How did the westward movement change between 1800 and 1830?
Between the years 1800 and 1820 the American population nearly doubled and by 1830 a quarter of the people lived west of the Appalachians. Westward movement was made easier by government efforts to push Native American peoples even farther west.
How did technology affect the settlement of the west?
Technology helped ease some of the strain and, in some cases, ensured success. Canals, stagecoaches, and railroads made it possible for thousands of people to settle the West. Securing the land often meant defending the chosen spot against Indian attack; advances in gun design swayed the battles in favor of the white settlers.
What made the westward movement easier for Native Americans?
Westward movement was made easier by government efforts to push Native American peoples even farther west. A series of new states were admitted to the Union: Indiana in 1816, Mississippi in 1817, Illinois in 1818, Alabama in 1819 and Missouri in 1821. The Old Northwest (part of today’s Midwest) was accessed by settlers floating down the Ohio River.
What was the western settlement of the 1800s?
Western Settlement. Between the years 1800 and 1820 the American population nearly doubled and by 1830 a quarter of the people lived west of the Appalachians. Westward movement was made easier by government efforts to push Native American peoples even farther west. A series of new states were admitted to the Union: Indiana in 1816,...
What was the most important thing that made it possible for America to settle the West?
Gold rush and mining opportunities (silver in Nevada) The opportunity to work in the cattle industry; to be a “cowboy” Faster travel to the West by railroad; availability of supplies due to the railroad. The opportunity to own land cheaply under the Homestead Act.
What three 3 things helped transport settlers west?
Overview. Land, mining, and improved transportation by rail brought settlers to the American West during the Gilded Age.
Why did farmers who settled West need new technologies?
New technologies aided farmers and cattlemen in places where standard fencing materials were scarce. Once settled, people wanted to correspond with the loved ones they had left behind or keep abreast of news in other parts of the country.
What inventions helped westward expansion?
Dry Farming. o Type of farming that allowed farmers to farm without muchwater.Wheat Farming. o Wheat doesn't need much water.Steel Plow. o Great Plain soil was hard and rocky.Windmills. ... Mechanical Reaper. ... Beef Cattle Raising. ... Barbed Wire. ... Sod Houses.More items...
What technologies influenced Westward Expansion?
During the 19th century, the technologies that most influenced westward expansion were the telegraph and railroad. Prior to the expansion of the railroad westward, traveling out West was a long and dangerous undertaking. It was also difficult to ship commodities back east for a profit.
How was the Westward Expansion successful?
The canal and railroad systems, which grew up in the North, facilitated a much larger volume of trade and manufacturing while reducing costs a great deal. Great cities sprang up throughout the North and Northwest, bolstered by the improvement in transportation.
How did transportation affect westward expansion?
Railroads were faster, cheaper, and had greater range than canals, but still grew only gradually at first. The transportation revolution produced the rapid growth of towns and cities.
How did new inventions change farming in the West?
How did new inventions change farming in the west? New farming equipment made work faster and also lessened the need of farm hands. gave federal land to the states to help finance agricultural colleges, and the Hatch Act of 1887 established agricultural experiment stations to inform farmers of new develop- ments.
How did new inventions and innovations impact the economy of the West?
American 19th Century Economic Growth in the West New inventions and capital investment led to the creation of new industries and economic growth. As transportation improved, new markets continuously opened to take advantage.
What was one new technology that helped the settlers survive?
Railroads were an important technological advance that made it possible to settle the West. They could bring in supplies at an affordable price. They also made it possible for farmers to ship out their crops and ranchers to ship out their cattle. The double photo below is an old stereoscope card.
How did farming affect westward expansion?
Agricultural prices, which had sparked the boom, dropped off sharply, bringing the value of land down. Farmers could not afford to pay their debts, and since speculators could not collect payment for lands they had sold, the value of land plummeted even further.
What were the 5 reasons for westward expansion?
What were 5 reasons for westward expansion?free land railroad gold and silver adventure and opportunity cattleWhat were some challenges the cowboys faced on the long drive?Violent storms, wind, rain, moving rivers, stampedes, rustlers, hot sun, discrimination, and 15 hours on the saddle38 more rows
What are the 3 main trails that led to the West?
Three of the Missouri-based routes—the Oregon, Mormon, and California Trails—were collectively known as the Emigrant Trails.
What were 3 of the states gained during westward expansion?
(Under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the war, the United States acquired more than 525,000 square miles [1,360,000 square km] of land, including present-day Arizona, California, western Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah.) California's climate made much of it a natural garden, and its gold ...
How did the settlers travel west?
Roads, Canals, and Trails Led the Way for Western Settlers He was Amazon.com's first-ever history editor and has bylines in New York, the Chicago Tribune, and other national outlets. Americans who heeded the call to "go west, young man" may have been proceeding with a great sense of adventure.
What transportation did people use to travel west?
Westward expansion and the growth of the United States during the 19th century sparked a need for a better transportation infrastructure. At the beginning of the century, U.S. citizens and immigrants to the country traveled primarily by horseback or on the rivers. After a while, crude roads were built and then canals.
American West History: Settlement Overview
The American West was once pristine, native land, undiscovered by Europeans. Beginning in the early 19th century, people began to move west of the Mississippi into the unfamiliar lands that lay beyond.
The Settlement of the West: Background
The settlement of the west truly began after the Revolutionary War (1775-1776) when Americans were granted the ability to move beyond the Appalachian Mountains into the Ohio River Valley. The Proclamation of 1763 (largely ignored by colonists), stated that settlements further than the Mississippi were forbidden.
Why Did Settlers Move West?
Various reasons inspired people to expand westward in the 19th century, though two reasons were generally cited more than others. Economic opportunity, or the chance to strike it rich, was the first. The second was a chance at social mobility and progress, which was also tied to monetary desires.
The Settlement of the West During the Late 19th Century
In 1848, when the Mexican-American war ended and more swaths of land were added to the United States' territory, Manifest Destiny was officially considered "complete." Homesteaders were rushing to the frontier in the thousands, the railway connecting east to west was nearly complete, and the United States was happy for the time being with its massive territory.
When did the American West settle?
The settlement of the American West began in the 1840s and ended in the early 1900s. Several factors influenced this settlement, including the use of the Oregon Trail and the doctrine of Manifest Destiny. Updated: 03/09/2021. Create an account.
What was the first wave of settlement in the West?
From the mid-1800s to early 1900s, there were several waves of settlement in the American West. The first is the California Gold Rush of the 1840s, along with the concurrent use of the Oregon Trail. The second was the call of Manifest Destiny, the idea that American westward expansion was an American right and something ...
What act helped manifest destiny?
Manifest Destiny was also helped by the Homestead Act of 1862 and the Preemptive Act of 1841. Both acts sold land on the Great Plains of the American West to settlers for an extremely reasonable price.
Why did people go west on the Oregon Trail?
Many people went west on the Oregon Trail because of Manifest Destiny. In 1845, a journalist named John O'Sullivan wrote about the Manifest Destiny of Americans. This was referring to the idea that Americans had the right to move west and take the land, since not only was it something that they had the right to do, but it was also a right given to them by God. People latched onto the idea that there was a rich and fertile land they had a right to own. It's important to note that the idea of Manifest Destiny wasn't a new one. Whenever a country wishes to take over another, the conquest is often framed in a positive light for their own people.
How many acres did the Homestead Act allow?
The Homestead Act, in particular, said that settlers were able to own over 100 acres for a small fee and a promise to live on the land for five years.
What was the purpose of the Oregon Trail?
Hundreds of thousands of Americans traveled the Oregon Trail between 1840 and 1868, which was used to transport large groups of settlers across the country in things known as wagon trains, which were very large groups of wagons traveling together. They usually traveled in large wagon trains.
How many people used the Oregon Trail?
Some historians estimate that between 300,000 and 400,000 Americans used the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails between 1840 and 1868. Although it was popular, the Oregon Trail could be dangerous. Wagon trains, or very large groups of wagons traveling together, could face a variety of issues.
How did mechanization affect the 1870s?
In the century since such mechanization had begun, machines had replaced highly skilled craftspeople in one industry after another. By the 1870s, machines were knitting stockings and stitching shirts and dresses, cutting and stitching leather for shoes, and producing nails by the millions. By reducing labor costs, such machines not only reduced manufacturing costs but lowered prices manufacturers charged consumers. In short, machine production created a growing abundance of products at cheaper prices.
How did mechanization affect the way people worked?
Mechanization also had less desirable effects. For one, machines changed the way people worked. Skilled craftspeople of earlier days had the satisfaction of seeing a product through from beginning to end. When they saw a knife, or barrel, or shirt or dress, they had a sense of accomplishment. Machines, on the other hand, tended to subdivide production down into many small repetitive tasks with workers often doing only a single task. The pace of work usually became faster and faster; work was often performed in factories built to house the machines. Finally, factory managers began to enforce an industrial discipline, forcing workers to work set -- often very long -- hours.
How did technological advances affect hardrock mining?
These innovations had an impact on employees. Under some circumstances, the new tools and methods alleviated physical burdens that exhausted or disabled laborers. In other cases, technological advances caused bottlenecks that intensified work. In hardrock mining, for instance, the implementation of power drilling expedited the ore blasting, but the persistence of manual methods of loading broken ore meant that muckers had to work harder to keep pace. Moreover, mechanization in this period was incomplete, especially in smaller firms. So extractive work, for the most part, remained hard work.
What was the impact of mechanization on mining?
Mechanization and the application of inanimate sources of power extended to a growing range of industrial operations. In mining, after many failed experiments, the mechanical loading of coal and other minerals yielded to engineering skill in the years after 1920. In the bituminous (soft coal) segment of the coal industry, the crucial breakthrough was the Joy loader, which displaced countless thousands of shoveling laborers. Similarly, locomotives moved an increasing share of the material thus loaded. In timber tracts, efficient (i.e., portable, lightweight, and durable) chainsaws came into widespread use in the 1940s.
What was the rapid industrialization of the twentieth century?
Rapid industrialization was marked by shifts in industry and industrial practices. Around the turn of the century, science and efficiency, such as extolled by Frederick Taylor, led the drive for order and control in the workplace. Taylor was a champion of the scientific management of work, whereby scientific observations and methods were applied to the work process and labor relations. Mechanization and centralization continued into the twentieth century with technological innovation further aiding the expansion of the unskilled labor force.
What were the effects of mechanization and factory production?
One result of mechanization and factory production was the growing attractiveness of labor organization. To be sure, craft guilds had been around a long time. Now, however, there were increasing reasons for workers to join labor unions. Such labor unions were not notably successful in organizing large numbers of workers in the late 19th century. Still, unions were able to organize a variety of strikes and other work stoppages that served to publicize their grievances about working conditions and wages. Even so, labor unions did not gain even close to equal footing with businesses and industries until the economic chaos of the 1930s.
What is the late 19th century known for?
The late 19th-century United States is probably best known for the vast expansion of its industrial plant and output. At the heart of these huge increases was the mass production of goods by machines. This process was first introduced and perfected by British textile manufacturers.
How did the combine help farmers?
The combine, which reaped, threshed, and bagged the grain in successive operations, revolutionized the harvesting scene on wheat farms (often in the thousands of acres) of the trans-Mississippi West, especially on the Great Plains and in California. For instance, using the combine, along with other machinery, two farmers were able to readily produce more than 250 acres of wheat by the 1890s. Whereas, back in the 1830s, one farmer, assisted by his son, for the sake of an example, could plant and harvest no more than some 15 acres of grain.
When did the farm system become the main source of sustenance for all?
By 1920, when half America's diverse peoples had become either town or city dwellers, the farms in what had become the continental United States were supplying sustenance for all. To give but one example in support of that fact, though admittedly it comes from the year 1960.
How much wheat was threshed in the 1840s?
From the primitive thresher of A. H. Pitt of Winthrop, Maine, in the 1830s, which by the 1840s could process but 20 to 25 bushels of wheat per hour, to the threshing of from 750 to 800 bushels per day by machines of the 1880s, represented real progress.
What was the first agricultural revolution?
The 1860s, or the decade of the Civil War, brought the amplification, soon to be within no more than forty years, the fulfillment of the first American agricultural revolution--that is, the mechanization (for the most part) of U. S. farming operations. That was assisted greatly by two ancillary developments, one dating from the 1830s, and the other from the 1870s. In 1837 John Deere of Moline, Illinois, came out with his steel-bladed plow, having a smooth, wrought-iron moldboard. Also, in Illinois, two men invented what would make possible the economical fencing of the Great Plains from the 1870s onward--barbed wire. On a farm west of DeKalb, Joseph F. Glidden perfected the first strands of such wire in 1874. In the same year at DeKalb a lumber dealer named Jacob Haish in his carpenter's shop fashioned another famous barb, called the"S", which became a close second to Glidden's variety of barbed wire in popularity. With the John Deere plow and the mass production of barbed wire (in abundance by the 1880s at the latest), the way was open for a farming in earnest of the Great Plains.
What food products were brought to the eastern market?
Foodstuffs, including wheat, corn, beef, pork, and dairy products, entered eastern produce markets by various routes and means. Not only by the Erie Canal, but by inland waterways and by shipping as well from New Orleans eastward around Florida and up the Atlantic coast to such major entrepots as Philadelphia, New York, and Boston.
What percentage of the population was urban in 1920?
And the farmer (usually a man, but sometimes a woman) took on a greater and greater importance, as he or she became the major provider of the foodstuffs for a rapidly growing population, which by 1920 was 50 percent urban. That contrasts sharply with the situation in 1790, when only some 10 percent of America's people could by any stretch ...
When did the New York Central reach the Great Lakes?
It is indicative too of what was underway that by 1850 the New York Central reached the Great Lakes. Two years thereafter the Pennsylvania Railroad linked up with Pittsburgh. Then, in 1853, the Baltimore and Ohio arrived at Wheeling, West Virginia. In the next year the Mississippi River could be accessed by rail.