Like the string, the Sun's gravity pulls on the planets, but the planets have enough sideways motion to keep them in their orbits. The Sun is more than 300,000 times heavier than Earth, distance of the Earth to Sun is about 1.50 x ¹⁰¹¹ m, and the force of attraction between the Sun and Earth is about .
The American West was indeed a land of great opportunity from 1865 to 1900 in the sense that there was an abundance of land and resources available to all those willing to go west.
Southerners approved the Dred Scott decision believing Congress had no right to prohibit slavery in the territories. Abraham Lincoln reacted with disgust to the ruling and was spurred into political action, publicly speaking out against it.
