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The United States Grows
(1865-1900)
Wild, Wild West
 Settling the West

Settling the West
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   high interest, readability grades 3 to 5
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   3.8

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    ownership, registration, federal, settler, caption, fell, country, strips, house, impossible, dangerous, citizen, certain, order, government, heat
     content words:    North Dakota, President Abraham Lincoln, Homestead Act, Native Americans

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Settling the West
By Cathy Pearl 		  
1     Caption: A sod house in North Dakota
 
2     As the country grew, some Americans began to feel crowded. They wanted the wide open spaces that used to be found in the East. This desire led more and more Americans to begin to head west.
 
3     Americans went west for many different reasons. Some wanted to live apart from a lot of people. Others wanted to start new lives. Some wanted to own a farm. It was hard to find this in the East.
 
4     The federal government gave land to the settlers. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act in 1862. It gave 160 acres of land to settlers. The settlers had to meet certain conditions before they got the land.

Paragraphs 5 to 14:
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