Pretend you are a poor person living on the east coast of the U.S. post Civil War, during Reconstruction and Westward Expansion.
You hear of a law that the government has passed called the Homestead Act where you can go out west and get cheap land. Given the fact that there is not a lot of upward mobility where you live (your grandpa was poor, your dad was poor, and your children will most likely be poor), would you be a settler and go out west? (Even though you now know in 2021 what happens to several Native American tribes).
No, I will not be a settler and go out west because there is no opportunity there for changing social status. There is very less job opportunities in the west so I prefer to stay in the old place and find a job to better by social status. There are more opportunities in the old place due to higher mobility as compared to the west. So that's why I choose to stay at the old place instead to be settler and go to west.
