In eighteen sixty-two, Congress had passed the Homestead Act. Why did many people move to California after 1848? ... covered wagons, stage coaches and even boats were used to move people from east to west during the 19th century. From 1867 to 1914, the Canadian West opened for mass settlement, and became home to millions of immigrant settlers seeking a new life. Not only did this provide more room for the growing population to settle, but also it encouraged the idea of acquiring Spanish Florida and later Texas. Expansion also gave them new economic possibilities, such as farming and gold mining. Westward expansion was the greatest method to achieve the grouping of the natural resources found and use them as needed. You may need to download version 2.0 now from the Chrome Web Store. Exodusters moved West to escape sharecropping and own land for themselves. Although the term didn't appear in print until 1845, the concept of Manifest Destiny had been alive and well in the United States since Jefferson's presidency. If you are on a personal connection, like at home, you can run an anti-virus scan on your device to make sure it is not infected with malware. Why did Mormons move to the West? Cloudflare Ray ID: 6169c96899fa0d3e Westward expansion in the United States dates back to the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, which doubled the size of the country. Early in the century, as the states of Ohio, Louisiana, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi and Alabama opened up, they too became magnets for those hoping to find their fortunes and better lands to cultivate. When you picture the "westward expansion" of settlers in the United States, a covered wagon may be the first thing to come to mind. In 1800, significant numbers of settlers were moving to Kentucky and Tennessee ? Cumberland Road. Others came to California during the gold rush to strike it rich. People moved west for a number of reasons in the nineteenth century, but by far the most prevalent motive was the availability of land. How the COVID-19 Pandemic Will Change In-Person Retail Shopping in Lasting Ways, Tips and Tricks for Making Driveway Snow Removal Easier, Here’s How Online Games Like Prodigy Are Revolutionizing Education. This law gave every citizen, … White settlers from the East poured across the Mississippi to mine, farm, and ranch. Mennonites were some of the first to move West and to begin farming on the Great Plains. For example, the American government began investing in infrastructure out west including government-funded national roads and waterways, such as the Cumberland Pike (1818) and the Erie Canal (1825). The Homestead Act was passed by Congress in 1862 to encourage settlement in the West by giving government-owned land to … Manifest Destiny One principle that guided the country's westward expansion was Manifest Destiny, or the belief that the United States had a divinely given responsibility to settle and spread democracy across North America. Travelers passing through this country in 1815 encountered people who still had not heard of the War of 1812. Michigan settlers came primarily from New York and New England, concentrating in the southern third of the state. This was the era of the famous Oregon Trail. The Question of Slavery The issue of slavery also played a role in the United States' expansion. Wild West Others preferred the vast expanses of open space to the tight quarters of urban tenements. During the war, gold and silver discoveries drew prospectors—and later settlers—into Oregon, Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, and Montana. The most common boats used during this time were flatboats. In the late 1830s and early 1840s, many more Americans started to move to Oregon. There was much land for sale from the federal government, but at $1.25 an acre, no one could afford it. and also, because of free land open. Why did more settlers move west after the War of 1812? The years following the War of 1812 saw a massive migration of white settlers into the Old Northwest, the Old Southwest and the Far West. Products and crops were sent by flatboat to be sold at market. These pioneers were generally from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and other northern states and not from Virginia or other areas … Describe people’s experience in their often-fruitless efforts to find gold. Each time the country acquired new territory, the debate centered on whether or not it would lead to the addition of a new free or slave state. This Gold Rush of 1849 spiked California's population and encouraged the development of infrastructure in the gold mining towns. Summarize the role of gold in luring people to the American West. Young led the Mormons on their great trek westward through the wilderness some 1,300 miles to the Rocky Mountains—a rite of passage they saw as necessary in order to find their promised land. Expanded Opportunities People agreed to move west for many different and highly personal reasons. The discovery of gold in California attracted speculators who sometimes sold their property to pay for the journey to San Francisco. For as long as possible, the federal government worked to maintain a balance between the representation of pro-slavery and anti-slavery states in the union. Why did so many Americans move west during the 19th century? In the early 1800's, however, many Americans began to move west. While settlers traveled west along the Oregon Trail for a variety of reasons, most were motivated either by land or gold. Native American Lifestyle. If you are at an office or shared network, you can ask the network administrator to run a scan across the network looking for misconfigured or infected devices. The settlement of present-day West Virginia began in the mid-1700s when Scotch-Irish and German settlers from Pennsylvania came to the area that is now Berkeley and Greenbriar counties. 1650-1800: 1800-1820: 1820-1830: 1830-1840: ... to an exodus of 30,000 settlers from Kansas. Americans moved to the West in the 1800s because people wanted to own their own land and get a fresh start. These people realized that the advancement of their civilization was dependent upon a continuous supply of mobile humans who were willing to pack their belongings and their families, to relocate to another part of the continent, to transplant their culture, and to resume life in a new environment. What was John C. Calhoun's plan for a long-range program of internal improvements at public expenses? haha i did this unit a little while ago (: settlers moved west because they wanted to see if they could find any gold with the yukon gold rush. To gain access to the western part of the country the white settlers had to pass through the Native Americans. Western Settlement. Expansion also gave them new economic possibilities, such as farming and gold mining. Performance & security by Cloudflare, Please complete the security check to access. The completion of the railroads to the West following the Civil War opened up vast areas of the region to settlement and economic development. Even others, such as the Mormons, moved west to avoid persecution. This led to an influx of people in the Kansas and Nebraska territories, as people moved there just so they could vote on the slavery issue. 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