After the California Gold Rush, many immigrants and settlers arrived in the West with the objective of mining and keeping their goald. These laws effectively gave free land to those who were willing to farm it, and also gave them the rights to gold if they mined it. Any adult who had never taken up arms against the US government could apply, including women, immigrants, and (after 1866) African-Americans. In 1862, the US government passed the first of the " Homestead Acts", which opened up millions of acres of land in the West to settlement. These newly-conquered lands were organized into "territories", American lands that were not yet granted statehood due to their low populations and their lack of infrastructure. The "Wild West" period followed the westward expansion promoted by " Manifest Destiny", which saw the United States acquire vast amounts of territory in the Mexican-American War, the Gadsden Purchase, and through several Indian wars.
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