American History I: “Go West, Young Man!”
I. “______”: the idea that Americans had been given North America by God, who wanted them to settle it all and push out the Indians, Mexicans, and anyone else who got in the way
A. The Oregon Territory
l First white settlers arrived in the 1830s, following route laid out by Lewis & Clark’s expedition
l By 1841, the Oregon Trail had been well-established
l In 1846, the territory officially became part of the U.S. after the Oregon Treaty ended a long border dispute between the U.S. and British ______
l In 1853, Congress split the territory into the Oregon and Washington Territories
l In 1859, Oregon was admitted to Union as a free state (Washington was not admitted until 1889, followed by Idaho in 1890)
B. California
l John ______was granted 50,000 acres by the Mexican government in 1839, to establish the settlement of Sutter’s Fort, the first American settlement in Spanish California
l California became part of the U.S. as part of the Mexican ______forced upon Mexico at the end of the Mexican War in 1848
l Discovery of ______later that same year would lead to a rush of American settlers
l With its rapid population growth, California quickly entered the Union as a free state as part of the Compromise of ______
II. How Did Settlers Move West?
A. Wagon Trails
l Oregon Trail: Missouri to Oregon
l California Trail: Missouri to Northern California
l Santa Fe Trail: Missouri to New Mexico
l ______Trail: Missouri to Salt Lake City, Utah and then on to Los Angeles, California
l Bozeman Trail: Missouri to Montana
B. Wagon Trains
l Usually, groups of settlers hired professional trail guides, but sometimes they simply followed guidebooks and maps
l Groups were usually made up of about 20-40 wagons per “train”
l Wagons covered about 15 miles/day for 5-6 months
l Wagons were circled at night to corral animals, not for protection against Indian attacks
l Attacks by Native Americans were rare; more trade took place than fighting
l Trains had to get through mountains before the first snow, or else … disaster
l The ______Party
l 87 settlers, including children
l Donner and his companions decided to take a new, untested route to California through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, but became trapped by winter snows
l After eating all of their supplies and animals, 39 members of the party starved to death; the rest resorted to c______– eating their dead friends and family to survive
C. Yankee ______
l Those with more money, or with large shipments of cargo, could take a quicker, but still risky, trip by sea to California
l Yankee Clippers traveled around the southern tip of South America, and had to navigate rough seas and stormy weather; many were lost at sea
III. Why Did Settlers Move West?
A. ______
l The Mormons
l The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
l Started in New York, but were the victims of persecution over their religious practices, including polygamy (allowing men to have multiple wives)
l The group moved to Ohio, then Missouri, then Illinois, where founder Joseph ______was murdered in 1844
l The Mormons finally settled near the Great Salt Lake in Utah (which they called Deseret) in 1847, under Brigham ______ (1801 – 1877)
l President of the Mormon church from 1847 -1877
l Led the Mormons west to Utah to escape persecution
l Founded Salt Lake City, Utah as the Mormon capital; later served as Utah’s first territorial governor, until federal troops removed him in 1858 following the Utah War (Pres. James Buchanan believed the Mormons were plotting a rebellion against the U.S.)
B. ______
l Colorado – Silver (over $1 billion, led to development of Denver as a major city)
l The Dakotas – gold in the Black Hills
l Montana – copper
l Mining created “______” cycles where towns would be built in a short period of time and then abandoned (ghost towns) when the mines were exhausted
l Gold Rushes
l California in 1849
l Pikes Peak, Colorado in 1858
l Arizona, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming in the 1860s
l Gold rushes triggered surges of settlers (mostly men) looking to get rich quick
l ’49ers & Sutter’s Mill
l After the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill, over 300,000 gold-seekers called “______” flooded into California
l This led to the rise of ______as a major city, but also to tensions with Native American tribes and to environmental damage
l The ______Lode
l Major silver vein discovered by Henry Comstock in 1859
l Virginia City, NV went from zero to a population of 30,000 then crashed when the lode ran out in 1898 (today, pop. = only about 1500 people)
l Comstock himself traded away his fortune (he sold his stake in the $1 billion+ mine for just $11,000) and later committed suicide
C. ______
l The Great Plains
l The Great Plains were explored by Major Stephen Long in 1819, who described the area as the “Great American Desert”
l With no ______and no ______, many believed that the area was useless for settlement and farming – but some still tried to make it work
l ______Houses
l Life on the Great Plains was difficult
l No trees for wood, so houses were built from sod – bricks of tough grass and dirt; settlers also burned sod and dried dung for heat and cooking
l With little surface water available, settlers had to drill deep wells (300 ft+)
l Temperatures: Summer = 100° +, winter = 0° or less
l Prairie fires, swarms of grasshoppers, tornadoes, blizzards, thunderstorms – all were obstacles to overcome
l The Pre-emption Acts
l Many settlers who went west just picked a spot and built a farm – they did not have any legal claim to the land; this is called “______”
l The Pre-emption Acts protected squatters by guaranteeing them the right to claim land before it was surveyed by the U.S. government (who technically owned all public land) and buy up to 160 acres for $1.25/acre
l The ______Act
l Passed in 1862
l A $10 fee laid claim to 160 acres of public land, but the occupant only received title after living there for 5 years
l Anyone could file a claim, (except former Confederate soldiers), so ______and freed slaves began to flood the west
l In total, over 1.6 million homesteads were awarded
l The ______Land-Grant Act
l Passed in 1862
l All states were awarded 30,000 acres of federal land for each member of the state’s Congressional delegation
l States could use or sell that land to fund the creation of colleges which would teach ______and ______skills
l Colleges started under the Morrill Act include Auburn, UConn, Florida, Georgia, Purdue, Iowa St., Kansas St., Kentucky, LSU, Maryland, MIT, Michigan State, Nebraska, Ohio St., Penn St., Clemson, Tennessee, Va. Tech, & NCSU
l The ______Land Rush
l As available land in the west began to disappear, pressure built to open the Indian Territory (Oklahoma) to land-hungry settlers
l In 1889, Congress agreed to open the Territory
l April 22, 1889: Thousands gathered on the border to race to claim a share of 2 million acres; some (called “______”) snuck into the territory early to lay claim to the best land
D. Ranching
l Spanish had introduced cattle to the region in the 1600s; herds had been left to roam free and had evolved into the tough, lean Texas ______
l Most cattle ranching took place in New Mexico & Texas
l Early ranchers took advantage of the ______, the vast open grasslands of the Great Plains owned by the government
l During the Civil War, beef prices soared due to a kill off of Eastern cattle to feed troops
l Railroads built in the 1860s allowed more western cattle to be moved east to meet beef demands
l Cattle were driven north out of Texas to railheads in Abilene & Dodge City, KS and Sedalia, MO using routes such as the Chisholm Trail
l ______were a mix of former Confederate soldiers, Hispanics, and freed slaves
E. Opportunity
l Women
l Women were heavily outnumbered by men, so they had greater opportunities
l Women could own property & businesses, became influential community leaders
l Most were farmwives, some worked as cooks or laundresses, still others worked at “hurdy-gurdy” houses (brothels)
l A few were even adventurers, such as Annie ______and Calamity Jane Burke
l Immigrants in the West
l Thousands of ______immigrants flooded the Midwest in the 1840s through the 1870s
l Thousands of ______immigrants arrived in California to escape civil war at home and seek job opportunities
l Both groups would play a key role in building the West’s ______
l African-Americans in the West
l Played a major role in the development of the West
l Worked on the railroads
l Worked as cowboys
l Settled in as farmers
l Served as soldiers in the Indian Wars
l “______soldiers”
l 4 all-black regiments of the US Army created in 1866 to serve in the West
l Nicknamed “buffalo soldiers” by the Native Americans they fought against for their dark, curly hair and fierce fighting ability, both of which reminded Indians of the buffalo