Positive And Negative Effects Of Westward Expansion

Grade 5, Unit 2: Cornerstone 2 Westward Expansion Database Articles Database Articles • Pioneer Women - http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/pioneer-womanx2019s-life-200-years-ago Note: you will have to log into the databases below using a DC Public Library Card or DC One Card. After logging in, click on the link again to get to the appropriate article. • Black Cowboys - http://www.worldbookonline.com.dclibrary.idm.oclc.org/student/article?id=ar753924&st=exodusters#tab=homepage • Manifest Destiny - http://school.eb.com.dclibrary.idm.oclc.org/levels/elementary/article/353420 • Oregon Trail - http://school.eb.com.dclibrary.idm.oclc.org/levels/elementary/article/353574 • Oregon Trail - http://www.worldbookonline.com.dclibrary.idm.oclc.org/kids/home#article/ar831676

Throughout their entire life, they had only been exposed to Native American traditions and that were unlike those of the white man’s. As a result, the Dawes Act produced negative ramifications. According to Brian Duigan,“many nomadic Indians were unable to adjust to an agricultural existence; others were swindled out of their property; and life on the reservation came to be characterized by disease, filth, poverty, and despondency” (304). The Dawes Act was not only successful in destroying much of the Native American property, it could not properly account for the Native Americans. Similarly to the Indian Appropriations ACt of 1857, the whites were not able to empathize with the Natives.

Buffaloes and trees were killed and nature in the West Coast was not at all preserved. Frank H. Mayer, a buffalo hunter in the late 1800s, proclaimed, "A couple years before, it was nothing to see 5,000, 10,000 [buffaloes] in a day's ride. Now, if I saw 50, I was lucky. Presently all I saw was rotting red carcasses or bleaching white bones, we had killed the golden goose,"(Source 2, Document F) Mayer clearly expresses that every day, less buffalo were alive. They were being killed with every passing day and as a result, conflicts with Native Americas arose.

Many Americans were influenced by the Homestead Act which gave them 160 Acres of land as long as they maintained the land for 5 years. Eventually, the Native Americans no longer had somewhere to go. They decided to sign a treaty with the Americans which granted them a small reservation in which no American would cross and a promise that supplies would be sent. However, the supplies never came and Americans continued to cross into the reservation. The Native Americans wanted to fight back but they were powerless against the American’s

The great herds were not decimated overnight. The slaughter was a gradual process, reaching its full momentum in the 1870s. The Native Americans of the Great Plains had relied upon and hunted buffalo for thousands of years. Without the arrival of the Caucasians—and with them the gun, the horse, and the market for bison products—it seems likely the Indians could have lived sustainably with the bison far into the future.

One example of this is when many Americans went to settle in Pikes Peak Colorado due to the gold found there. This resulted in the Americans taking over Indian settlements which lead to the Indians retaliating and raiding their settlements from 1861 to 1864. Due to this on November 29, 1864 the Americans massacred approximately 400 Cheyenne Indians even after the Indians offered peace. (George

From sea to shining sea. That line from “America the Beautiful” defines the goal of the United States in the 1840’s. But why was this the goal? What caused this drive for expansion? During the mid-19th century, Americans set their sights of land west of the Louisiana Purchase.

Throughout history there have been many wars, most of which, in some way or another, have had to do with expansion and the gain of land or territory. During the era of Manifest Destiny there were many reasons for expansion such as; better agricultural resources and other events that erupted exploitation and manipulation of the Indians and indigenous people. These show how the Manifest Destiny era expansions were similar to many other expansions before and after this era, however, the biggest difference is how, before, they would purchase land or legally obtain it, when after, the United States would go to war over land rather than legally buy it. Before Manifest Destiny, during colonial days, Britain established the Proclamation of 1763,

America has come a long way and one thing we will never forget is the history. Two major events in developing America and the British North American colonies between 1607 and 1877 is westward expansion and he North-South division. The North-South division was the split between the Union States and the Confederate states because of their very opposite beliefs. The most well-known event of this division was the American Civil War between these two sides of early America. Westward expansion was the period when millions of people continued to migrate into the western parts of America.

Now that the transcontinental railroad had been built, transportation time was minimized drastically and it was now year round. This allowed people to travel at a very fast rate, an extremely safe travel, and at any time of the year. The speed and minimized price allowed for more people to come to the West. Not only did people come but also supply’s and food so there were no worries involving famine or despair. Transportation innovations reduced cost and increased the speed of moving goods, helping to create a national market.

During Western Expansion in the United States, it affected many different groups of people. Motivated by the idea of Manifest Destiny, the belief that the expansion of the US through the American continents was justified and bound to happen, they all moved west in the hope of riches and other opportunities. However, these groups, especially the Native Americans, American workers, and immigrants, instead faced many challenges that contradicted the founding ideals of the US: liberty, equality, rights, democracy, and opportunity. To begin with, the Native Americans had their liberty, equality, rights, and opportunities taken away. As the Americans moved westward, they overtook the Native Americans’ land and forced them out “to confine most western tribes to reservations” (Indian Wars Shatter Tribal Cultures).

History has been distorted and shifted through limited point of views. History is made up of more than just the famous. Common people make up the biggest part of history, rarely is their side of the story heard. According to the central ideas of the texts, Thomas Jefferson’s America 1801 by Stephen Ambrose, American Progress by John Gast, and Chief Joseph Speaks by Chief Joseph, the claim that there is no true history of westward expansion is supported. Thomas Jefferson’s America, 1801 by Stephen Ambrose supports the claim that there is no true history of westward expansion.

The Westward Expansion all started when America made the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. There were many benefits from the purchase for the US that the French didn’t realize before they sold it. The purchase gave the US access to the Mississippi river which allowed for expansion of river trade to the North and South from the center of the US. The port city of New Orleans was bought by the US and its prosperity benefited the US greatly. The US sent Lewis and Clark west to investigate the land they purchased.

Westward expansion was in many ways by the federal government in the 1800s. This extension of the United States had a big influence on the country. Westward expansion brought railroads, new cities, gold mines, new farmland, more resources, and much more. Expansion of the country came with a lot of positives and also some negatives. From 1805 to 1900 the population of the natives went from 15,000 according to document 1 the non- Native Americans went from zero to 95,000.

Characteristically, the settlement of American land was established almost exclusively by men, especially those of European decent. Therefore, after the Louisiana purchase -- and the consequential doubling in size of the continental United States -- the western half of the country begged to be explored and settled, a job that many believed lay in the hands of the white man. Despite the “White Man’s West” that lay readily ahead of them, many potential settlers were hesitant to travel to the newly claimed land. It wasn’t until the combination of both the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the Homestead Act of 1862, alongside the construction of complex railway systems, that a mass migration from the east coast began to occur; unsurprisingly, the majority of the demographic were indeed male. Throughout several years of work in rudimentary frontier towns and countless attempts to modernize the vast expanse of land the settlers had received, the living conditions of the Wild West remained harsh, any endeavor to provide comfort collapsed, and frankly the men west of the Mississippi River became desperate for the presence and attention of their female