Why Did Pioneer Families Tend to Settle in Communities Along Major Rivers?

Learning Objectives

By the finish of this section, you will be able to:

• Explain the evolution of American views well-nigh westward migration in the mid-nineteenth century
• Analyze the ways in which the federal government facilitated Americans' westward migration in the mid-nineteenth century

(credit "barbed wire": modification of work by the U.S. Section of Commerce)

While a pocket-size number of settlers had pushed westward before the mid-nineteenth century, the country west of the Mississippi was largely unexplored. Near Americans, if they thought of it at all, viewed this territory every bit an arid wasteland suitable only for Indians whom the federal authorities had displaced from eastern lands in previous generations. The reflections of early explorers who conducted scientific treks throughout the Due west tended to confirm this conventionalities. Major Stephen Harriman Long, who commanded an expedition through Missouri and into the Yellowstone region in 1819–1820, frequently described the Nifty Plains as a arid and useless region, suitable as goose egg more than a "dandy American desert." Merely, beginning in the 1840s, a combination of economic opportunity and ideological encouragement changed the way Americans thought of the West. The federal government offered a number of incentives, making it viable for Americans to take on the challenge of seizing these crude lands from others and afterwards taming them. Yet, nigh Americans who went west needed some fiscal security at the outset of their journey; even with regime help, the truly poor could not make the trip. The cost of moving an unabridged family westward, combined with the risks as well as the questionable chances of success, made the move prohibitive for near. While the economic Panic of 1837 led many to question the promise of urban America, and thus turn their focus to the promise of commercial farming in the West, the Panic likewise resulted in many lacking the financial resources to brand such a commitment. For most, the dream to "Go west, fellow" remained unfulfilled.

While much of the basis for westward expansion was economic, in that location was too a more than philosophical reason, which was spring up in the American conventionalities that the land—and the "heathens" who populated information technology—was destined to come under the civilizing dominion of Euro-American settlers and their superior technology, about notably railroads and the telegraph. While the extent to which that belief was a heartfelt motivation held by most Americans, or simply a rationalization of the conquests that followed, remains debatable, the clashes—both physical and cultural—that followed this western migration left scars on the state that are yet felt today.

MANIFEST DESTINY

The concept of Manifest Destiny found its roots in the long-standing traditions of territorial expansion upon which the nation itself was founded. This phrase, which implies divine encouragement for territorial expansion, was coined by magazine editor John O'Sullivan in 1845, when he wrote in the United States Mag and Democratic Review that "it was our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free evolution of our multiplying millions." Although the context of O'Sullivan's original article was to encourage expansion into the newly acquired Texas territory, the spirit it invoked would afterwards exist used to encourage westward settlement throughout the rest of the nineteenth century. Land developers, railroad magnates, and other investors capitalized on the notion to encourage w settlement for their ain financial benefit. Soon thereafter, the federal authorities encouraged this inclination as a ways to further develop the West during the Civil War, especially at its outset, when concerns over the possible expansion of slavery deeper into western territories was a legitimate fear.

The thought was simple: Americans were destined—and indeed divinely ordained—to expand democratic institutions throughout the continent. Equally they spread their civilization, thoughts, and community, they would, in the process, "improve" the lives of the native inhabitants who might otherwise resist Protestant institutions and, more importantly, economic evolution of the land. O'Sullivan may have coined the phrase, but the concept had preceded him: Throughout the 1800s, politicians and writers had stated the conventionalities that the United States was destined to rule the continent. O'Sullivan's words, which resonated in the popular press, matched the economic and political goals of a federal authorities increasingly committed to expansion.

Hundreds of thousands of people travelled w on the Oregon, California, and Santa Fe Trails, only their numbers did non ensure their condom. Affliction, starvation, and other dangers—both real and imagined— made survival hard. (credit: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)

Manifest Destiny justified in Americans' minds their right and duty to govern any other groups they encountered during their expansion, likewise every bit absolved them of whatever questionable tactics they employed in the process. While the commonly held view of the mean solar day was of a relatively empty frontier, waiting for the arrival of the settlers who could properly exploit the vast resources for economical gain, the reality was quite different. Hispanic communities in the Southwest, diverse Indian tribes throughout the western states, as well as other settlers from Asia and Western Europe already lived in many parts of the country. American expansion would necessitate a far more circuitous and involved exchange than simply filling empty space.

Still, in role equally a result of the spark lit by O'Sullivan and others, waves of Americans and recently arrived immigrants began to move west in carriage trains. They travelled along several identifiable trails: first the Oregon Trail, then later the Santa Fe and California Trails, among others. The Oregon Trail is the most famous of these western routes. Ii yard miles long and barely passable on foot in the early nineteenth century, past the 1840s, wagon trains were a mutual sight. Between 1845 and 1870, considered to be the height of migration along the trail, over 400,000 settlers followed this path west from Missouri.

Who Will Set Limits to Our Onward March?

America is destined for improve deeds. It is our unparalleled celebrity that we have no reminiscences of battle fields, but in defense [sic] of humanity, of the oppressed of all nations, of the rights of conscience, the rights of personal enfranchisement. Our annals depict no scenes of horrid carnage, where men were led on by hundreds of thousands to slay one another, dupes and victims to emperors, kings, nobles, demons in the human form chosen heroes. We accept had patriots to defend our homes, our liberties, just no aspirants to crowns or thrones; nor have the American people ever suffered themselves to be led on by wicked ambition to depopulate the state, to spread pathos far and wide, that a human being might be placed on a seat of supremacy. . . .

The expansive future is our arena, and for our history. We are entering on its untrodden space, with the truths of God in our minds, beneficent objects in our hearts, and with a clear conscience unsullied past the past. Nosotros are the nation of human being progress, and who will, what can, set limits to our onward march? Providence is with u.s.a., and no earthly power can.

—John O'Sullivan, 1839

Think about how this quotation resonated with dissimilar groups of Americans at the time. When looked at through today's lens, the actions of the w-moving settlers were fraught with brutality and racism. At the time, nevertheless, many settlers felt they were at the peak of republic, and that with no elite or ancient history, America was a new world where anyone could succeed. Fifty-fifty and then, consider how the phrase "anyone" was restricted by race, gender, and nationality.

Visit Beyond the Plains in '64 to follow one family making their fashion westward from Iowa to Oregon. Click on a few of the entries and see how the writer describes their journey, from the expected to the surprising.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE

To aid the settlers in their move westward and transform the migration from a trickle into a steady flow, Congress passed two significant pieces of legislation in 1862: the Homestead Act and the Pacific Railway Act. Born largely out of President Abraham Lincoln's growing business organization that a potential Union defeat in the early stages of the Ceremonious State of war might consequence in the expansion of slavery westward, Lincoln hoped that such laws would encourage the expansion of a "free soil" mentality across the West.

The Homestead Human action immune any head of household, or individual over the age of twenty-1—including unmarried women—to receive a parcel of 160 acres for only a nominal filing fee. All that recipients were required to do in substitution was to "amend the land" within a period of five years of taking possession. The standards for comeback were minimal: Owners could clear a few acres, build modest houses or barns, or maintain livestock. Under this human action, the government transferred over 270 million acres of public domain land to private citizens.

The Pacific Railway Act was pivotal in helping settlers movement west more quickly, as well as motion their farm products, and later cattle and mining deposits, dorsum east. The start of many railway initiatives, this human action commissioned the Matrimony Pacific Railroad to build new track w from Omaha, Nebraska, while the Key Pacific Railroad moved due east from Sacramento, California. The law provided each company with buying of all public lands inside two hundred feet on either side of the track laid, besides equally additional land grants and payment through load bonds, prorated on the difficulty of the terrain it crossed. Considering of these provisions, both companies made a meaning profit, whether they were crossing hundreds of miles of open up plains, or working their fashion through the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. As a outcome, the nation'due south first transcontinental railroad was completed when the ii companies connected their tracks at Promontory Point, Utah, in the spring of 1869. Other tracks, including lines radiating from this original one, subsequently created a network that linked all corners of the nation.

The "Gilt Spike" connecting the country by rail was driven into the ground in Promontory Point, Utah, in 1869. The completion of the get-go transcontinental railroad dramatically changed the tenor of travel in the country, every bit people were able to consummate in a week a route that had previously taken months.

In addition to legislation designed to facilitate western settlement, the U.S. authorities assumed an active role on the ground, building numerous forts throughout the West to protect and aid settlers during their migration. Forts such as Fort Laramie in Wyoming (built in 1834) and Fort Apache in Arizona (1870) served as protection from nearby Indians as well equally maintained peace between potential warring tribes. Others located throughout Colorado and Wyoming became of import trading posts for miners and fur trappers. Those built in Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas served primarily to provide relief for farmers during times of drought or related hardships. Forts constructed along the California coastline provided protection in the wake of the Mexican-American War every bit well as during the American Civil War. These locations subsequently serviced the U.S. Navy and provided important support for growing Pacific trade routes. Whether as army posts constructed for the protection of white settlers and to maintain peace among Indian tribes, or every bit trading posts to further facilitate the development of the region, such forts proved to be vital contributions to westward migration.

WHO WERE THE SETTLERS?

In the nineteenth century, equally today, it took money to relocate and first a new life. Due to the initial price of relocation, state, and supplies, as well as months of preparing the soil, planting, and subsequent harvesting before any produce was ready for market, the original wave of western settlers along the Oregon Trail in the 1840s and 1850s consisted of moderately prosperous, white, native-born farming families of the East. But the passage of the Homestead Human activity and completion of the first transcontinental railroad meant that, by 1870, the possibility of western migration was opened to Americans of more small means. What started every bit a trickle became a steady flow of migration that would last until the finish of the century.

About 400,000 settlers had made the trek westward by the height of the motility in 1870. The vast majority were men, although families also migrated, despite incredible hardships for women with young children. More recent immigrants also migrated west, with the largest numbers coming from Northern Europe and Canada. Germans, Scandinavians, and Irish gaelic were amongst the most common. These ethnic groups tended to settle close together, creating strong rural communities that mirrored the fashion of life they had left behind. According to U.S. Demography Bureau records, the number of Scandinavians living in the United States during the second half of the nineteenth century exploded, from barely eighteen,000 in 1850 to over one.one million in 1900. During that same time period, the High german-born population in the United States grew from 584,000 to nearly two.vii meg and the Irish-born population grew from 961,000 to 1.vi million. As they moved westward, several thousand immigrants established homesteads in the Midwest, primarily in Minnesota and Wisconsin, where, equally of 1900, over one-3rd of the population was foreign-born, and in North Dakota, whose immigrant population stood at 45 per centum at the turn of the century. Compared to European immigrants, those from Communist china were much less numerous, but withal pregnant. More than 200,000 Chinese arrived in California between 1876 and 1890, albeit for entirely different reasons related to the Gold Rush.

In addition to a significant European migration w, several thousand African Americans migrated westward following the Civil War, as much to escape the racism and violence of the Old South as to find new economical opportunities. They were known as exodusters, referencing the biblical flight from Egypt, because they fled the racism of the South, with most of them headed to Kansas from Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Over twenty-five thousand exodusters arrived in Kansas in 1879–1880 lonely. By 1890, over 500,000 blacks lived west of the Mississippi River. Although the majority of black migrants became farmers, approximately twelve thousand worked every bit cowboys during the Texas cattle drives. Some also became "Buffalo Soldiers" in the wars confronting Indians. "Buffalo Soldiers" were African Americans allegedly so-named by diverse Indian tribes who equated their black, curly pilus with that of the buffalo. Many had served in the Union army in the Civil War and were now organized into six, all-black cavalry and infantry units whose primary duties were to protect settlers from Indian attacks during the w migration, as well as to assist in edifice the infrastructure required to support western settlement.

"Buffalo Soldiers," the outset peacetime all-black regiments in the U.S. Army, protected settlers from Indian attacks. These soldiers also served as some of the country's first national park rangers.

The Oxford African American Studies Center features photographs and stories nigh blackness homesteaders. From exodusters to all-black settlements, the essay describes the largely hidden role that African Americans played in western expansion.

While white easterners, immigrants, and African Americans were moving west, several hundred thousand Hispanics had already settled in the American Southwest prior to the U.S. government seizing the state during its war with Mexico (1846–1848). The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the war in 1848, granted American citizenship to those who chose to stay in the United States, as the state switched from Mexican to U.S. ownership. Under the conditions of the treaty, Mexicans retained the right to their linguistic communication, religion, and culture, too as the holding they held. As for citizenship, they could choose one of three options: i) declare their intent to live in the Us only retain Mexican citizenship; 2) become U.South. citizens with all rights under the constitution; or 3) get out for Mexico. Despite such guarantees, within 1 generation, these new Hispanic American citizens establish their culture nether attack, and legal protection of their property all simply non-existent.

Section Summary

While a few bold settlers had moved westward before the middle of the nineteenth century, they were the exception, not the dominion. The "smashing American desert," as it was called, was considered a vast and empty place, unfit for civilized people. In the 1840s, nonetheless, this idea started to change, as potential settlers began to acquire more from promoters and land developers of the economic opportunities that awaited them in the Westward, and Americans extolled the belief that it was their Manifest Destiny—their divine right—to explore and settle the western territories in the name of the U.s.a..

Virtually settlers in this kickoff wave were white Americans of means. Whether they sought riches in gilt, cattle, or farming, or believed it their duty to spread Protestant ethics to native inhabitants, they headed west in wagon trains along paths such as the Oregon Trail. European immigrants, particularly those from Northern Europe, also made the trip, settling in shut-knit indigenous enclaves out of comfort, necessity, and familiarity. African Americans escaping the racism of the South also went due west. In all, the newly settled areas were neither a fast track to riches nor a simple expansion into an empty country, but rather a disharmonism of cultures, races, and traditions that defined the emerging new America.

Review Question

1. Why and how did the U.Southward. government promote western migration in the midst of fighting the Civil War?

Answer to Review Question

1. During the beginning two years of the Civil State of war—when it appeared that the Confederacy was a formidable opponent—President Lincoln grew concerned that a Matrimony defeat could result in the westward expansion of slavery. Thus, he hoped to facilitate the westward movement of white settlers who promoted the concept of complimentary soil, which would populate the region with allies who opposed slavery. To encourage this procedure, Congress passed the Homestead Act and the Pacific Railway Deed in 1862. The government likewise constructed and maintained forts that assisted in the process of due west expansion.

Glossary

Manifest Destinythe phrase, coined by journalist John O'Sullivan, which came to represent the idea that white Americans had a calling and a duty to seize and settle the American West with Protestant democratic values

exodustersa term used to depict African Americans who moved to Kansas from the Sometime S to escape the racism there

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Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-ushistory2os2xmaster/chapter/the-westward-spirit/

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