The Trans-Mississippi West

In 1893 Frederic Jackson Turner a historian, introduces the “Frontier Thesis” in Columbian Exposition, he explains from this thesis about the importance of American history. Frontier thesis remarks the end of a great historic society. Because Frederic Jackson argues that continuous western settlement had an extraordinary impact on American social, political and economic development throughout 20th

This story of the Seminoles’ struggles for identity and sovereignty is a microcosm of the true horrors inflicted on Indian nations by the federal government. The Seminoles remarkably defied federal, state, and local government pressures of removal in the early nineteenth century. They also disputed Creek insistence on tribal consolidation, and other Indian nation claims to their property. Among the federal tactics were the illegal removals, and treaties that meant little to the federal government when land, as part of Manifest Destiny, and wealth the federal government sought entered the equation. The Seminoles also endured the paternalism, coercion tactics, and pressures from Bureau of Indian Affairs agents who made promises to them that were frequently broken.

During the course of the early and mid-1800s, the United States of America went through a rapid transition of economic, social, and territorial changes. Immediate alterations to its political system continued to be a constant focus in development as well. Likewise, the early and mid-1800s was the same time period when the Market Revolution and the idea of westward expansion –also known as the Manifest Destiny– sparked an interest towards many working Americans. After a few decades of winning independence from British sovereignty, America already had its fair share of progress and of great leaders. But to be a leader who ideally understood the voices and needs of the so-called “common man” (The American Promise, 284) , a term that was coined

President Jackson mentioned in Transcript of President Andrew Jackson's Message to Congress 'On Indian Removal' that “moving the Indians would separate them from immediate contact with settlements of whites, free them from the power of the States, enable them to pursue happiness in their own way, and would stop their slow extinction.” At that time, Americans tried to convert Indians’ life to American, such as different language, religion, culture and more. However, this attempt by Americans did not work out as they expected, and American did not satisfied with the results. Therefore, they changed the solution between the state and Indian tribes from assimilation to

Overall, the closing of the frontier was a turning point in American history, marking the end of one era and the beginning of another. By transforming the economy and society, it laid the groundwork for the United States to become the global superpower it is today. During the period between 1865 and 1898, one additional factor that shaped American culture and character was the westward expansion and settlement of the frontier. The promise of land, opportunities for economic growth, and the idea of Manifest Destiny drove Americans to venture beyond the Mississippi River and into the

The Act allowed the government to take land from the Natives and give it to white families. The textbook describes the magnitude of this theft, “In the half century after the passage of the Dawes Acts, Indians lost 86 million of the 138 million acres of land in their possession in 1887.” (Foner, 625). The Native Americans wouldn’t agree to become “civilized”, which meant losing their cultural identity, and so they were forced to lose their land. The Dawes Act was just one of the many laws, treaties, and court decisions that stole land from the Native Americans.

In the United States of America, the late 19th century proved to be a time of much change. With change, there was no shortage of challenges being presented to the country and its leaders. One of those leaders during that time was President Ulysses S. Grant, who came to recognize some of the biggest challenges would be the country’s negative economy and fair equal treatment to all citizens of the U.S. Another man that recognized some major challenges facing the U.S. at that time was Frederick Jackson Turner. He would go on to study Americanization for most of his life, and creating an ideology of what made America the way it is.

As for the western land, struggles over the state and national authority over the Native Americans affairs which were critical to sustain. Yet, the creation of two imperial superintendents was to manage relations with the tribes, the assertions of British’s rights to Native lands and a settlement boundary from the Proclamation of 1763 reserving territory west of the Appalachian crest for Native nations (Ablavsky, 2014). Therefore, it took eighteen years for the federal government to cede all states’ western land, as a result of the Continental Congress granting Virginia and large landowner’s “reserves of small land in the west (Schultz, 2010). With the government lacking the authoritative control, it could not regulate foreign trade or interstate commerce leaving states control over their own trade policies and unable to protect the manufacturing and shipping from the inability to establish commerce and economic

When the Europeans began colonizing the New World, they had a problematic relationship with the Native Americans. The Europeans sought to control a land that the Natives inhabited all their lives. They came and decided to take whatever they wanted regardless of how it affected the Native Americans. They legislated several laws, such as the Indian Removal Act, to establish their authority. The Indian Removal Act had a negative impact on the Native Americans because they were driven away from their ancestral homes, forced to adopt a different lifestyle, and their journey westwards caused the deaths of many Native Americans.

A pivotal key in the development of United States is defining what and where the West is located. There are many “wests” depending on how the west is defined, either by environmental, economic, cultural, or political factors (Steiner & Wrobel, 20). The West is unique in the sense that the story of the West has many beginnings. The first notable location of the West was first defined as anything west of the Mississippi River. As the nation expanded during the 19th century, the western territories were

Jackson was wanting to change Washington and America. He done that very fast. The very first major piece of legislation, Jackson had recommended and got passed, was the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This act forced Jackson to prevent all the Indian tribes to live East of the Mississippi River. There were five Indian nations that were highly effected.

There were many groups living in the United States between 1860 and 1900 and most of the groups we can categorize people into had very different viewpoints. The main groups that most can be categorized into are the wealthy, the common people, the Indians and the Chinese. Starting with the wealthy they looked at the west as a big fat paycheck, the wealth folks went out west and bought up lots of land and production and monopolized, while the common people competed with these big companies for free and cheap land because they were the poor back east and came out west with hopes of finding gold while mining or getting rich off abundant crop land or maybe it was some common women who came out west because they were allowed to purchase land out west. The Indians were native to the west and after immigration started some of the bigger tribes fought back but most tribes were too small and were forced by the American

Influential figures such as Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson had “made their mark in politics after moving West”, and westward expansion engendered the establishment of technology such as canals and railroads (326). As America grew, however, so did the questions and issues surrounding the issue of slavery. Manifest Destiny was not just a catalyst for the expanse of slavery, but a hindrance as well, as the United States began to divide over this key issue in regard to whether a newly-acquired territory should be designated as free or slave. Though attempts were made at compromise, the spread of slavery through Manifest Destiny proved to be both the driving force for territorial expansion, as land was acquired in order to grow more, but also the challenge for it, as the continued growth of slavery and territory forced the United States to finally approach the issue and decide whether it would remain a divided country, or finally become united in its social, economic, and political

There were both positive and negative components of westward expansion from 1800 to 1875. By the late of 1800s, the land of the United States was mostly purchased. In seventy five years, the United States continuously expanded westward, which was encouraged by the idea of Manifest Destiny. New land in the United States led to more economic, social, and political opportunities. Gaining more land also led to disputes between the states and wars with other countries.

The lives of the Plains Indians were heavily influenced by governmental action and technological innovations in the second half of the 19th century. As settlers moved to the Plains, conflict between the settlers and the Plains Indians arose. This, in turn, led to a lost of culture of the Plains Indians. Although new technology came to the West and the government enforced treaties, in the Plains Indians best interest, however, it actually was the very force that caused dissimulation within the Plains Indians’ community. Governmental actions such as setting up reservations and the Dawes Act worked in the new settlers best interest.