American Exploration and Settlement of the West, 1810-

1850

Questions for Today…

• How do we define “the West?”

• Why did American settlers push westward?

• How did this settlement process affect native peoples?

What is “The West?”

Main Reasons for Emigrating West

• Manifest Destiny

Definition of Manifest Destiny

It is “the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions…[and] for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federative self-government entrusted to us.”

John O’Sullivan, 1845

Main Reasons for Emigrating West

• Manifest Destiny

• Hunger for Land

Oregon Territory

James K. Polk

11th President of the United

States

Oregon Territory

The Oregon Trail

Independence, Missouri

The Oregon Trail

Main Reasons for Emigrating West

• Manifest Destiny

• Hunger for Land

• Gold!

California and Oregon Trails

Gold Rush Miners

Gold Madness

“The whole country from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and from the seashore to the base of the Sierra Nevada, resounds to the sordid cry gold! Gold! GOLD! While the field is left half planted, the house half built, and everything neglected but the manufacture of shovels and pickaxes.”

San Francisco Californian

Main Reasons for Emigrating West

• Manifest Destiny

• Hunger for Land

• Gold!

• The Expansion of Slavery

Status of Slaveryin 1800

Cotton Plantation

Ft. Laramie in the 1840s

Summary

1. There were different motivations for westward migration, and to some extent these varied depending on the region

2. Turner’s thesis can partially explain American expansion, but from the white American perspective only

3. This expansion would led to direct conflict between native peoples and white Americans