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Changes on the western frontier
Settlers in native america
American frontier in modern day
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Changes on the western frontier
Settlers in native america
American frontier in modern day
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The families came together to form what was called a wagon train in May 1846. Another reason for the Americans movement westward, was the belief in manifest destiny. Manifest destiny was the belief of the United States expanding towards the California coast. It was also because the views on religious freedom, were nowhere near as strict as they wear on the East
Living as a pioneer in the Nineteenth-Century in Nebraska was sometimes difficult. The pioneers came in large numbers from the states of New York, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana. They fled to the Midwest because industrial cities were becoming overpopulated, land was inexpensive in Nebraska, they found land hard to come by to farm and they wanted to make a better living. (http://www.campsilos.org/mod2/students/life4.shtml, n.d.)
The westward expansion is a movement of settlers promoted by the federal government that pushed west to get things that benefit them. Such as gold, land, financial reasons, and religious freedom. During this time, America was going through Indian removal acts, economic issues and so much more. The westward expansion occurred due to gold and cheaper land resulting in Native Americans being forced off their own land. To begin, One of the reasons for the westward expansion was gold.
“Our manifest destiny, is to overspread the continent allotted by providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” (O’Sullivan, 420) From 1841 to 1867 more than 350,000 men, women, and children migrated to California, and many others settled in territories along the way such as Texas and New Mexico. Nearly every migration was over 2,000 miles in a wagon, so the reasons for migrating were great. Originally it was for families to own more land, but once gold was discovered the number of migrants skyrocketed.
Introduction The Westward Expansion is about moving west to find better land. almost seven million Americans moved west to find better land to farm and to build a house and raise a family. Two topics about the westward is The Oregon Trail and The Gold Rush.
Many people migrated west for many reasons during the 1800's. Some of these reasons were government sponsored and others were not. Some examples of government sponsored reasons include the Homestead Acts, Mexican War, and the Gadsden Purchase. Some nongovernment sponsored reasons include the Gold Rush, and the Mormons. The Homestead Acts was one of the first reasons for westward expansion.
The pioneer families lived very differently in Nebraska during the 19th century. While we now have the comfort of an insulated homes and lots of food, the pioneer families had to cope without those luxuries. Among other things, the pioneers had to survive with sod houses, extreme weather, and lack of good food. One of the things the pioneers in Nebraska had to survive with were sod houses.
Americans were naturally curious about the land west of them after receiving letters from the emigrants describing “really great land”. “To get free land in the heavenly country where sickness was hardly ever known” also “ The emigrants sent letters back home describing the great land. This is showing that the oregon trail was the Americans right because there was only emigrants there meaning that it was unclaimed, and that the land was great meaning that it had excellent farming, it was free.and there was hardly ever any sicknesses. Another reason that people moved west on the Oregon trail was because of the discovery of gold. “After the discovery of gold in California in 1848, more prospectors set out on the Oregon Trail”.
New economic opportunities were opened up to the country nation west of the Appalachians in the form of iron and cotton which made the United States economy boon into an example of success for the rest of the world. Transportation also served as the backbone to the new frontier and connected the old and new continent by a tether of economic growth. Finally, the expansion of slavery caused by settlers west of the Mississippi River forced the country to deal with the moral question of slavery, and ultimately led to America’s learning that their declaration of all men were created equal was starting to come true. Westward migration can be seen as a search by pioneers. While each settler searched for something different, whether it be for land, gold, or an escape, combined they formed a nation moving westward in search for one common goal; World
Few families had the resources to even start farming. “The Homestead Act (May 20, 1862) set in motion a program of public land grants to small farmers”(History.com) They say that the transcontinental railroad was literally the transportation of traveling to the West. Removing the main barrier of to expansion and settlement. It may have improved moving to the west a lot easier, but it doesn 't mean that the farmers and free men were wanting to go to the west just because there was transportation.
This started the migration west for the United States.
Before the westward movement, the concept of race was essentially black and white. Literally. No one thought of what was in between, what was gray. It wasn’t til people began moving towards the west when other races started to add to the equation more adequately. As the packet says, “The diversity of the West put a strain on the simpler varieties of racism.”
In conclusion, the westward expansion was one of the most important times in American history but one of the hardest for those who made the journey. The settlers had to go through a lot of hardships to get a new life in the west. The Gold Rush helped bring people to the west and populate California so it became a state. People such as Sacagawea helped Lewis and Clark helped explore the new terrain and make maps so people could live there. Even though the pioneers got diseases, had conflicts with the Native Americans, and had to travel for long periods of time in a ship or covered wagon, they never gave up hope.
Gold had been discovered out west, laborers were looking for better pay and farmers were in search for better soil to invest in to create business and revenue. These pioneers felt justified to take this land over because they thought of this as a "manifest destiny," a term conceived by John O'Sullivan in 1845, and meant that Western expansion was always supposed to happen because it was appointed by God. A person would think that everyone wanted a journey to a new life but that wasn’t always the case for women; in fact, most didn't want to go but most didn’t have a choice but to start a new life, and sometimes, leave their families behind. Though there wasn't much room in a hot wagon and most women had to walk; women were responsible for children, laundry, sometimes helping wrangle lives stock, cleaning, including after those who were sick, and cooking. Because of these responsibilities, their days started earlier and ended later than the man.
Have you ever imagined yourself traveling from Tennessee all the way west to Oregon with only a group of families, a wagon, and a constant shortage of food? Here, in Tennessee, going to states that are in the far west, like Oregon or California, isn 't that difficult. Though the trip takes some time, improved ways of transportation like cars, trains, and planes gets us to any destination in a matter of hours or days. Well back in the early 1800’s, American Settlers had many hardships moving west during the Western Expansion. Without the availability of any modern transportation, their journey was by foot, cattle, or wagon, which would take dreading months of starvation and work.