Westward Expansion
The West

“The West” was
anywhere between the
Mississippi River and the
Pacific Ocean-That was
the Western Frontier
 Because it was hard to
farm in the Great
Plains, the land was
used for Transportation
 The Northwest had
fertile lands
The West

The Southwest was owned by
Mexico, and was part of the Spanish
Borderlands.


People in these areas were only
allowed to trade with Spain
This area has a distinct culture
The West
 Spanish missionaries like
Junipero Serro tried to turn
Native Americans into
Catholics
 Natives were forced to live and
work at missions, may died
from overwork or disease
 Buildings were and are still
made with a similar look
The West
In 1821, Mexico won
their independence
from Spain
Mexico made land
grants to rancheros and
removed missionaries



Because the land given
often belonged to the
Natives, the Indians
raided ranches
The West
America had been interested in Westward Expansion


They began to believe in Manifest Destiny, which was the idea that
the country should go from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Manifest Destiny cont…..
 Definition:
the belief that the United States was destined to stretch
across the continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the
Pacific Ocean.
Why move????
 Push Factors:
A force which acts to drive (push) people away from a place.
*Pull Factors:
Draws (pulls) a person to a new location.
Push/Pull Factors
 With someone sitting close to you, make a
T-Chart and categorize the events into push
factors and pull factors.



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

Shortage of Jobs
Better Living
Shortage of farm land
Over Crowding
Opportunity to buy cheap land
Gold Rush
Push
Factors
Pull
Factors
1.Shortage of
jobs
1. Better
Living
2. Shortage of
farmland
2. Cheap
Land
3.Overcrowding
3. Gold
Rush
Trails to the West

There were many trails to the west.

Santa Fe Trail: From St. Louis to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Oregon Trail: From St. Louis to Portland, Oregon
Trails to the West
John Jacob Astor
established the
American Fur Company
in 1808 in Oregon after
he traveled there


He used information the
Lewis and Clark created
Trails to the West
The first people to build
permanent homes in
Oregon were
missionaries




Marcus and Narcissa
Whitman tried to help
the natives, but in reality
land was simply stolen
from the natives.
When people heard
there was good land,
more settlers came
This started “Oregon
Fever”
Trails to the West
Mountain men became
famous.



They led isolated lives in the
bitter cold, intense heat animal
attacks
Trappers would bring their furs
to a rendezvous where the
mountain men would come
together and bargain for the
prices of furs
Trails to the West
Working with only hand
tools, people had to
clear land, plant crops
and build shelters



Diseases, accidents and
natural disasters were
common.
Some settlers even gave
up and returned east
Trails to the West
Women worked with
men to make their
family farms
successful



Women also fought
for the right to vote
In 1869, the
Wyoming territory
was the first that let
women vote
Trails to the West
Natives had an uneasy
peace with the whites



After gold was
discovered in Oregon in
1850, white and Chinese
miners came into the
area
War broke out with the
Natives
A Rush to the West

In 1848, James Marshall found a gold nugget in a ditch in
California (Sutter’s Mill)


80,000 “forty-niners’ ran to California to search for gold
There was both gold above ground and below ground and
it the water
A Rush to the West
People were fighting over water rights because the gold would
move with the water
Because of the people moving west, towns sprang up



The women who went to California mined, ran and worked in
boarding houses, hotels, restaurants, laundries and stores



There were vigilantes in these towns
There was gold found in Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Arizona and
Nevada
All different types of people went to California

People from Europe, Asia, Australia and South America
A Rush to the West
 Men from China came to America in hopes that they could send
home money
 They faced prejudice
 They could not get jobs in mines, they had to cook or do laundry, work
on railroads or farms

Thousands of free African Americans moved to California




They had their own churches, and news papers
They ran their own businesses
But they did not have equal rights
Natives had their lands stolen

Nearly 2/3 of the Natives that lived in California died during the
Gold rush