USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -New machinery increased the speed of planting and harvesting crops. Invented in the late nineteenth century, the twine-binder, “combine” (combined reaper-thresher), and gasoline tractor increased harvest yields and decreased the amount of labor needed to produce them.

Detailed explanation-2: -Vast and undefined prairies and plains yielded to range management, farming, and ultimately, widespread settlement. As the use of barbed wire increased, wide open spaces became less wide, less open, and less spacious, and the days of the free roaming cowboy were numbered.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Federal government’s response included The Homestead Act and the construction of the transcontinental railroad. The goal was to encourage settlement, solidify Union control of the trans-Mississippi West, and further marginalize the physical and cultural presence of tribes native to the West.