Westward Expansion Research Paper

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

Jedediah Smith One of the many important people alive during the Westward Expansion was a man named Jedediah Smith. He was from a large family, two parents and 12 siblings. As a child, he lived in New York, that is, until he turned 12, when he moved to Erie County. Eventually, his family decided to pack up, once again, and head to Ohio. Though his time spent there was never documented, it is believed that Smith got a fairly good education and got a job as a clerk.

“During three months in the summer of 1848, a partnership of five miners collected $75,000 in gold” (Gillon 64). During the mid 1800s, people in America moved west for a fresh start in life or for cheaper land, this was called manifest destiny. Manifest destiny was the belief that the United States should expand from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Therefore, the gold rush had more of a positive effect on America because it created a flouring economy and had more people travel west for a new life or jobs.

There is evidence that the Cherokee 's land was rich in gold. The land was very valuable so relocating the Native Americans would

and they had came from various places around the country. They wanted to move west because they had heard it was a good opportunity for a better life and a opportunity to buy land. To travel to the west, they had to use their own money and make enough money to provide for their family. The way they

In the years following the Revolutionary War the United States would begin to expand, although not popular among all citizens, it helped shape the country into what we know today. The first acquisition of territory would be as a result of the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain ending the Revolutionary War. This treaty marked the boundaries between the British colonies still located in North America and ceded the thirteen American colonies to a newly recognized country known as the United States of America. This would not be the only acquisition of territory that the United States would complete between the years of 1789 and 1815 but it would be the initial acquisition of territory that would develop this newly formed nation.

The information you showcase regarding the United States’ movement westward is very intuitive. Additionally, the information you showcase about the massacre of the Native American people during westward expansion is something that people often avoid discussing. Furthermore, the information regarding the governments’ incentive packages for moving west highlights how desperate the United States is to settle the new land. Now, consider that the military massacred hundreds of Native Americans, do you believe that those men should have stood trial for war crimes? Also, do you believe the government’s incentive packages are a contributing factor to settler’s clashes with Native Americans?

During the pre-civil war time period— also known as the antebellum years— America experienced a widespread transformation for the sake of its economy. With the booming belief of the Manifest Destiny, America’s constant desire for westward expansion caused disputes between the North and the South regarding the establishment of free states and slave states, which led to certain compromises such as the Missouri Compromise. After the Market Revolution, the North and South used its new gained land to create different means of economic gains; the North became industrialized through manufacturing, while the South became an agricultural industry dependent on cotton. However, as America’s boundaries expanded, tensions between the North and South grew, often leading to compromises in bloodshed. The drastic differences between the two groups eventually transformed America into a divided nation of sectionalism economically, politically, and socially.

The Oregon Trail: Some reasons why the Pioneers decided to go along the Oregon trail and head west were to find opportunity, have free land, good farmland, large forests, free of diseases, and to find jobs. What was the Oregon trail like? - Many diseases like typhoid fever, Cholera, dysentery, Diphtheria, and measles. - They traveled 15 miles on a average day and 18-20 on a good day.

It states in the first article “I was writing a book about the Klondike gold rush, and I wanted to follow the footsteps of the miners…” (Meissner,3)” The author wanted to know how the miners had to live while traveling to the gold rush; the people found tin cans and tea kettles when they were traveling in the gold rush and it was heavy for the miners to carry. To sum it up, traveling through the Klondike was worth it because people got a chance to experience the way the miners did when the gold rush happened. Moving foward , walking the Klondike during the gold rush gives people an idea of what the gold miners had to go through when they were trying to get to the spot of the gold rush.

Westward Expansion Flash Draft Have you ever wondered about what would 've happened if the westward expansion never occurred? We wouldn 't have many things you know today and America would be a lot smaller. The westward expansion happened during the 1800s and helped shape the modern America. The westward expansion started with the Louisiana Purchase and was made even stronger by the Gold Rush. Many people came to strike it rich or just to start a new life out west.

People were drawn to the West because it was scene as the last resort to make a living when all else failed in the East. Communication with friends and family who had moved west led these pioneers to believe the journey would be easy and the reward for getting west would be best. And the greatly available land was the strongest pulling factor to people interested in adventuring west. Migration was a personal choice that depended on several key factors, “Age of the head of household; economic status; personal attitudes; and projected costs and benefits of the resettlement.” Most historians agree that the majority of the people who migrated west were middle class and mostly immigrants to the US.

Traveling hundreds of thousands of miles through dangerous paths American pioneers took on hardships as they sought westward in hopes of a better life. The journey westward began in the early 1800s when the US exploded with new territory’s nearly tripling the US’s size. It all started in 1803 when the US bought the Louisiana Territory from France. Quickly, many farmers picked up their belongings and headed out west to the rich, fertile land for a fresh start. Next, Andrew Jackson invaded Florida claiming it for the US which was also another opportunity for settlers to begin a new life.

Native Americans flourished in North America, but over time white settlers came and started invading their territory. Native Americans were constantly being thrown and pushed off their land. Sorrowfully this continued as the Americans looked for new opportunities and land in the West. When the whites came to the west, it changed the Native American’s lives forever. The Native Americans had to adapt to the whites, which was difficult for them.

For some, it was destiny to move west. Although there were many conflicts and disagreements between ourselves and others, it was destiny to move west because of overpopulation, new inventions of transportation methods, and new opportunities. In the 19th Century, overpopulation was one of the major reasons for Westward Expansion. Immigrants were flooding into America for new opportunities and new ways of life and there was just not enough land to suffice the needs for all of the people. These immigrants were arriving in America in the port cities on the East Coast.