Search for the historical Laura Ingalls Wilder (2019)(montanapress.net)
montanapress.net
Search for the historical Laura Ingalls Wilder (2019)
https://www.montanapress.net/post/the-truth-about-laura-ingalls-wilder
89 comments
I agree. I’d argue there’s a lot of literary criticism that comes later to tell us how we should view a place and time, or even characters in a book. And often and the answer is “Yeah well if you read the book, that’s in the book…”
Perhaps not as explicit, but it is hard to miss, and anyone familiar with humanity probably can guess the rest. Most people know they’re reading a book.
Perhaps not as explicit, but it is hard to miss, and anyone familiar with humanity probably can guess the rest. Most people know they’re reading a book.
Agreed. This article (haven't read the book) has the feel of yet another "ackshually."
My wife and I are watching the "Little House" TV series on DVD again currently. She is getting tired of hearing me joke, "Doesn't that part of Minnesota look strangely like Southern California?" She read the books as a girl, but boys generally didn't in the '70s. Our elementary school in Kansas distributed a screen play for one of the episodes as part of a literacy program. When I went to school in New York, many people had the idea that we still lived like that, way out west in Kansas. One of the first episodes of the TV show was about a Typhus plague, and how the population cooperated and sacrificed to survive. My wife says the show is fairly faithful to the books, but I'm sure TV moves even more away from the reality of Laura's life.
LHOTP does make me wonder why the world was in such a hurry to modernize, despite the hardships of pioneer life. One boss I had was Mennonite, and his wife, after decades of growing and processing the family's food, started shopping in stores. She remarked how wonderful it was to have store bought canned food, which I guess is a partial explanation.
LHOTP does make me wonder why the world was in such a hurry to modernize, despite the hardships of pioneer life. One boss I had was Mennonite, and his wife, after decades of growing and processing the family's food, started shopping in stores. She remarked how wonderful it was to have store bought canned food, which I guess is a partial explanation.
> LHOTP does make me wonder why the world was in such a hurry to modernize, despite the hardships of pioneer life.
Farming is hard, the boom and bust cycle is harsh. Most early farms were too small in scale to survive.
Not to criticize LHOP here, but generally there is a sort of romantic idea of a family farm that for large chunks of time wasn’t sustainable financially no matter how hard they worked.
Farming is hard, the boom and bust cycle is harsh. Most early farms were too small in scale to survive.
Not to criticize LHOP here, but generally there is a sort of romantic idea of a family farm that for large chunks of time wasn’t sustainable financially no matter how hard they worked.
Before the mechanization of agriculture, the family farm was subsistence level only. This meant a bad harvest resulted in starvation.
Right, but LHOTP showed the importance of community--and the power of cooperation. [1] This was a strong theme in the first season. I grew up in Kansas in the late '70s to mid '80s, and the "theme" back then was the accretion of family farms by bank repossession into large agribusinesses--but there were still small to medium sized farmers at the co-ops. Having your means of support repo-ed is another way to starve.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_cooperative#Unite...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_cooperative#Unite...
We planted our own trees 15 years ago and now, we cut, split and dry our own firewood, it's a lot of work, though it is an extra pleasure to sit in front of such a fire
I can see why people stopped doing it.
Although some of their time was freed up by not having to diagnose issues with CI pipelines on the cloud, or writing meta-manager code to tame Slurm :)
And even with today's tools, cutting and splitting firewood is still very dangerous.
My father taught me how to chop wood in the early seventies at the age of 8 in the remote territory of suburban Connecticut. More dangerous was the wasps whose nest I disturbed near the wood-pile, and my face swelled up like a balloon. We didn't call an apiary to humanely remove them back then, my dad used kerosene to burn the nest.
Correct and hard on your back! I do get a kick out of it though. Makes me feel like a real man in a way my sedentary day job does not.
> My wife says the show is fairly faithful to the books
Only up to a certain point. For example, everything about Albert. And Colonel Sanders didn't visit the town when they were starting up the chicken restaurant.
The later the series ran, the farther they strayed from the books.
Only up to a certain point. For example, everything about Albert. And Colonel Sanders didn't visit the town when they were starting up the chicken restaurant.
The later the series ran, the farther they strayed from the books.
> My wife and I are watching the "Little House" TV series on DVD again currently.
FWIW the Blu-ray version is great, although they didn't remaster the audio to remove pops/hisses.
FWIW the Blu-ray version is great, although they didn't remaster the audio to remove pops/hisses.
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> She is getting tired of hearing me joke, "Doesn't that part of Minnesota look strangely like Southern California?"
Do you do this for every show/film that is set somewhere outside of SoCal but obviously filmed there?
Do you do this for every show/film that is set somewhere outside of SoCal but obviously filmed there?
Not every one, just Star Trek TOS. :)
We're about even though, every time she sees a horse on screen she says "Why can't I ride a horse to work instead of driving our 20 year old Mazda?" Having lived in Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming, and having mucked a few horse stalls in my day--I know why we 9 billion people don't still ride them.
We're about even though, every time she sees a horse on screen she says "Why can't I ride a horse to work instead of driving our 20 year old Mazda?" Having lived in Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming, and having mucked a few horse stalls in my day--I know why we 9 billion people don't still ride them.
> Not every one, just Star Trek TOS
There’s not that much in TOS which is distinctly SoCal, since even most of the planetside “outdoors” sets were soundstages, with matte painted backgrounds.
There’s not that much in TOS which is distinctly SoCal, since even most of the planetside “outdoors” sets were soundstages, with matte painted backgrounds.
The Gorn rocks are totally worth a visit. After we visited there, I showed my wife that episode, and while she still dislikes sci-fi in general, she now loves Star Trek TOS.
My grandmother was a child in the UK when horses were still common in the streets, which was also where all the children played. One thing she mentioned that stuck with me was that when children cut their knees falling in the road they would end up running green with pus - presumably from infections from the horse crap.
And every alien planet which seems to resemble Canadian prairie.
They didn't even film Alien on location, smh
At least Kubrick had the good sense to film the moon landing on location.
A Kubrick-directed LHOTP would have been a different series, too, I imagine. I don't think NBC had a Kubrick level budget either.
On a side note, there was a rumor that the Capricorn One movie was filmed on location too:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capricorn_One
On a side note, there was a rumor that the Capricorn One movie was filmed on location too:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capricorn_One
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And every NY or Chicago scene that is actually on and around Bay Street in Toronto.
For a big chunk of TV / film it was noticeably repetitive.
> For a big chunk of TV / film it was noticeably repetitive.
Well, there is a reason for that, and a reason why it is often more noticeable in older works:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_zone
Well, there is a reason for that, and a reason why it is often more noticeable in older works:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_zone
Oh yeah there’s good reason, can’t take everything on the road, budgets and etc.
It’s hard not to if the show does it a lot - JAG’s ‘orange lit’ Northern Ireland episode was particularly jarring!
It’s actually not that hard to keep your mouth shut about it. It’s not like anybody thinks the cast of JAG went to film in Belfast. Pretty annoying to watch something with someone who has to point out something so obvious.
Just enjoy the show!
Just enjoy the show!
On your advice, we just agreed to watch it separate rooms with no discussions at supper. No more calling Mrs. Oleson the meanest person that ever lived, in jest, that is OVER (we both are guilty of this one). We are going to enjoy it even if it strips the all joy out of life.
The actress who played Nellie said she used to get hate mail from fans of the show, who apparently couldn't distinguish her from her character. (She said IRL she was friends with the younger Melissa, and some of the cast attested to how nice she was offscreen--both from a special feature on one of the DVDs) Man, we aren't that far gone. It actually is the best part of our day, spending time making fun of Landon's hair.
The actress who played Nellie said she used to get hate mail from fans of the show, who apparently couldn't distinguish her from her character. (She said IRL she was friends with the younger Melissa, and some of the cast attested to how nice she was offscreen--both from a special feature on one of the DVDs) Man, we aren't that far gone. It actually is the best part of our day, spending time making fun of Landon's hair.
> It’s not like anybody thinks the cast of JAG went to film in Belfast.
Oddly enough, they did do a couple in Sydney Australia - that, and Aussie lawyer "Mic" (Mick, ffs!) were probably an attempt to sell the show in another anglophone market.
Oddly enough, they did do a couple in Sydney Australia - that, and Aussie lawyer "Mic" (Mick, ffs!) were probably an attempt to sell the show in another anglophone market.
If you can't suspend my disbelief, then you've faild at your job. If you can't handle the criticism of your job, get better at your job or get a new job.
As if you've never maintained someone else's code and didn't make any kinds of comments about how bad it was or anything similar. Just shut up and do your job!
As if you've never maintained someone else's code and didn't make any kinds of comments about how bad it was or anything similar. Just shut up and do your job!
I don’t program professionally. Just here to keep an eye on the tech-bros who think they’re above everyone else.
To be fair, I know you didn't have much context. I had to look up "tech bro":
https://www.wired.com/story/stop-calling-everyone-tech-bro/
Tech bro does not describe me (I agree they should have an eye kept on them though), I'm a 55 year old man who watches LHOTP on a 10 year old DVD player, has 10.5 years of Visual Basic programming, and wears sandals with white socks.
Last week I had to look up "sh*tpost" and "edgelord", and before that "know your meme" when those were leveled at me. Maybe people on the Internet and social media too need to understand, like TV show fans, that it is NOT reality. It also doesn't foster the kind of wonderful, 20+ year marriage we've had--we are BFFs forever my wife and I, like Mr. and Mrs. Ingalls in some ways. I also reserve my right to laugh at the incongruities of the Internet--I have a headache from laughing so hard at it today, so I will spare everyone more annoyance and quit for a long time.
https://www.wired.com/story/stop-calling-everyone-tech-bro/
Tech bro does not describe me (I agree they should have an eye kept on them though), I'm a 55 year old man who watches LHOTP on a 10 year old DVD player, has 10.5 years of Visual Basic programming, and wears sandals with white socks.
Last week I had to look up "sh*tpost" and "edgelord", and before that "know your meme" when those were leveled at me. Maybe people on the Internet and social media too need to understand, like TV show fans, that it is NOT reality. It also doesn't foster the kind of wonderful, 20+ year marriage we've had--we are BFFs forever my wife and I, like Mr. and Mrs. Ingalls in some ways. I also reserve my right to laugh at the incongruities of the Internet--I have a headache from laughing so hard at it today, so I will spare everyone more annoyance and quit for a long time.
He was just colloquializing a sweet moment with his wife. Didn’t seem like anything to get worked up about.
if you can't make the leap of imagination to substitue your career path with the provided example, then...boy, I don't know
To be fair, I really am pretty stupid.
Little Chatroom on the Prairie, MMXXII
"Yore a poo-poo face, Laura, shut-up. I'm an idiot and this is my Internet." @WillyOlesonXXII
"Don't you try to josh me, Willy Oleson, I know durn well there ain't ever been no idiots on the Internet, you sh*tposting, edgelord jasper!" @LauraIngallsIV
"Now you two, I was on Usenet before either of you was kneehigh to a grasshopper. Couple of half-pints is what you are. 'Don't feed the trolls' we used to say, then ignore our own advice and throw 'em a handful of ASCII quotations." @CharlesIngallsVIII
"Are you aware of my law?" --Godwin
-- Stooge, er Stew-J
P.S. I'm going to do what the founders of this site are probably doing now, enjoy a good book with cup of coffee.
"Yore a poo-poo face, Laura, shut-up. I'm an idiot and this is my Internet." @WillyOlesonXXII
"Don't you try to josh me, Willy Oleson, I know durn well there ain't ever been no idiots on the Internet, you sh*tposting, edgelord jasper!" @LauraIngallsIV
"Now you two, I was on Usenet before either of you was kneehigh to a grasshopper. Couple of half-pints is what you are. 'Don't feed the trolls' we used to say, then ignore our own advice and throw 'em a handful of ASCII quotations." @CharlesIngallsVIII
"Are you aware of my law?" --Godwin
-- Stooge, er Stew-J
P.S. I'm going to do what the founders of this site are probably doing now, enjoy a good book with cup of coffee.
I do
Here’s more about Rose’s political beliefs and their influence on the project https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/little-house...
> Elsewhere, the books minimize the role of government in the life of a family that sometimes did have to rely on it, as they took free land and benefited from state funds that paid sister Mary Ingalls’s tuition at the Iowa School for the Blind for seven years, a public subsidy the books quietly omit.
There was also a roller rink near where they lived. LH is a work of fiction. When I read the series it was advertised as such. I don't think it discounts the story much, because the real story is about Laura and how she experienced the world. Laura lived through quite a bit and the story was shaped to emphasize those things.
There was also a roller rink near where they lived. LH is a work of fiction. When I read the series it was advertised as such. I don't think it discounts the story much, because the real story is about Laura and how she experienced the world. Laura lived through quite a bit and the story was shaped to emphasize those things.
> Elsewhere, the books minimize the role of government in the life of a family that sometimes did have to rely on it, as they took free land and benefited from state funds that paid sister Mary Ingalls’s tuition at the Iowa School for the Blind for seven years, a public subsidy the books quietly omit.
Wow.
Wow.
This is, as far as my recollections of reading the entire series as a preteen goes, absurd.
It's called the Iowa School for the Blind. It would never have occurred to the audience that the education wasn't provided by the state. It's called the.. never mind, I said that already.
It's called the Iowa School for the Blind. It would never have occurred to the audience that the education wasn't provided by the state. It's called the.. never mind, I said that already.
Ah, yes, the government, the rightful owner of all, ahem, ‘unclaimed’ land.
Another one also related to that:
https://unherd.com/2022/06/the-myth-of-american-conservatism...
https://unherd.com/2022/06/the-myth-of-american-conservatism...
Great article, thanks.
Rose is considered a founder of American Libertarian movement. People debate whether some these ideas crept into her Moms books which Rose heavily edited.
If you want pioneer stories without any Ayn Rand sprinkled on top, try Willa Cather.
It's been a long time since I read My Antonia. Loved it. If memory serves, though, wasn't the main male character quite the self-made man? Again, it's been a while. Beautiful picture of the harsh reality, and stark beauty of life on the plains.
If you want Ayn Rand that makes sense, read We the Living, in my opinion, by far her best work. As a matter of fact, I'd say Ayn Rand's three major works, can be rated worst to best with length being the determining factor. Worst -- Atlas Shrugged. If ever a book needed an editor of steely resolve, it was that windbag of a novel -- would have been great at 1/2 it's length. The Fountainhead was tighter and better. But We the Living is the best because it is set in the world of her youth and makes her rah-rah cheerleading for capitalism and her deep hatred of communism completely relatable in context. The story never leaves the Soviet Union, so it's very different from her other work.
I love capitalism, but reading Atlas Shrugged left me feeling like this is one hard woman. Reading We the Living left me feeling like now I get it -- I'd be hard, too.
If you want Ayn Rand that makes sense, read We the Living, in my opinion, by far her best work. As a matter of fact, I'd say Ayn Rand's three major works, can be rated worst to best with length being the determining factor. Worst -- Atlas Shrugged. If ever a book needed an editor of steely resolve, it was that windbag of a novel -- would have been great at 1/2 it's length. The Fountainhead was tighter and better. But We the Living is the best because it is set in the world of her youth and makes her rah-rah cheerleading for capitalism and her deep hatred of communism completely relatable in context. The story never leaves the Soviet Union, so it's very different from her other work.
I love capitalism, but reading Atlas Shrugged left me feeling like this is one hard woman. Reading We the Living left me feeling like now I get it -- I'd be hard, too.
Even notably bad writing, even if espousing the fatally flawed and incomplete ideology of Objectivism, leading to the fatally flawed political movement of Libertarianism, which if practiced ultimately results in pure Socialism, may be ranked: bad, worse, and worst. I couldn't say exactly who the singular worst popular writer of the 20th Century was, but certainly Rand must be a strong contender.
Given the current state of affairs it looks like Ayn might have been ahead of her time.
> Among them, there is evidence that Laura often exhibited a quick temper.
> Laura hated wearing sunbonnets and yearned keenly for beautiful, stylish dresses.
Oh no! What a monster! Cancel her NOW.
> Neither Charles and Caroline Ingalls, nor Almanzo and Laura Wilder, could manage to make the promise of free land come true. Never did they ever make a living wage solely from farming.
Even worse! She sold lots of innocent little girls a dream they could never have. The criminal.
Farming is a dream. Sometimes it works out; sometimes it doesn't. I'd rather have a population of dreamers than a population of soulless drones.
> Laura hated wearing sunbonnets and yearned keenly for beautiful, stylish dresses.
Oh no! What a monster! Cancel her NOW.
> Neither Charles and Caroline Ingalls, nor Almanzo and Laura Wilder, could manage to make the promise of free land come true. Never did they ever make a living wage solely from farming.
Even worse! She sold lots of innocent little girls a dream they could never have. The criminal.
Farming is a dream. Sometimes it works out; sometimes it doesn't. I'd rather have a population of dreamers than a population of soulless drones.
It seems like you’re mischaracterizing the tone of this essay.
I just read it as a thoughtfully developed history of a familiar subject, published in a regional lifestyle magazine, but you seem to be responding to it as if its some moralizing Twitter screed.
Did I miss something?
I just read it as a thoughtfully developed history of a familiar subject, published in a regional lifestyle magazine, but you seem to be responding to it as if its some moralizing Twitter screed.
Did I miss something?
Maybe you missed the cancel-LHOTP movement, e.g. someone else on the thread posted this:
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/little-house...
a heading is "To Live the Impossible Dream." Do we find any sympathetic treatment of Laura in this article? Or is it purely debunking?
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/little-house...
a heading is "To Live the Impossible Dream." Do we find any sympathetic treatment of Laura in this article? Or is it purely debunking?
So you posted a low quality, snarky reply to a completely different article?
No, I posted a high-quality reply to the subtext of THIS article. It was pure debunking for a political end and didn't deserve a lengthy, objective answer.
This article strongly recommends two books be read together for those who want deep and multi-dimensional insight into the history of Wilder and LHOP, and surfaces some details from each while grounding it in personal experience, for a casual audience of middle class Montanans.
Readers, it would seem, are expected to come out of it having something fresh and interesting to talk about on their hike or over Sunday dinner.
If there’s something political in your experience of it, that would seem to be through subjective associations of your own, not a subtext.
Readers, it would seem, are expected to come out of it having something fresh and interesting to talk about on their hike or over Sunday dinner.
If there’s something political in your experience of it, that would seem to be through subjective associations of your own, not a subtext.
An aside about the dream of farming. I'd always heard it subtly implied that my maternal grandfather, born 1899, and early on, a farmer in Minnesota, was not much of a farmer, because, ultimately, after 30 years or so of farming, he gave up and moved to California, and took a job in town.
What I did not realize, and subsequently caused me to regard his farming skills with greater generosity, was that during the first fifty years of his life, the percentage of people working on farms went from 20% of the US population to 2%! So, even if one were a good farmer, there was still a very real chance of getting squeezed out.
What I did not realize, and subsequently caused me to regard his farming skills with greater generosity, was that during the first fifty years of his life, the percentage of people working on farms went from 20% of the US population to 2%! So, even if one were a good farmer, there was still a very real chance of getting squeezed out.
Yeah, farming is hard, plus it demands luck.
I'd never succeed at it, although nowadays, I'd hire a farm manager. That guy might keep it afloat, but then I wouldn't make any money off it because I'd be paying him.
I'd never succeed at it, although nowadays, I'd hire a farm manager. That guy might keep it afloat, but then I wouldn't make any money off it because I'd be paying him.
I hadn’t thought about Little House on the Prairie since I was about 7 or 8 years old, but noticed it was being run on some over-the-air local station recently. I don’t know why, but those stories were very popular in the mid to late 1970s. In addition to Little House, we had The Waltons, Grizzly Adams, and movies like Across The Great Divide. I don’t know what the attraction was, but even living in the rural suburbs, it seemed like the shows took place a million years ago to my young mind.
I remember those, and the 'Rural Revolution' that preceded it. Lots of shows in the 1960s like The Real McCoys, The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, Andy Griffith, Gomer Pyle, Lassie, and Hee Haw, until the 'Rural Purge' of the early 1970s.
Then in the mid-late 1970s came those shows and movies you mention, less comedy and more drama, more a sort of glorified frontier days theme. I think some of that might've come out of the 1960s hippie/naturalist trend, although it's a bit different.
I watched them all in the 80s, in syndication on the local channels, and my parents' VHS tapes had a lot (all recorded from TV). But in retrospect there were at least two related but different trends there.
Then in the mid-late 1970s came those shows and movies you mention, less comedy and more drama, more a sort of glorified frontier days theme. I think some of that might've come out of the 1960s hippie/naturalist trend, although it's a bit different.
I watched them all in the 80s, in syndication on the local channels, and my parents' VHS tapes had a lot (all recorded from TV). But in retrospect there were at least two related but different trends there.
>"the rain follows the plow"
For those who aren't familiar, this expression refers to the mistaken belief that if you cultivate the land with crops and you planted trees, this would cause a change in the local climate. They thought that each little homestead (farm) would convert the local clime to an overall wetter, more productive one.
For those who aren't familiar, this expression refers to the mistaken belief that if you cultivate the land with crops and you planted trees, this would cause a change in the local climate. They thought that each little homestead (farm) would convert the local clime to an overall wetter, more productive one.
Fraser's book is pretty detailed and worth reading for those who've only gotten the version from the books or the tv show. It's clear that the economy was much more complex than we were told. It was probably impossible for any of the homesteaders like the Ingalls to ever make enough to live upon given the amount of land they were given.
Over a million families took advantage of the Homestead Acts, which granted 160 acres to settlers. That much land was certainly enough to make a living on. When I looked up my grandparents in the 1950 census, every house on the page was marked as being half a mile down the road from the previous one--because 160 acres, a quarter section, is 1/2 mile on a side.
Bad luck, family tragedy, and other factors played into the failure of the Wilders to succeed, but make no mistake: many did succeed on that land.
Bad luck, family tragedy, and other factors played into the failure of the Wilders to succeed, but make no mistake: many did succeed on that land.
The books present "Pa" as a hero, but if you look at him with a critical eye (as Fraser's book does), it's pretty clear the family's woes were largely due to him. Their original farm was by all accounts the best of the lot, and if they had stayed at the second one in Kansas they might have done OK. But he abandoned that one too based on (incorrect) rumors that the land would be confiscated, and every move they made afterwards drove them further and further into penury.
Likewise the impression I formed was that Pa was impulsive and a bad businessman. Now, we don't know if he kept on the move because of something like bad debts, which would not be shocking or even necessarily incriminating.
> it's pretty clear the family's woes were largely due to him
I mean, FFS, the family ended up living in a dirt hole dug into a damn riverbank! Not a nice hobbit home, either: we’re talking a raw dirt hole. Pa was bug-fuck crazy and anyone who reads the books as an adult can see it writ large.
Edit: whoa! No offense intended, fans of the myth, but again: dirt hole. That ain’t the behaviour of a fully rational adult.
I mean, FFS, the family ended up living in a dirt hole dug into a damn riverbank! Not a nice hobbit home, either: we’re talking a raw dirt hole. Pa was bug-fuck crazy and anyone who reads the books as an adult can see it writ large.
Edit: whoa! No offense intended, fans of the myth, but again: dirt hole. That ain’t the behaviour of a fully rational adult.
Likewise, I was the fifth generation born on a farm that started with a homestead act grant.
Some succeeded. Many more failed.
Maybe when gambling against nature, the odds are with the house.
Maybe when gambling against nature, the odds are with the house.
counterpoint - previously ruined land-owners in West Texas after the dust bowl, apparently turned enthusiastically to the small-rig Oil business, poisoned many a water table, and now have some of the most active fracking in the world. Lots of big trucks in that part of Texas showing the "success"
One part of me asks "Would a similar proportion of the population today take the same risks today?"
Another asks "Were homesteaders the ones being farmed? By the railroads? By a government?"
Another asks "Were homesteaders the ones being farmed? By the railroads? By a government?"
Some of those small towns in Kansas will give you a house if you agree to live there for a few years. Homesteading is still a thing in that small way at least.
The pro-homesteader propaganda of the day might reveal a lot. Also we might look at the alternatives to homesteading.
Today's crazy is yesterday's contextually-appropriate levelheadedness.
Today's crazy is yesterday's contextually-appropriate levelheadedness.
https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/homestead-...
Presumably part of the reason was to create more states without a history of slavery, to avoid another Civil War. And also at the same time, to have more settlements to control the natives.
Lincoln said the Homestead Act was to "elevate the condition of men." By which the ex-Indian warrior meant "except Indians." Not surprisingly, it also included freed slaves, because moving west would be less uncomfortable than moving north, Lincoln having a history of that racism, too.
And the railroads didn't want to give away land. They were busy reclaiming it via eminent domain for their own profits. The abuses of railroads and banks who could not properly insure savings turned folks like Jesse and Frank James into folk heroes.
Presumably part of the reason was to create more states without a history of slavery, to avoid another Civil War. And also at the same time, to have more settlements to control the natives.
Lincoln said the Homestead Act was to "elevate the condition of men." By which the ex-Indian warrior meant "except Indians." Not surprisingly, it also included freed slaves, because moving west would be less uncomfortable than moving north, Lincoln having a history of that racism, too.
And the railroads didn't want to give away land. They were busy reclaiming it via eminent domain for their own profits. The abuses of railroads and banks who could not properly insure savings turned folks like Jesse and Frank James into folk heroes.
I think you might be projecting your modern politics onto the problems of the past.
I don’t think that everything bad in the 1800’s was caused by racism and greedy corporations.
I don’t think that everything bad in the 1800’s was caused by racism and greedy corporations.
> Were homesteaders the ones being farmed?
It wasn't the only political or economic goal, but a pretty explicit purpose of the Homestead Acts was to make it impossible for Native Americans to return to their historical territories.
It wasn't the only political or economic goal, but a pretty explicit purpose of the Homestead Acts was to make it impossible for Native Americans to return to their historical territories.
> It's clear that the economy was much more complex than we were told.
Isn’t it always more complex than we can detail?
Isn’t it always more complex than we can detail?
I didn’t want to be Laura Ingalls Wilder. I wanted to be a cat.
Whether the real-life Laura is like the one in the book is kind of interesting, I guess, but anyone who didn't pick up on how poor they were and how little success they had at farming from the books was reading them superficially.