THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT

 

 

 

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The westward movement is considered as one of the most exciting but also most distressing parts of American history when the early settlers went westward to explore virgin lands and acquire new territories. The Westward movement continued until the mid-19th century. By that time, the western frontiers of the United States had been conquered.

 

 

I. Louisiana purchase

 

In 1800 the western frontier of the United States was the Mississippi River. The western lands up to the Rocky Mountains were known as Louisiana. At that time Louisiana belonged to France. In 1803 Napoleon needed money for the war against England: he sold Louisiana to the United States for fifteen million dollars.

 

 

II. The Santa Fe Trail (1821)

 

The Trail ran from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe, in what is now New Mexico. This Trail opened in 1821, the year Mexico gained its independence from Spain. Caravans of covered wagons journeyed to Santa Fe loaded with manufactured goods to exchange for Mexican silver, furs, and mules. It had two main routes: the Mountain Fork, which went through Colorado, and the Cimarron Fork, which went through Kansas. Travel along the Trail reached its height after the Mexican Cession, in 1848. The Civil War stopped the travel along the trail, but people began traveling again after the war ended, in 1865.

 

 

III. The Trail of Tears (1838-39)

 

Between 1816 and 1840, tribes located between the original states and the Mississippi River signed more than 40 treaties ceding their lands to the U.S. In 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act to force those remaining to move west of the Mississippi. Most Cherokees refused to move.

In December 1835, the U.S. tried to make the Cherokees sign a treaty at New Echota, Georgia. Only a few hundred Cherokees were there. Twenty signed the treaty, ceding all Cherokee territory east of the Mississippi to the U.S., in exchange for $5 million and new homelands in Indian Territory. The Cherokees soon protested the illegal treaty. Yet, on May 23, 1836, the Treaty of New Echota was ratified by the U.S.

In May 1838, Federal troops forced Cherokees to move. Families were separated.  By March 1839, all survivors had arrived in the west. No one knows how many died throughout the ordeal, but the trip was especially hard on infants, children, and the elderly. It was estimated that over 4,000 died (nearly a fifth of the Cherokee population).

 

 

IV. The Oregon Trail (1840s-50s)

 

   By the 1830s the British had more settlements in Oregon than the Americans. American political leaders started to fear that Great Britain would take control of the area. Thus they tried to persuade more Americans to settle in Oregon. The fertile valleys attracted thousands of people to the region after 1835. Settlers followed the Oregon Trail.

   It began at Independence, Missouri., and wound westward for about 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) across the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains to the rich valleys of the Oregon region. It ended at Fort Vancouver, in what is now Washington. The first large group of settlers made the trip in 1843 and it went on until the 1850s. The Trail was mapped out by the explorer John C Fremont. About 10,000 people died on the trail from 1835 to 1855, chiefly because of diseases such as cholera and smallpox.
   Since the end of the 18th century, the United Kingdom and the United States had claimed the Oregon region. The two countries signed a treaty in 1818, agreeing that citizens of both nations could occupy the disputed area. By 1846, however, the British had to abandon their hopes of keeping the area because of the number of American settlers in the region: in the Oregon Treaty of 1846, the United Kingdom gave up its claim to all of the Oregon territory south of the 49th parallel, except for Vancouver Island. That line later became the boundary between the United States and Canada. When gold was discovered in California in 1848 the use of the Oregon Trail fell off.

 

 

V. The Mexican-American War (1846-48)

 

The Mexican American War was basically a struggle for land. The U.S. felt that it was its right to become a transcontinental country and expand to the west coast. More land was wanted to accommodate a growing population and also to get rich natural resources. Mexico's government claimed that the area that is now California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Utah had long belonged to Mexico and that American settlers had no right to settle there. With the annexation of Texas in 1845, war with Mexico became all but inevitable.

In 1844 James Polk was elected President of the United States. He believed strongly in manifest destiny. In November 1845 he sent John Slidell to Mexico with an offer of $5,000,000 for the purchase of New Mexico and $25,000,000 for California. The offer was refused. On May 9, 1846, it was reported that American troops had been attacked by Mexican forces on April 4. Polk asked Congress, and was granted, a declaration of war. President James K. Polk ordered U.S. troops into the region in southern Texas disputed with Mexico. By September 1847, they had occupied Mexico City.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed by the U.S. and Mexico on February 2, 1848, ended the war. Mexico recognized Texas as part of the U.S. and ceded them over 500,000 square miles of territory, including all of the future states of California, Nevada, and Utah, almost all of New Mexico and Arizona, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. The U.S. agreed to pay Mexico $15,000,000 in return. For the first time, the United States encompassed the entire continent from sea to sea. However the acquisition of the new territory revived the issue over slavery. 1700 people died and 4100 were wounded. Besides over 11,000 Americans died of disease as a result of the war. The total cost of the war was evaluated at $97,500,000.

 

VI. The Gold Rush (1848)

 

 

In January, 1848, a few small gold nuggets were found on the American River at Coloma near Sacramento. Thus began one of the largest human migrations in history as a half-million people from around the world went to California in search of instant wealth. Shortly after gold was found in the Feather River and in the Trinity River. The Gold Rush was soon in full sway. In 1850, California became a state. California's population grew from nearly 14,000 in 1848 to almost 100,000 in 1850. Ten years later, the population was 380,000. The exhaustion of the supply of gold dust forced gold-seekers to dig deep mines. Agriculture, commerce, transportation, and industry grew rapidly to meet the needs of the settlers.

 

 

VII. Manifest Destiny

 

 

The phrase "Manifest Destiny" was a religious interpretation of expansion, it was a philosophy shared by many people that the United States had a divine right to become a transcontinental nation. The Americans felt it was their mission to extend their boundaries to those who were incapable of self-government so as to convey their democratic values. The phrase was first used by the American journalist John Louis O'Sullivan, in an editorial supporting annexation of Texas, in the 1845 edition of the Democratic Review.

John O'Sullivan on Manifest Destiny, 1839

John O'Sullivan on Texas annexation, 1845