To encourage settlement of the West, the government opened former Indian reservation land to homesteaders. After the civil war, the country faced dramatic change as a landscape of farms and villages yielded to factories and sprawling cities.
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,...
How did the settlement of the west begin?
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.
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.
Who wrote the beginning of settlement in the American West?
About the Author: The Beginning of Settlement in the American West was written by Randall Parrish as a chapter of his book, The Great Plains: The Romance of Western American Exploration, Warfare, and Settlement, 1527-1870; published by A.C. McClurg & Co. in Chicago, 1907.
Why did the American colonies move west?
Where did the Trans-Appalachian people settle?
Why did fur trappers work in the Far West?
How did the fur trade help America?
What did Lewis and Clark do to entertain the Indians?
Why did the Appalachian Mountains become the western boundary of the colonies?
What did Lewis and Clark do in the discovery?
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About this website
Who opened the American West?
Men like Daniel Boone and James Harrod ventured into the uncharted forests across the Appalachian Mountains to ready the area for settlement in the 1760s and 1770s.
When did the settlement of the West begin?
While the settling of the American West began in earnest in the 1840s, the most famous period in the region's history, the Wild West, began in 1865 after the American Civil War, which was the war fought between the Northern and Southern United States between 1861 and 1865, and ended in the late 1890s and early 1900s, ...
What was the first settlement in the West?
After winning the Revolutionary War (1783), American settlers in large numbers poured into the west. In 1788, American pioneers to the Northwest Territory established Marietta, Ohio, as the first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory.
What things helped the settlement of the West?
Overview. Land, mining, and improved transportation by rail brought settlers to the American West during the Gilded Age.
What started westward expansion?
Westward expansion, the 19th-century movement of settlers into the American West, began with the Louisiana Purchase and was fueled by the Gold Rush, the Oregon Trail and a belief in "manifest destiny."
What were the reasons for westward expansion?
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.
Who settled the West?
Western North America was inhabited for millennia by various groups of Native Americans and later served as a frontier to the Spanish Empire, which began colonizing the region starting in the 16th century.
Who first settled in America?
Five hundred years before Columbus, a daring band of Vikings led by Leif Eriksson set foot in North America and established a settlement.
What is the settlement of the West?
The Western Settlement (Old Norse: Vestribygð [ˈwestreˌbyɣð]) was a group of farms and communities established by Norsemen from Iceland around 985 in medieval Greenland.
What brought the first wave of settlers to the West?
Why - and how - did the first settlers move westwards? The first white Americans to move west were the mountain men, who went to the Rockies to hunt beaver, bear and elk in the 1820s and 1830s. Then, in 1841, a wagon train pioneered the 3,200km-long Oregon Trail to the woodland areas of the north-west coast of America.
Who helped open the western territories after the Civil War?
Abraham Lincoln and the West Though best known for guiding the nation through the tumultuous four years of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln also played an instrumental role in encouraging settlement and expansion of the American West.
How did the railroads help open the West?
The historic moment created the first transcontinental railroad, enabling travelers to go from coast to coast in a week's time, making it markedly easier to travel west in search of land for settlement. By 1872, under the Pacific Railroad Act, Congress awarded the railroads over 170 million acres in land grants.
When did the westward expansion start and end?
The westward expansion of the United States took place during the 19th century, starting in 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase and ending in 1890 when the U.S. Census superintendent formally announced that the country's frontier had been settled.
When did the Old West start and end?
The Old West, also known as the Wild West or the American Frontier, was a period from the early 19th century to the early 20th century, when the western part of North America was colonized.
When did the Wild West era start and end?
Although the “Wild West” is a time period generally defined from 1865 to 1895, there are many events that shaped the American West as a region from ancient times up to 1916.
Why did the American colonies move west?
The rapid population growth in the American colonies during the 1700s motivated colonists to move west. American farmers felt that they needed at least one hundred acres to support a family. As lands were divided and dispersed among growing families, and as the fertility of the soil declined after more than a century of use, it became increasingly difficult to support a family on an eastern farm. It only made sense to the colonists that they take possession of the fertile land in the Ohio Valley (an expansive area west of the Appalachians that includes part or all of the present-day states of West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, as well as the far western parts of Pennsylvania and New York ).
Where did the Trans-Appalachian people settle?
Limited numbers of settlers moved into the areas around Fort Duquesne (pronounced doo-KAYNE; now named Fort Pitt) after 1760 and Scotch-Irish farmers from North Carolina moved into eastern Tennessee around 1771. The settlers of the trans-Appalachian area were hardy backwoodsmen who braved the wilderness to carve out settlements and claim new land for the young country. Without maps or support from their government, these men cleared the land for their family farms and stood alone against Indians defending their claims to the land. The American settlers had only their own strength and skill with a flintlock rifle or an ax for protection.
Why did fur trappers work in the Far West?
Fur trappers of the Far West accommodated the cultural differences between whites and Indians for the benefit of trade. Many allied themselves with Native Americans to learn more about the wilderness they roamed. Combing thousands of miles to collect animal pelts for trade, these independent trappers also gathered stories of the marvelous frontier. Their pelts and stories poured into the trading center of St. Louis and into the eastern states; the pelts became fashionable hats, and the traders' stories thrilled the easterners, helping to create a national desire to see the West.
How did the fur trade help America?
As profitable as the fur trade became, however, trappers did not provide America with a stable presence in the Far West; only settlements could secure that. Families needed to be persuaded to cross the Mississippi River in search of homes. Towns needed to be built. So ultimately, Americans needed to discover what every square mile of their country had to offer and promote the best places for settlement. First, explorers blazed trails across the continent, and then the U.S. Army sent engineers to explore the boundaries of the country. After the Civil War (1861–65), the "Great Surveys" detailed the mysteries of the interior. These excursions provided maps of the continent and prompted many to flock westward and settle all worthy territory. Pulled by stories and guided by maps, America fulfilled what many called its manifest destiny: to settle the continent from coast to coast.
What did Lewis and Clark do to entertain the Indians?
At these meetings, the Corps would put on a show to entertain the tribes: the soldiers would march in full uniform, and Lewis would fire a gun . As entertaining as the Corps' show was, Seaman the dog and the black slave, York, proved tremendously interesting to the Indians as well. Indians were fascinated with the "unpainted man-with-the-black-skin," calling him "Big Medicine."
Why did the Appalachian Mountains become the western boundary of the colonies?
And all these settlers ignored the Proclamation of 1763, which had declared the Appalachian Mountains the western boundary of the colonies due to ongoing conflicts with the Native American population in the region beyond the Appalachians.
What did Lewis and Clark do in the discovery?
Lewis and Clark assembled a group of explorers called the "Corps of Discovery," which included fourteen soldiers, nine Kentuckians, two French river men, a slave named York, and Lewis's pet Newfoundland dog, Seaman. On May 14, 1804, twenty-two oarsmen rowed a square-sailed keelboat (a shallow riverboat used for hauling freight) up the Missouri River near St. Louis, along with two groups of six and seven men in two pirogues, or canoes. Two hunters with horses patrolled the banks of the river for game. Along the way the Corps also added a number of interpreters who spoke various Indian languages.
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.
When did the Wild West begin?
While the settling of the American West began in earnest in the 1840s, the most famous period in the region's history, the Wild West, began in 1865 after the American Civil War, which was the war fought between the Northern and Southern United States between 1861 and 1865, and ended in the late 1890s and early 1900s, depending on the location.
What was the West in 1840?
As late as 1840, when Americans talked about the West, they referred to the area between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River, and perhaps a slight bit beyond. The areas of Texas, New Mexico, California, and Oregon were regarded as a vast, unknown, and shadowy region, even by the nations with claims there. Spain, and after 1821, Mexico, claimed Texas, New Mexico, and California, and Oregon was jointly occupied by the United States and Great Britain. These areas had, for the most part, remained devoid of settlers throughout the expansion boom of the 1820s and 1830s.
What were the early settlements of the Far West?
The Spanish mission was a tool for advancing political , economic, and religious goals . The missions were staffed by Franciscan priests who were paid by the government to convert Native Americans and settle them on mission lands. The mission at once became a center for trade from the East, oversaw the development of local government, and encouraged settlement of the Indians on mission lands in order to create a thriving class of workers able to aid in the development of the untamed West. Even as their direct impact waned due to "secularization" and the enmity of the Indians, their influence over the permanent settlement of the West remains clear even today in the names of towns and cities such as San Francisco and San Diego, scattered throughout the American West.
Why did the Spanish decline the Mexican mission system?
Due to Mexico's expenditure of time, energy, and funding on its successful fight for Independence in 18 21, the mission system installed by the Spanish declined during the late 1820s and 1830s. The Mexican government "secularized" the missions during the late 1820s and 1830s by giving their lands to government officials and ranchers.
What Indians attacked New Mexico and Texas?
Apache and Comanche Indians attacked New Mexico and Texas, sweeping southward into Mexico. They advanced within 150 miles of Mexico City before being turned back. This turmoil in the Southwest made the settlers and Mexican government helpless to stop the advances of American settlers.
What was the impact of the Southwest in the 1820s?
During the 1820s and beyond, glowing reports of the Southwest led to a large influx of American settlers , especially into Eastern Texas. Meanwhile, the Spanish, and later Mexican, government attempted to promote the settlement of California and New Mexico by Hispanic people, largely through the use of the mission.
Which states were occupied by the United States in the 1820s?
Spain, and after 1821, Mexico, claimed Texas, New Mexico, and California, and Oregon was jointly occupied by the United States and Great Britain. These areas had, for the most part, remained devoid of settlers throughout the expansion boom of the 1820s and 1830s. Trappers and traders made the first forays into the Far West during the 1820s.
Where did fur trappers trade?
Fur trappers in California and Oregon traded cattle hides with eastern merchants for manufactured goods. The Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Utah saw the rise of the beaver trapping industry. The British Hudson's Bay Company established a similar pattern of trade.
Why did the American colonies move west?
The rapid population growth in the American colonies during the 1700s motivated colonists to move west. American farmers felt that they needed at least one hundred acres to support a family. As lands were divided and dispersed among growing families, and as the fertility of the soil declined after more than a century of use, it became increasingly difficult to support a family on an eastern farm. It only made sense to the colonists that they take possession of the fertile land in the Ohio Valley (an expansive area west of the Appalachians that includes part or all of the present-day states of West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, as well as the far western parts of Pennsylvania and New York ).
Where did the Trans-Appalachian people settle?
Limited numbers of settlers moved into the areas around Fort Duquesne (pronounced doo-KAYNE; now named Fort Pitt) after 1760 and Scotch-Irish farmers from North Carolina moved into eastern Tennessee around 1771. The settlers of the trans-Appalachian area were hardy backwoodsmen who braved the wilderness to carve out settlements and claim new land for the young country. Without maps or support from their government, these men cleared the land for their family farms and stood alone against Indians defending their claims to the land. The American settlers had only their own strength and skill with a flintlock rifle or an ax for protection.
Why did fur trappers work in the Far West?
Fur trappers of the Far West accommodated the cultural differences between whites and Indians for the benefit of trade. Many allied themselves with Native Americans to learn more about the wilderness they roamed. Combing thousands of miles to collect animal pelts for trade, these independent trappers also gathered stories of the marvelous frontier. Their pelts and stories poured into the trading center of St. Louis and into the eastern states; the pelts became fashionable hats, and the traders' stories thrilled the easterners, helping to create a national desire to see the West.
How did the fur trade help America?
As profitable as the fur trade became, however, trappers did not provide America with a stable presence in the Far West; only settlements could secure that. Families needed to be persuaded to cross the Mississippi River in search of homes. Towns needed to be built. So ultimately, Americans needed to discover what every square mile of their country had to offer and promote the best places for settlement. First, explorers blazed trails across the continent, and then the U.S. Army sent engineers to explore the boundaries of the country. After the Civil War (1861–65), the "Great Surveys" detailed the mysteries of the interior. These excursions provided maps of the continent and prompted many to flock westward and settle all worthy territory. Pulled by stories and guided by maps, America fulfilled what many called its manifest destiny: to settle the continent from coast to coast.
What did Lewis and Clark do to entertain the Indians?
At these meetings, the Corps would put on a show to entertain the tribes: the soldiers would march in full uniform, and Lewis would fire a gun . As entertaining as the Corps' show was, Seaman the dog and the black slave, York, proved tremendously interesting to the Indians as well. Indians were fascinated with the "unpainted man-with-the-black-skin," calling him "Big Medicine."
Why did the Appalachian Mountains become the western boundary of the colonies?
And all these settlers ignored the Proclamation of 1763, which had declared the Appalachian Mountains the western boundary of the colonies due to ongoing conflicts with the Native American population in the region beyond the Appalachians.
What did Lewis and Clark do in the discovery?
Lewis and Clark assembled a group of explorers called the "Corps of Discovery," which included fourteen soldiers, nine Kentuckians, two French river men, a slave named York, and Lewis's pet Newfoundland dog, Seaman. On May 14, 1804, twenty-two oarsmen rowed a square-sailed keelboat (a shallow riverboat used for hauling freight) up the Missouri River near St. Louis, along with two groups of six and seven men in two pirogues, or canoes. Two hunters with horses patrolled the banks of the river for game. Along the way the Corps also added a number of interpreters who spoke various Indian languages.
The Fur Trade
Claiming The Land
Discovering The Land's Riches: Lewis and Clark
Sacajawea
The Inhabited West
Founding Astoria
- After 1807, the promise of abundant furs in the West was the main reason Euro-Americans ventured across the Mississippi. Merchants were also lured west in search of a convenient trade route to China and India. Four years after Lewis and Clark returned and detailed their trip to the Pacific, John Jacob Astor (1763–1848), one of the wealthiest Americ...
Trappers Map The West
Topographical Engineers
The Mountain Man Rendezvous
John Frémont, Promoter of The West
The Settlement of The West: Background
Why Did Settlers Move West?
The Settlement of The West During The Late 19th Century