Democratic Party while most of the Conscience Whigs returned to the Whig Party. This resulted in the Free Soil Party becoming dominated by ardent anti-slavery leaders, the party ran John P. Hale in the 1852 presidential election, but its share of the popular vote shrank to less than 5%. However two years later, after enormous outrage over the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854, the remains of the Free Soil Party helped form the Republican Party. The Free Soil Party sent two Senators and fourteen Representatives to the thirty-first Congress, which convened from March 4,1849 to March 3,1851. Since there were party members on the floor of Congress, they could carry far more weight in the government, the partys spoiler effect in 1848 may have helped Taylor into office in a narrowly contested election. The strength of the party, however, was its representation in Congress, the sixteen elected officials had influence far beyond their numerical strength. The partys most important legacy was as a route for anti-slavery Democrats to join the new Republican coalition, in August 1854 an alliance was brokered at Ottawa, Illinois between the Free Soil Party and the Whigs that gave rise to the Republican Party
Free Soil
–
In this 1850 political cartoon, the artist attacks abolitionist, Free Soil, and other sectionalist interests of 1850 as dangers to the Union.
Free Soil
–
Van Buren / Adams campaign banner
Free Soil
–
1848 cartoon for Van Buren
8.
Federal government of the United States
–
The Federal Government of the United States is the national government of the United States, a republic in North America, composed of 50 states, one district, Washington, D. C. and several territories. The federal government is composed of three branches, legislative, executive, and judicial, whose powers are vested by the U. S. Constitution in the Congress, the President, and the courts, including the Supreme Court. The powers and duties of these branches are defined by acts of Congress. The full name of the republic is United States of America, no other name appears in the Constitution, and this is the name that appears on money, in treaties, and in legal cases to which it is a party. The terms Government of the United States of America or United States Government are often used in documents to represent the federal government as distinct from the states collectively. In casual conversation or writing, the term Federal Government is often used, the terms Federal and National in government agency or program names generally indicate affiliation with the federal government. Because the seat of government is in Washington, D. C, Washington is commonly used as a metonym for the federal government. The outline of the government of the United States is laid out in the Constitution, the government was formed in 1789, making the United States one of the worlds first, if not the first, modern national constitutional republics. The United States government is based on the principles of federalism and republicanism, some make the case for expansive federal powers while others argue for a more limited role for the central government in relation to individuals, the states or other recognized entities. For example, while the legislative has the power to create law, the President nominates judges to the nations highest judiciary authority, but those nominees must be approved by Congress. The Supreme Court, in its turn, has the power to invalidate as unconstitutional any law passed by the Congress and these and other examples are examined in more detail in the text below. The United States Congress is the branch of the federal government. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate, the House currently consists of 435 voting members, each of whom represents a congressional district. The number of each state has in the House is based on each states population as determined in the most recent United States Census. All 435 representatives serve a two-year term, each state receives a minimum of one representative in the House. There is no limit on the number of terms a representative may serve, in addition to the 435 voting members, there are six non-voting members, consisting of five delegates and one resident commissioner. In contrast, the Senate is made up of two senators from each state, regardless of population, there are currently 100 senators, who each serve six-year terms
Federal government of the United States
–
The
United States Capitol is the
seat of government for Congress.
Federal government of the United States
–
Great Seal of the United States
Federal government of the United States
–
Diagram of the Federal Government and American Union, 1862.
9.
Reconstruction Era
–
Johnson followed a lenient policy toward ex-Confederates. Lincolns last speeches show that he was leaning toward supporting the enfranchisement of all freedmen, whereas Johnson was opposed to this. A Republican coalition came to power in all the southern states and set out to transform the society by setting up a free labor economy, using the U. S. Army. The Bureau protected the rights of freedmen, negotiated labor contracts. Thousands of Northerners came South as missionaries, teachers, businessmen, rebuilding the rundown railroad system was a major strategy, but it collapsed when a nationwide depression struck the economy. The Radicals in the House of Representatives, frustrated by Johnsons opposition to Congressional Reconstruction, filed impeachment charges, in early 1866, Congress passed the Freedmens Bureau and Civil Rights Bills and sent them to Johnson for his signature. Meanwhile, self-styled Conservatives strongly opposed reconstruction and they alleged widespread corruption by the Carpetbaggers, excessive state spending and ruinous taxes. Southern democrats and conservatives violently counterattacked and had regained power in each redeemed Southern state by 1877, meanwhile, public support for Reconstruction policies, requiring continued supervision of the South, faded in the North, as voters decided that the Civil War and years of conflict should stop. Reconstruction was a significant chapter in the history of civil rights in the United States, in the different states Reconstruction began and ended at different times, federal Reconstruction ended with the Compromise of 1877. In recent decades most historians follow Foner in dating the Reconstruction of the south as starting in 1863 rather than 1865, Reconstruction policies were debated in the North when the war began, and commenced in earnest after Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1,1863. As Confederate states came back under control of the US Army, President Abraham Lincoln set up reconstructed governments in Tennessee, Arkansas and he experimented by giving land to blacks in South Carolina. By fall 1865, the new President Andrew Johnson declared the war goals of national unity, Republicans in Congress, refusing to accept Johnsons lenient terms, rejected new members of Congress, some of whom had been high-ranking Confederate officials a few months before. Johnson broke with the Republicans after vetoing two key bills that supported the Freedmens Bureau and provided federal civil rights to the freedmen and that same year, Congress removed civilian governments in the South, and placed the former Confederacy under the rule of the U. S. Army. In ten states, coalitions of freedmen, recent black and white arrivals from the North, Conservative opponents called the Republican regimes corrupt and instigated violence toward freedmen and whites who supported Reconstruction. Most of the violence was carried out by members of the Ku Klux Klan, Klan members attacked and intimidated blacks seeking to exercise their new civil rights, as well as Republican politicians in the south favoring those civil rights. One such politician murdered by the Klan on the eve of the 1868 presidential election was Republican Congressman James M. Hinds of Arkansas, widespread violence in the south led to federal intervention by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1871, which suppressed the Klan. Nevertheless, white Democrats, calling themselves Redeemers, regained control of the state by state, sometimes using fraud. The end of Reconstruction was a process, and the period of Republican control ended at different times in different states
Reconstruction Era
–
The southern economy had been ruined by the war. Charleston, South Carolina: Broad Street, 1865
Reconstruction Era
–
The ruins of
Richmond, Virginia after the
American Civil War, newly freed
African Americans voting for the first time in 1867, Office of the
Freedmen's Bureau in
Memphis, Tennessee,
Memphis Riots of 1866
Reconstruction Era
–
A political cartoon of Andrew Johnson and Abraham Lincoln, 1865, entitled "The Rail Splitter At Work Repairing the Union." The caption reads (Johnson): Take it quietly Uncle Abe and I will draw it closer than ever. (Lincoln): A few more stitches Andy and the good old Union will be mended.
Reconstruction Era
–
Monument in honor of the Grand Army of the Republic, organized after the war
10.
Timber Culture Act
–
The Timber Culture Act was a follow-up act to the Homestead Act. The Timber Culture Act was passed by Congress in 1873, an Act to encourage the Growth of Timber on western Prairies. That no land acquired under provisions of this act, shall, in any event,160 acres of additional free land could be obtained if they set aside 40 acres to grow trees to solve the problem of lack of wood on the Great Plains. After planting the trees the land could only be obtained if it was occupied by the same family for at least 5 years. The act was passed to prevent abuse of the original Homestead Act in 1862, later the amount of land that needed to be set aside for trees was reduced to 10 acres. Any potential settler, including immigrants, could claim this land under both this act and the Homestead Act provided the claimant had become a U. S. citizen by the time of proving up. Timber was needed to sell and use for building materials and this timber would provide them with wood for fires and building. It would also act as a wind break reducing the problem of the winds on the plains. George W. Swink, said to be the first holder of a timber certificate
Timber Culture Act
–
Timber Culture Act
11.
Kinkaid Act
–
The Kinkaid Act of 1904 is a U. S. statute that amended the 1862 Homestead Act so that one section of public domain land could be acquired free of charge, apart from a modest filing fee. It applied specifically to 37 counties in northwest Nebraska, in the area of the Nebraska Sandhills. The legal provisions of the Kinkaid Act were very similar to those of the Homestead Act, a claimant had to be at least 21 years of age, and a current U. S. citizen or in the process of becoming a citizen. Five years of residency was required to gain title to a claim, the residency requirement was shortened to three years in 1912. A claimant also had to prove that improvements equivalent to $1.25 per acre had been made to the property. Only non-irrigable lands were eligible to be claimed under the provisions of the Kinkaid Act, a 640-acre claim was required to be as compact as possible, and less than two miles in length. A homesteader who already held land in the area at the time of enactment could accumulate additional surrounding available territory in order to acquire a total unit of 640 acres. Commutation was not allowed under the Kinkaid Act, claimants of land under the provisions of the Kinkaid Act were generally referred to as Kinkaiders. The Kinkaid Act was repealed on October 21,1976, the final patent was issued in 1941 on 40 acres of land. The economy of the Nebraska Sandhills region in the late 19th century was dominated by the ranching industry. Large ranches dotted the landscape, utilizing largely-unclaimed lands in the public domain, ranchers would file claims on lands with water access, and use the surrounding public pastures for grazing. Large stockmen sometimes used fraudulent homestead filings from employees and other individuals in order to gain title to surrounding land, a shack would be erected on these fraudulent claims and the claimant would stay there once every six months in order to claim residency. A common tactic was to title to a thin strip of land surrounding a large pasture in the public domain. This prevented anyone else from grazing their cattle in the enclosed area, bartlett Richards and William Comstock, who formed the Spade Ranch, were famous for tactics such as these. The bill never made it to the floor for debate, in his 1902 address to congress, President Theodore Roosevelt made it a priority to settle the “public land problem. ”He appointed a Public Lands Commission in 1903 to look into the issue and recommend solutions. The commission concluded that current land laws had been framed to accommodate humid regions, new land laws would be needed to settle the arid lands west of the 100th meridian. Moses Kinkaid, a congressman from the district of Nebraska. The original bill provided for 1,280 acre homesteads, the committee felt that 640 acres would be a good initial experiment size, and the act could be amended in the future if more land were needed
Kinkaid Act
–
Spade Ranch brand
Kinkaid Act
–
Moses Kinkaid
Kinkaid Act
–
Nebraska Sandhills in October
12.
History of the United States Republican Party
–
The Republican Party, also commonly called the GOP, is one of the worlds oldest extant political parties. It is the second oldest existing political party in the United States after its primary rival, the Democratic Party. The Party had almost no presence in the Southern United States, with its election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, and its success in guiding the Union to victory and abolishing slavery, the party came to dominate the national political scene until 1932. The Republican Party was based on northern white Protestants, businessmen, small business owners, professionals, factory workers, farmers and it was pro-business, supporting banks, the gold standard, railroads, and high tariffs to protect factory workers and grow industry faster. Under William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, it emphasized a foreign policy. The GOP lost its majorities during the Great Depression, instead, the Democrats under Franklin D. Roosevelt formed a winning New Deal coalition, which was dominant from 1932 through 1964. That coalition collapsed in the mid-1960s, partly because of white Southern Democrats disaffection with passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Republicans won five of the six presidential elections from 1968 to 1988, with Ronald Reagan as the partys iconic conservative hero. The GOP expanded its base throughout the South after 1968, largely due to its strength among socially conservative white Evangelical Protestants and traditionalist Roman Catholics. The Republican Partys transforming leader by 1980 was Reagan, whose conservative policies called for reduced government spending and regulation, lower taxes, and his influence upon the party persists, as nearly every GOP speaker still reveres him. This includes current US President Donald Trump, who utilized his own version of Reagans Make America Great Again slogan during the 2016 US Election. Social scientists Theodore Caplow et al. argue, The Republican party, nationally, moved from right-center toward the center in the 1940s and 1950s, then moved right again in the 1970s and 1980s. The Republican party began as a coalition of anti-slavery Conscience Whigs and Free Soil Democrats opposed to the Kansas–Nebraska Act and this change was viewed by Free Soil and Abolitionist Northerners as an aggressive, expansionist maneuver by the slave-owning South. The Act was supported by all Southerners, by Northern Doughface Democrats, in the North, the old Whig Party was almost defunct. The opponents were motivated and began forming a new party. The new party went well beyond the issue of slavery in the territories and it envisioned modernizing the United States—emphasizing giving free western land to farmers as opposed to letting slave owners buy up the best lands, expanded banking, more railroads, and factories. They vigorously argued that free labor was superior to slavery. The Republicans absorbed the traditions of its members, most of whom had been Whigs. Many Democrats who joined were rewarded with governorships, or seats in the U. S. Senate, or House of Representatives
History of the United States Republican Party
–
Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican President (1861–1865).
History of the United States Republican Party
–
This Democratic editorial cartoon links Frémont to other radical movements including
temperance,
feminism,
Fourierism,
free love, Catholicism, and abolition.
History of the United States Republican Party
–
"Union" ticket in 1864; party men gave these to voters to deposit in the ballot box
History of the United States Republican Party
–
First Colored Senator and Representatives: Sen.
Hiram Revels (R-MS), Rep.
Benjamin Turner (R-AL),
Robert DeLarge (R-SC),
Josiah Walls (R-FL),
Jefferson Long (R-GA),
Joseph Rainey and
Robert B. Elliott (R-SC), 1872
13.
History of the United States Democratic Party
–
The Democratic Party of the United States is the oldest voter-based political party in the world, tracing its heritage back to the 1820s. During the Second Party System, from 1832 to the mid-1850s, under presidents Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, James K. Polk, both parties worked hard to build grassroots organizations and maximize the turnout of voters, which often reached 80 percent or 90 percent. Both parties used patronage extensively to finance their operations, which included emerging big city political machines as well as networks of newspapers. The Democratic party was a proponent for farmers across the country, urban workers and it was especially attractive to Irish immigrants who increasingly controlled the party machinery in the cities. The party was less attractive to businessmen, plantation owners, Evangelical Protestants. The party advocated westward expansion, Manifest Destiny, greater equality among all white men, from the start of the Democratic party which was in 1828, 6th President John Quincy Adams was a Democratic-Republican, and he was not a slave-holder. The 7th through 15th Presidents were either Democratic or Whig and all slaveholders, finally, 16th President Abraham Lincoln was a Republican and the only non-slave-holding President, other than John and John Quincy Adams. Thus in 1860 the Civil War began between the mostly-Republican North against the mostly-Democratic, slaveholding South, the Democrats elected only two presidents to four terms of office for 72 years, Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson. The Party was split between the Bourbon Democrats, representing Eastern business interests, and the elements comprising poor farmers in the South. The agrarian element, marching behind the slogan of free silver, captured the Party in 1896, both Bryan and Wilson were leaders of the Progressive Movement, 1890s–1920s. Starting with 32nd President Franklin D. Eisenhower. S, important Democratic progressive/liberal leaders included Presidents, 33rd – Harry S Truman, and 36th – Lyndon B. Since the Presidential Election of 1976, Democrats have won five out of the last ten presidential elections, winning in the elections of 1976,1992 and 1996. The modern Democratic Party emerged in the 1830s from former factions of the Democratic-Republican Party and it was built by Martin Van Buren who assembled a cadre of politicians in every state behind war hero Andrew Jackson of Tennessee. The spirit of Jacksonian Democracy animated the party from the early 1830s to the 1850s, shaping the Second Party System, the new Democratic Party became a coalition of farmers, city-dwelling laborers, and Irish Catholics. Behind the party platforms, acceptance speeches of candidates, editorials, pamphlets and stump speeches, as Norton explains, The Democrats represented a wide range of views but shared a fundamental commitment to the Jeffersonian concept of an agrarian society. They viewed the government as the enemy of individual liberty. The 1824 corrupt bargain had strengthened their suspicion of Washington politics, Jacksonians feared the concentration of economic and political power. They believed that government intervention in the economy benefited special-interest groups and their definition of the proper role of government tended to be negative, and Jacksons political power was largely expressed in negative acts
History of the United States Democratic Party
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Andrew Jackson, the first Democratic President (1829-1837).
History of the United States Democratic Party
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1837 cartoon shows the Democratic Party as donkey.
History of the United States Democratic Party
–
To vote for Douglas in Virginia, a man deposited the ticket issued by the party in the official ballot box.
History of the United States Democratic Party
–
Thomas Nast 's January 1870 depiction of the Democratic donkey
14.
James Buchanan
–
James Buchanan, Jr. was the 15th President of the United States, serving immediately prior to the American Civil War. He is the president from Pennsylvania, the only president to remain a lifelong bachelor. Beginning in the 1820s, he represented Pennsylvania in the United States House of Representatives and later the Senate, Buchanan was nominated by the Democratic Party in the 1856 presidential election, on a ticket with former Kentucky Representative John C. He defeated both the incumbent President Pierce and Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas to win the nomination and his subsequent election victory took place in a three-man race against Republican John C. Shortly after taking office, Buchanan lobbied the Supreme Court to issue a ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford. He allied with the South in attempting to gain the admission of Kansas to the Union as a state under the Lecompton Constitution. In the process, he alienated both Republican abolitionists and Northern Democrats, most of whom supported the principle of sovereignty in determining a new states slaveholding status. He was often called a doughface, a Northerner with Southern sympathies, and he fought with Douglas, in the midst of the growing sectional crisis, the Panic of 1857 struck the nation. Buchanan indicated in his 1857 inaugural address that he would not seek a second term, he kept his word, Breckinridge in the 1860 presidential election. In response, seven Southern states declared their secession from the Union, Buchanans view was that secession was illegal, but that going to war to stop it was also illegal, and so didnt confront the new polity militarily. Buchanan, an attorney, was noted for his mantra, I acknowledge no master, Buchanan supported the United States during the Civil War, and publicly defended himself against charges that he was responsible for the Civil War. Shortly after the Union victory, he published his memoirs, Mr. Buchanans Administration on the Eve of Rebellion and he died in 1868 at age 77. Buchanan aspired to be a president who would rank in history with George Washington, historians who participated in a 2006 survey voted his failure to deal with secession the worst presidential mistake ever made. His parents were both of Ulster Scots descent, the father having emigrated from Milford, County Donegal, Ireland, one of eleven siblings, Buchanan was the oldest child in the family to survive infancy. Shortly after Buchanans birth the family moved to a farm near Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, Buchanans father became the wealthiest person in town, becoming a prosperous merchant and investing in real estate. The family home in Mercersburg was later turned into the James Buchanan Hotel, Buchanan attended the village academy and, starting in 1807, Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Though he was expelled at one point for poor behavior, he pleaded for a second chance. Later that year, he moved to Lancaster, which, at the time, was the capital of Pennsylvania, James Hopkins, the most prominent lawyer in Lancaster, accepted Buchanan as a student, and in 1812 Buchanan was admitted to the bar after an oral exam
James Buchanan
–
James Buchanan
James Buchanan
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Buchanan statue in National Portrait Gallery
James Buchanan
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Buchanan's birthplace relocated log cabin in Mercersburg, PA
James Buchanan
–
An anti-Buchanan political cartoon from the 1856 election
15.
Abraham Lincoln
–
Abraham Lincoln was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War—its bloodiest war and perhaps its greatest moral, constitutional, in doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy. Born in Hodgenville, Kentucky, Lincoln grew up on the frontier in Kentucky. Largely self-educated, he became a lawyer in Illinois, a Whig Party leader, elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1846, Lincoln promoted rapid modernization of the economy through banks, tariffs, and railroads. Reentering politics in 1854, he became a leader in building the new Republican Party, in 1860, Lincoln secured the Republican Party presidential nomination as a moderate from a swing state. Though he gained little support in the slaveholding states of the South. Subsequently, on April 12,1861, a Confederate attack on Fort Sumter inspired the North to enthusiastically rally behind the Union. Politically, Lincoln fought back by pitting his opponents against each other, by carefully planned political patronage and his Gettysburg Address became an iconic endorsement of the principles of nationalism, republicanism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy. Lincoln initially concentrated on the military and political dimensions of the war and his primary goal was to reunite the nation. He suspended habeas corpus, leading to the ex parte Merryman decision. Lincoln closely supervised the war effort, especially the selection of top generals, including his most successful general, Lincoln tried repeatedly to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, each time a general failed, Lincoln substituted another, until finally Grant succeeded. As the war progressed, his moves toward ending slavery included the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. On April 14,1865, five days after the surrender of Confederate commanding general Robert E. Lee, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton launched a manhunt for Booth, and 12 days later on April 26, Lincoln has been consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as among the greatest U. S. presidents. Abraham Lincoln was born February 12,1809, the child of Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, in a one-room log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville. He was a descendant of Samuel Lincoln, an Englishman who migrated from Hingham, Norfolk to its namesake of Hingham, samuels grandson and great-grandson began the familys western migration, which passed through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Lincolns paternal grandfather and namesake, Captain Abraham Lincoln, moved the family from Virginia to Jefferson County, Captain Lincoln was killed in an Indian raid in 1786. His children, including eight-year-old Thomas, the presidents father
Abraham Lincoln
–
Lincoln in 1863, aged 54
Abraham Lincoln
–
The young Lincoln in sculpture at Senn Park, Chicago.
Abraham Lincoln
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1864 photo of President Lincoln with youngest son,
Tad
Abraham Lincoln
–
Lincoln depicted protecting a Native American from his own men in a scene often related about Lincoln's service during the
Black Hawk War.
16.
Daniel Freeman (homesteader)
–
Daniel Freeman was an American physician and Civil War veteran. He was recognized as the first person to file a claim under the Homestead Act of 1862, Freeman was also the plaintiff in a landmark separation of church and state decision. Freeman was born in Preble County, Ohio, but was raised in Genesee County, New York, while a young man, his family moved frequently, living in Iowa and Illinois and settling in Beatrice, Nebraska Territory. He was a graduate of an institute in Cincinnati, Ohio. He enlisted in the 17th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the Civil War, on May 20,1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act. This gave adults 160 acres of land if they filed paperwork, the homesteader was required to build a 12x14 dwelling and farm the land or plant trees. Osage Orange trees became very popular, some homesteaders noted that the government did not mention that the dwelling had to be 12x14 feet. It was reported that some built a 12x14 inch dwelling to fulfill this requirement, although the land was cheap or free, many homesteaders did not last five years due to the blizzards, drought, grasshoppers, disease, and loneliness on the open prairies. January 1,1863, was the day the Homestead Act went into effect, Freeman was supposedly a scouter for the Union Army and told someone that he was leaving for St. Louis the morning of January 1,1863, for military duty. Freeman convinced someone to open the office just after midnight so he could be the first person to file his claim. Some dispute whether Freemans story of having to go to St. Louis was true or whether he just wanted to be the first to file under this act. When five years was up, the homesteader had to have two or three witnesses sign a document called Proof Required Under Homestead Acts May 20,1862, Daniel Freeman had his neighbors, Joseph Graff and Samuel Kilpatrick, sign this first document. Freeman married Elizabeth Wilber, who may have died in 1861, Daniel Freeman proposed marriage–by mail–to Agnes Suiter of LeClaire, Iowa, and married her on February 8,1865, in her parents home. Agnes had been his brothers fiancée until his brother was killed in the Civil War, Daniel and Agnes had eight children, seven of whom survived to adulthood. Agnes lived on the Beatrice, Nebraska, homestead until her death in 1931, in addition to homesteading his claim, Freeman also worked as a physician, and served as county coroner and county sheriff. During the period in which the Freemans lived on the homestead, several structures were built, including a log cabin, none of these structures survives today. In 1936, the Freeman homestead was recognized by Congress as the first homestead in the country and it is now maintained by the National Park Service. Freeman was also the plaintiff in Daniel Freeman v. John Scheve, a landmark case concerning the separation of church and state
Daniel Freeman (homesteader)
–
Daniel Freeman
Daniel Freeman (homesteader)
–
For other people named Daniel Freeman, see
Daniel Freeman (disambiguation).
Daniel Freeman (homesteader)
–
The grave of Daniel and Agnes Freeman at the Homestead National Monument of America.
Daniel Freeman (homesteader)
–
The Freeman school.
17.
Oregon Territory
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Originally claimed by several countries, the region was divided between the UK and US in 1846. When established, the territory encompassed an area included the current states of Oregon, Washington. The capital of the territory was first Oregon City, then Salem, followed briefly by Corvallis, then back to Salem, originally inhabited by Native Americans, the region that became the Oregon Territory was explored by Europeans first by sea. The first documented exploration came in 1777 by the Spanish, with British, during the period of joint occupation, most activity in the region outside of the activities of the indigenous people came from the fur trade, which was dominated by the British Hudsons Bay Company. Over time, some began to settle down in the area and began farming. Some settlers also began arriving in the late 1830s, and covered wagons crossed the Oregon Trail beginning in 1841, at that time, no government existed in the Oregon Country, as no one nation held dominion over the territory. A group of settlers in the Willamette Valley began meeting in 1841 to discuss organizing a government for the area and these earliest documented discussions, mostly concerning forming a government, were held in an early pioneer and Native American encampment and later town known as Champoeg, Oregon. These first Champoeg Meetings eventually led to discussions, and in 1843 the creation of the Provisional Government of Oregon. In 1846, the Oregon boundary dispute between the U. S. and Britain was settled with the signing of the Oregon Treaty. The British gained sole possession of the north of the 49th parallel and all of Vancouver Island. On August 14,1848, Congress passed the Act to Establish the Territorial Government of Oregon, the Territory of Oregon originally encompassed all of the present-day states of Idaho, Oregon and Washington, as well as those parts of present-day Montana and Wyoming west of the Continental Divide. Its southern border was the 42nd parallel north, and it extended north to the 49th parallel, Oregon City, Oregon, was designated as the first capital. The territorial government consisted of a governor, a marshal, a secretary, an attorney, judges on the court also sat as trial level judges as they rode circuit across the territory. All of these offices were filled by appointment by the President of the United States, taxation took the form of an annual property tax of 0. 25% for territorial purposes with an additional county tax not to exceed this amount. This tax was to be paid on all town lots and improvements, mills, carriages, clocks and watches, Oregon City served as the seat of government from 1848 to 1851, followed by Salem from 1851 to 1855. Corvallis served briefly as the capital in 1855, followed by a permanent return to Salem later that year, in 1853, the portion of the territory north of the lower Columbia River and north of the 46th parallel east of the river was organized into the Washington Territory. On February 14,1859, the territory entered the Union as the U. S. state of Oregon within its current boundaries, the remaining eastern portion of the territory was added to the Washington Territory
Oregon Territory
–
Seal of the Oregon Territory
Oregon Territory
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Oregon Territory, as originally organized, in 1848
18.
Washington (state)
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It was admitted to the Union as the 42nd state in 1889. Washington is sometimes referred to as Washington State or the State of Washington to distinguish it from Washington, Washington is the 18th largest state with an area of 71,362 square miles, and the 13th most populous state with over 7 million people. Washington is the second most populous state on the West Coast and in the Western United States, Mount Rainier, an active stratovolcano, is the states highest elevation at almost 14,411 feet and is the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States. Washington is a leading lumber producer and its rugged surface is rich in stands of Douglas fir, hemlock, ponderosa pine, white pine, spruce, larch, and cedar. Manufacturing industries in Washington include aircraft and missiles, shipbuilding and other equipment, lumber, food processing, metals and metal products, chemicals. Washington has over 1,000 dams, including the Grand Coulee Dam, built for a variety of purposes including irrigation, power, flood control, Washington was named after President George Washington by an act of the United States Congress during the creation of Washington Territory in 1853. Washington is the only U. S. state named after a president, confusion over the state of Washington and the city of Washington, D. C. led to renaming proposals during the statehood process for Washington in 1889, which failed to garner support. Washington, D. C. s own statehood movement in the 21st century includes a proposal to use the name State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, which would conflict with the current state of Washington. To distinguish it from the capital, Washington is sometimes referred to as Washington state, or, in more formal contexts. Residents of Washington and the Pacific Northwest simply refer to the state as Washington, Washington is the northwestern-most state of the contiguous United States. Washington is bordered by Oregon to the south, with the Columbia River forming the western part, to the west of Washington lies the Pacific Ocean. The high mountains of the Cascade Range run north-south, bisecting the state, from the Cascade Mountains westward, Western Washington has a mostly marine west coast climate, with mild temperatures and wet winters, autumns and springs, and relatively dry summers. The Cascade Range contains several volcanoes, which reach altitudes significantly higher than the rest of the mountains, from the north to the south, these major volcanoes are Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, and Mount Adams. Mount Rainier, the tallest mountain in the state, is 50 miles south of the city of Seattle and it is also covered with more glacial ice than any other peak in the contiguous 48 states. Western Washington also is home of the Olympic Mountains, far west on the Olympic Peninsula and these deep forests, such as the Hoh Rainforest, are among the only temperate rainforests in the continental United States. Eastern Washington – the part of the state east of the Cascades – has a dry climate. It includes large areas of steppe and a few truly arid deserts lying in the rain shadow of the Cascades. Farther east, the climate becomes less arid, with annual rainfall increasing as one goes east to 21.2 inches in Pullman, the Okanogan Highlands and the rugged Kettle River Range and Selkirk Mountains cover much of the northeastern quadrant of the state
Washington (state)
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South Eastern Washington
Washington (state)
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Flag
Washington (state)
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The Pacific Coast of
Westport, Washington
Washington (state)
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Cascade Pass in the
North Cascades National Park
19.
Idaho
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Idaho is a state in the northwestern region of the United States. It borders the state of Montana to the east and northeast, Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, to the north, it shares a small portion of the Canadian border with the province of British Columbia. With a population of around 1.7 million people and an area of 83,569 square miles, Idaho is the 14th largest, the states capital and largest city is Boise. Idaho prior to European settlement was inhabited solely by Native American peoples, in the early 19th century, Idaho was considered part of the Oregon Country, an area disputed between the U. S. and the United Kingdom. Idaho was eventually admitted to the Union on July 3,1890, forming part of the Pacific Northwest, Idaho is divided into several distinct geographic and climatic regions. In the states north, the relatively isolated Idaho Panhandle is closely linked with Eastern Washington, the states south includes the Snake River Plain, while the south-east incorporates part of the Great Basin. Idaho is quite mountainous, and contains several stretches of the Rocky Mountains, additionally, around 38 percent of Idahos land is held by the United States Forest Service, the most of any state. Industries significant for the economy include manufacturing, agriculture, mining, forestry. Idahos agricultural sector supplies a number of different products, but the state is best known for its potato crop, the official state nickname is the Gem State, which references Idahos reputation for gemstones and, more broadly, its many wilderness areas. The exact origin of the remains a mystery. Willing later claimed that he had invented the name. Congress ultimately decided to name the area Colorado Territory when it was created in February 1861, thinking they would get a jump on the name, locals named a community in Colorado Idaho Springs. However, the name Idaho did not fall into obscurity, the same year Congress created Colorado Territory, a county called Idaho County was created in eastern Washington Territory. The county was named after a steamship named Idaho, which was launched on the Columbia River in 1860 and it is unclear whether the steamship was named before or after Willings claim was revealed. Regardless, a portion of Washington Territory, including Idaho County, was used to create Idaho Territory in 1863. Despite this lack of evidence for the origin of the name, the name Idaho may be derived from the Plains Apache word ídaahę́, which means enemy. The Comanches used this word to refer to the Idaho Territory, a 1956 Idaho history textbook says, Idaho is a Shoshoni Indian exclamation. The word consists of three parts, the first is Ee, which in English conveys the idea of coming down
Idaho
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Digitally colored elevation map of Idaho.
Idaho
–
Flag
Idaho
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Shoshone Falls in south central Idaho.
Idaho
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Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed in the Owyhee Mountains, about 50 miles (80 km) southwest of
Boise, Idaho
20.
Wyoming
–
Wyoming /waɪˈoʊmɪŋ/ is a state in the mountain region of the western United States. The state is the tenth largest by area, the least populous, Wyoming is bordered on the north by Montana, on the east by South Dakota and Nebraska, on the south by Colorado, on the southwest by Utah, and on the west by Idaho. Cheyenne is the capital and the most populous city in Wyoming, the state population was estimated at 586,107 in 2015, which is less than the population of 31 of the largest U. S. cities. The Crow, Arapaho, Lakota, and Shoshone were some of the inhabitants of the region. Southwestern Wyoming was included in the Spanish Empire and then Mexican territory until it was ceded to the United States in 1848 at the end of the Mexican–American War. The region acquired the name Wyoming when a bill was introduced to Congress in 1865 to provide a government for the territory of Wyoming. The territory was named after the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania, with the name ultimately being derived from the Munsee word xwé, wamənk, the mineral extraction industry—especially coal, oil, natural gas, and trona—along with the travel and tourism sector are the main drivers behind Wyomings economy. Agriculture has historically been an important component of the economy with the main commodities being livestock, hay, sugar beets, grain. The climate is generally semi-arid and continental, being drier and windier in comparison to the rest of the United States, except for the 1964 election, Wyoming has been a politically conservative state since the 1950s, with the Republican party winning every presidential election. Wyoming is one of three states to have borders along only straight latitudinal and longitudinal lines, rather than being defined by natural landmarks. Wyoming is bordered on the north by Montana, on the east by South Dakota and Nebraska, on the south by Colorado, on the southwest by Utah, and on the west by Idaho. It is the tenth largest state in the United States in total area, from the north border to the south border it is 276 miles, and from the east to the west border is 365 miles at its south end and 342 miles at the north end. The Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming, the state is a great plateau broken by many mountain ranges. Surface elevations range from the summit of Gannett Peak in the Wind River Mountain Range, at 13,804 feet, to the Belle Fourche River valley in the states northeast corner, at 3,125 feet. In the northwest are the Absaroka, Owl Creek, Gros Ventre, Wind River, in the north central are the Big Horn Mountains, in the northeast, the Black Hills, and in the southern region the Laramie, Snowy and Sierra Madre ranges. The Snowy Range in the central part of the state is an extension of the Colorado Rockies in both geology and appearance. The Wind River Range in the west central part of the state is remote and includes more than 40 mountain peaks in excess of 13,000 ft tall in addition to Gannett Peak, the highest peak in the state. The Big Horn Mountains in the central portion are somewhat isolated from the bulk of the Rocky Mountains
Wyoming
–
Wind River Canyon
Wyoming
–
Flag
Wyoming
–
Thunder Basin National Grassland close to
Douglas, Wyoming
Wyoming
–
Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge
21.
Wikisource
–
Wikisource is an online digital library of free content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project, the projects aims are to host all forms of free text, in many languages, and translations. Originally conceived as an archive to store useful or important historical texts, the project officially began in November 24,2003 under the name Project Sourceberg. The name Wikisource was adopted later that year and it received its own domain name seven months later, the project has come under criticism for lack of reliability but it is also cited by organisations such as the National Archives and Records Administration. The project holds works that are either in the domain or freely licensed, professionally published works or historical source documents, not vanity products. Verification was initially made offline, or by trusting the reliability of digital libraries. Now works are supported by online scans via the ProofreadPage extension, some individual Wikisources, each representing a specific language, now only allow works backed up with scans. While the bulk of its collection are texts, Wikisource as a whole hosts other media, some Wikisources allow user-generated annotations, subject to the specific policies of the Wikisource in question. Wikisources early history included several changes of name and location, the original concept for Wikisource was as storage for useful or important historical texts. These texts were intended to support Wikipedia articles, by providing evidence and original source texts. The collection was focused on important historical and cultural material. The project was originally called Project Sourceberg during its planning stages, in 2001, there was a dispute on Wikipedia regarding the addition of primary source material, leading to edit wars over their inclusion or deletion. Project Sourceberg was suggested as a solution to this, perhaps Project Sourceberg can mainly work as an interface for easily linking from Wikipedia to a Project Gutenberg file, and as an interface for people to easily submit new work to PG. Wed want to complement Project Gutenberg--how, exactly, and Jimmy Wales adding like Larry, Im interested that we think it over to see what we can add to Project Gutenberg. It seems unlikely that primary sources should in general be editable by anyone -- I mean, Shakespeare is Shakespeare, unlike our commentary on his work, the project began its activity at ps. wikipedia. org. The contributors understood the PS subdomain to mean either primary sources or Project Sourceberg, however, this resulted in Project Sourceberg occupying the subdomain of the Pashto Wikipedia. A vote on the name changed it to Wikisource on December 6,2003. Despite the change in name, the project did not move to its permanent URL until July 23,2004, since Wikisource was initially called Project Sourceberg, its first logo was a picture of an iceberg
Wikisource
–
The original Wikisource logo
Wikisource
–
Screenshot of wikisource.org home page
Wikisource
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::: Original text
Wikisource
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::: Action of the modernizing tool
22.
Yeoman
–
A yeoman /ˈjoʊmən/ was a member of a social class in late medieval to early modern England. A specialized meaning in naval terminology, petty officer in charge of supplies, the term is first recorded c. It may be a contraction of Old English iunge man, meaning young man, the Canons Yeomans Prologue and Tale appears in Geoffrey Chaucers Canterbury Tales, written between 1387 and 1400. During the late 14th to 18th centuries, yeomen were farmers who owned land and their wealth and the size of their landholding varied. Often it was hard to distinguish minor landed gentry from the wealthier yeomen, the Concise Oxford Dictionary states that a yeoman was a person qualified by possessing free land of 40/- annual value, and who can serve on juries and vote for a Knight of the Shire. He is sometimes described as a landowner, a farmer of the middle classes. The term had a sense as in the Yeomanry Cavalry of the late 18th century. The yeoman archer was unique to England and Wales, though Kentish Weald and Cheshire archers were noted for their skills, it appears that the bulk of the yeomanry was from the English and Welsh Marches. The original Yeomen of the Guard chartered in 1485 were most likely of Brittonic descent, including Welshmen and they were established by King Henry VII, himself a Briton who was exiled in Brittany during the Wars of the Roses. He recruited his forces mostly from Wales and the West Midlands of England on his journey to victory at Bosworth Field, Yeomen were often constables of their parish, and sometimes chief constables of the district, shire or hundred. Many yeomen held the positions of bailiffs for the High Sheriff or for the shire or hundred, other civic duties would include churchwarden, bridge warden, and other warden duties. It was also common for a yeoman to be an overseer for his parish, Yeomen, whether working for a lord, king, shire, knight, district or parish served in localised or municipal police forces raised by or led by the landed gentry. Some of these roles, in particular those of constable and bailiff were carried down through families, Yeomen often filled ranging, roaming, surveying, and policing roles. In Chaucers Friars Tale, a yeoman who is a bailiff of the forest who tricks the Summoner turns out to be the devil ready to grant wishes already made, the earlier class of franklins were similar to yeomen, wealthy peasant landowners, freeholders or village officials. They were typically village leaders, constables or mayors, Franklin militias were similar to later yeomanries. Yeomen took over roles in the 14th century as many of them became leaders, constables, sheriffs, justices of the peace, mayors. It was too much, for even ‘valets’ known as ‘yeoman archers’ were forbidden to be returned to parliament, the yeoman also comprised a military class or status. In the United States, yeomen were identified in the 18th and 19th centuries as non-slaveholding, small landowning, in Southern areas where land was poor, like East Tennessee, the landowning yeomen were typically subsistence farmers, but some managed to grow some crops for market
Yeoman
–
A
Yeoman Warder at the
Tower of London in England
23.
Jeffersonian democracy
–
Jeffersonian democracy, named after its advocate Thomas Jefferson, was one of two dominant political outlooks and movements in the United States from the 1790s to the 1820s. The term was used to refer to the Democratic-Republican Party. Its themes continue to echo in the 21st century, although more of a base in the Libertarian and Republican parties. At the beginning of the Jeffersonian era, only two states, Vermont and Kentucky, had established universal white male suffrage by abolishing property requirements. By the end of the period, more than half of the states had followed suit, also, states now moved on to allowing popular votes for Presidential elections, canvassing voters in a more modern style. Jeffersons party, known today as the Democratic-Republican Party, was now in control of the apparatus of government, from the state legislature. Jefferson has been called the most democratic of the Founding fathers, the Jeffersonians advocated a narrow interpretation of the Constitutions Article I provisions granting powers to the federal government. They strenuously opposed the Federalist Party, led by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, President George Washington generally supported Hamiltons program for a financially strong national government. The election of Jefferson in 1800, which he called The revolution of 1800, brought in the Presidency of Thomas Jefferson, the spirit of Jeffersonian democracy dominated American politics from 1800 to 1824, the First Party System, under Jefferson and succeeding presidents James Madison and James Monroe. The Jeffersonians proved much more successful than the Federalists in building state, voters in every state formed blocs loyal to the Jeffersonian coalition. Prominent spokesmen for Jeffersonian principles included Madison, Albert Gallatin, John Randolph of Roanoke, Nathaniel Macon, John Taylor of Caroline, calhoun, John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay. Calhoun represented republicanism in the South and closely followed Jeffersonian themes, after 1830 the principles were still talked about but did not form the basis of a political party. Jeffersonian democracy is characterized by the core ideals, which Jefferson and his followers expressed in their writings, speeches. Jeffersonian democracy is a term, and some factions favored some positions more than others. While principled, with vehemently held core beliefs, the Jeffersonians had factions that disputed the meaning of their creed. For example, during the War of 1812, it became apparent that independent state militia units were inadequate for conducting a war against a major country. The new Secretary of War John C, calhoun, a Jeffersonian, proposed to build up the Army. With the support of most Republicans in Congress he got his way, the Jeffersonian party was officially the Republican Party It was the duty of citizens to vote, and the Jeffersonians invented many modern campaign techniques designed to get out the vote
Jeffersonian democracy
–
Portrait of
Thomas Jefferson by
Rembrandt Peale in 1800.
24.
Marginal land
–
Marginal land is land that is of little agricultural value because crops produced from the area would be worth less than any rent paid for access to the area. Although the term marginal is often used in a sense for less-than-ideal lands. Changes in product values - such as the ethanol-demand induced spike in corn prices - can result in formerly marginal lands becoming profitable, marginal land is not entirely useless for human purposes. For example, certain breeds of free-roaming livestock, such as the English Leicester sheep, are able to forage on such land, there are also some plants that can be grown in land that would be considered marginal for most agricultural uses. For example, cucurbita foetidissima, the gourd, is well adapted to marginal agricultural lands such as sandy loam soils which have to be well-drained
Marginal land
–
Marginal land near the a4104 road in Great Britain.
25.
Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
Europe
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Reconstruction of
Herodotus ' world map
Europe
Europe
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A medieval
T and O map from 1472 showing the three continents as domains of the sons of
Noah — Asia to Sem (
Shem), Europe to Iafeth (
Japheth), and Africa to Cham (
Ham)
Europe
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Early modern depiction of
Europa regina ('Queen Europe') and the mythical
Europa of the 8th century BC.
26.
Andrew Johnson
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Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. Johnson became president as he was president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. A Democrat who ran with Lincoln on the National Union ticket, the new president favored quick restoration of the seceded states to the Union. His plans did not give protection to the slaves, and he came into conflict with the Republican-dominated Congress. The first American president to be impeached, he was acquitted in the Senate by one vote, Johnson was born in poverty in Raleigh, North Carolina. Apprenticed as a tailor, he worked in several towns before settling in Greeneville. He served as alderman and mayor there before being elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1835, after brief service in the Tennessee Senate, Johnson was elected to the federal House of Representatives in 1843, where he served five two-year terms. He became Governor of Tennessee for four years, and was elected by the legislature to the Senate in 1857, in his congressional service, he sought passage of the Homestead Bill, which was enacted soon after he left his Senate seat in 1862. As Southern slave states, including Tennessee, seceded to form the Confederate States of America and he was the only sitting senator from a Confederate state who did not resign his seat upon learning of his states secession. In 1862, Lincoln appointed him as governor of Tennessee after most of it had been retaken. When Johnson was sworn in as president in March 1865, he gave a rambling speech. Six weeks later, the assassination of Lincoln made him president, Johnson implemented his own form of Presidential Reconstruction – a series of proclamations directing the seceded states to hold conventions and elections to re-form their civil governments. Johnson vetoed their bills, and Congressional Republicans overrode him, setting a pattern for the remainder of his presidency, Johnson opposed the Fourteenth Amendment, which gave citizenship to former slaves. In 1866, Johnson went on a national tour promoting his executive policies. As the conflict between the branches of government grew, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act, restricting Johnsons ability to fire Cabinet officials. When he persisted in trying to dismiss Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, he was impeached by the House of Representatives, and narrowly avoided conviction in the Senate and removal from office. Returning to Tennessee after his presidency, Johnson sought political vindication, Johnson is regarded by many historians as one of the worst presidents in American history. While some admire his strict constitutionalism, his opposition to federally guaranteed rights for African Americans is widely criticized
Andrew Johnson
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Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
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Johnson's boyhood home, located at the
Mordecai Historic Park in Raleigh, North Carolina
Andrew Johnson
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Eliza McCardle Johnson
Andrew Johnson
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The Andrew Johnson House, built in 1851, Greeneville, Tennessee
27.
Horace Greeley
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Horace Greeley was founder and editor of the New-York Tribune, among the great newspapers of its time. Greeley was born to a family in Amherst, New Hampshire. He was apprenticed to a printer in Vermont and went to New York City in 1831 to seek his fortune and he wrote for or edited several publications and involved himself in Whig Party politics, taking a significant part in William Henry Harrisons successful 1840 presidential campaign. The following year, he founded the Tribune, which became the newspaper in the country through weekly editions sent by mail. Among many other issues, he urged the settlement of the American West, which he saw as a land of opportunity for the young and the unemployed. He popularized the phrase Go West, young man, and grow up with the country, Greeleys alliance with William H. Seward and Thurlow Weed led to him serving three months in the House of Representatives, where he angered many by investigating Congress in his newspaper. In 1854, he helped found and may have named the Republican Party, Republican newspapers across the nation regularly reprinted his editorials. During the Civil War, he mostly supported Lincoln, though urging him to commit to the end of slavery before the President was willing to do so, after Lincolns assassination, he supported the Radical Republicans in opposition to President Andrew Johnson. He broke with Republican president Ulysses Grant because of corruption and Greeleys sense that Reconstruction policies were no longer needed, Greeley was the new Liberal Republican Partys candidate in the 1872 U. S. presidential election. He lost in a landslide, despite having the support of the Democratic Party. He was devastated by the death of his wife, who died five days before the election, Horace Greeley was born on February 3,1811, on a farm about five miles from Amherst, New Hampshire. He could not breathe for the first twenty minutes of his life and he was of English descent, and his forebears included early settlers of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Greeley was the son of poor farmers Zaccheus and Mary Greeley, Zaccheus was not successful, and moved his family several times, as far west as Pennsylvania. Horace attended the schools, and was a brilliant student. Seeing the boys intelligence, some neighbors offered to pay Horaces way at Phillips Exeter Academy, in 1820, Zaccheuss financial reverses caused him to flee New Hampshire with his family lest he be imprisoned for debt, and settle in Vermont. Even as his father struggled to make a living as a hired hand, in 1822, Horace ran away from home to become a printers apprentice, but was told he was too young. In 1826, at age 15, he was made an apprentice to Amos Bliss, editor of the Northern Spectator. There, he learned the mechanics of a job, and acquired a reputation as the town encyclopedia
Horace Greeley
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An 1872 portrait of Greeley, by J.E. Baker.
Horace Greeley
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Horace Greeley Birthplace in
Amherst, New Hampshire
Horace Greeley
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Early depiction of Greeley's first arrival in New York
Horace Greeley
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Photograph of Greeley by
Mathew Brady, taken between 1844 and 1860
28.
Public land
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In all modern states, some land is held by central or local governments. The system of tenure of land, and the terminology used. The following examples illustrate some of the range, in several Commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada, public lands are referred to as Crown lands. Recent proposals to sell Crown lands have been highly controversial, in France, may be held by communes, départements, or the central State. In Portugal the land owned by the State, by the two regions and by the local governments can be of two types, public domain and private domain. The latter is owned like any private entity, while public domain land cannot be sold, examples of public domain land are the margins of the sea and of the rivers, roads, streets, railways, ports, military areas, monuments. The States private domain is managed by Direção-Geral do Tesouro e Finanças, israel on the West Bank are based in the Ottoman Empire law specifying land not worked for over ten years becomes state lands. This became the base for deciding cases brought up by Arabs when certain Israeli settlements were created on presumed barren land. In the United States governmental entities including cities, counties, states, the majority of public lands in the United States are held in trust for the American people by the federal government and managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Each western state also received public land as trust lands designated for specific beneficiaries. Those trust lands cannot any longer be considered public lands as allowing any benefits to the public would be in breach of loyalty to the specific beneficiaries, the trust lands are usually managed extractively, to provide revenue for public schools. All states have some lands under state management, such as parks, state wildlife management areas. Wilderness is a designation for public lands which have been completely undeveloped. The concept of wilderness areas was legislatively defined by the 1964 Wilderness Act, Wilderness areas can be managed by any of the above Federal agencies, and some parks and refuges are almost entirely designated wilderness. A wilderness study area is a tract of land that has wilderness characteristics, and is managed as wilderness, typically each parcel is governed by its own set of laws and rules that explain the purpose for which the land was acquired, and how the land may be used. The concept of a designation and conservation of public lands dates back to our first National Parks. While designating the parks as public, the conservation was another matter, theodore Roosevelt and his conservation group, Boone and Crockett Club took matters into their own hands, by creating laws and regulations that protected these national treasures. Roosevelt and the Boone and Crockett Club continued on influencing the creation of scores of public lands including the National Refuge Systeml, USFS, most state- and federally managed public lands are open for recreational use
Public land
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Map of all federally owned land in the United States.
29.
Deed
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For the British cargo ship, see SS Deed. For the reality series, see The Deed. A deed is any instrument in writing which passes, affirms or confirms an interest, right, or property and that is signed, attested, delivered. It is commonly associated with transferring title to property, the deed has a greater presumption of validity and is less rebuttable than an instrument signed by the party to the deed. A deed can be unilateral or bilateral, deeds include conveyances, commissions, licenses, patents, diplomas, and conditionally powers of attorney if executed as deeds. The deed is the descendant of the medieval charter. The traditional phrase signed, sealed and delivered refers to the practice of seals, however, agreements under seal are also called contracts by deed or specialty, in the United States, a specialty is enforceable without consideration. Specialties, as a form of contract, are bilateral and can therefore be distinguished from covenants, which, being also under seal, are unilateral promises. At common law, to be valid and enforceable, a deed must fulfill several requirements, It must state on its face that it is a deed and it must indicate that the instrument itself conveys some privilege or thing to someone. The grantor must have the ability to grant the thing or privilege. It must be executed by the grantor in presence of the number of witnesses. In some jurisdictions, a seal must be affixed to it, originally, affixing seals made persons parties to the deed and signatures optional, but seals are now outdated in most jurisdictions, so the signatures of the grantor and witnesses are primary. It must be delivered to and accepted by the grantee, conditions attached to the acceptance of a deed are known as covenants. A deed indented or indenture is one executed in two or more according to the number of parties, which were formerly separated by cutting in a curved or indented line known as the chirograph. A deed poll is one executed in one part, by one party, having the edge polled or cut even, in the transfer of real estate, a deed conveys ownership from the old owner to the new owner, and can include various warranties. The precise name and nature of these differ by jurisdiction. Often, however, the differences between them is the degree to which the grantor warrants the title. The grantor may give a general warranty of title against any claims, the latter type of deed is usually known as a special warranty deed
Deed
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The original 1636
Indian deed creating the State of
Rhode Island signed by Native American Chief
Canonicus to
Roger Williams
Deed
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A sanad issued by the governor of the
United Provinces of Agra and Oudh during the British Raj
30.
Freedman
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A freedman or freedwoman is a former slave who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed either by manumission or emancipation, a fugitive slave is one who escaped slavery by fleeing. Rome differed from Greek city-states in allowing freed slaves to become plebeian citizens, the act of freeing a slave was called manumissio, from manus, hand, and missio, the act of releasing. After manumission, a slave who had belonged to a Roman citizen enjoyed not only freedom from ownership. A slave who had acquired libertas was known as a libertus in relation to his former master, as a social class, freed slaves were liberti, though later Latin texts used the terms libertus and libertini interchangeably. Libertini were not entitled to public office or state priesthoods. During the early Empire, however, freedmen held key positions in the government bureaucracy, any future children of a freedman would be born free, with full rights of citizenship. The Claudian Civil Service set a precedent whereby freedmen could be used as servants in the Roman bureaucracy. In addition, Claudius passed legislation concerning slaves, including a law stating that sick slaves abandoned by their owners became freedmen if they recovered, the emperor was criticized for using freedmen in the Imperial Courts. Some freedmen enjoyed enormous success and became quite wealthy, the brothers who owned House of the Vettii, one of the biggest and most magnificent houses in Pompeii, are thought to have been freedmen. A freedman who became rich and influential might still be looked down on by the aristocracy as a vulgar nouveau riche. Trimalchio, a character in the Satyricon of Petronius, is a caricature of such a freedman, for centuries Arab slave traders took and transported an estimated 10 to 15 million sub-Saharan Africans to slavery in North Africa and the Middle East. They also enslaved Europeans from coastal areas and the Balkans, many Arabs took women slaves as concubines in their harems. In the patrilineal societies, mixed-race children of concubines and Arab men were considered free and were given inheritance rights related to their fathers property. In the United States, the freedmen and freedwomen refer chiefly to former slaves emancipated during and after the American Civil War, by the Emancipation Proclamation. Slaves freed before the war, usually by individual manumissions, often in wills, were referred to as Free Negroes or free blacks. There were numerous such families formed in the Upper South before the Revolution, for the first two decades after the Revolution, thousands of slaves were freed in the Upper South, and most northern states abolished slavery, some on a gradual basis. In Louisiana and other areas of the former New France, free people of color were classified in French as gens de couleur libres and they were born to African or African-European mothers and white fathers of mixed-race African and French or other European ancestry
Freedman
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Cinerary urn for the freedman Tiberius Claudius Chryseros and two women, probably his wife and daughter
Freedman
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Old former slave with horn formerly used to call slaves, Texas, 1939. Photo by
Russell Lee.
– via Social Science Electronic Publishing.
