Westward Expansion
Lesson A: Reasons for Westward Expansion
Learning Intentions
Learning About
The reasons
for Westward
Expansion
(why
Americans
began to move
westward from
the eastern
cities)
Learning To
• Use ABCD to
write an
explain
response
• Write a To
What Extent
response
SHANARRI
• Achieving
• By covering content
and practising skills
• Nurtured
• By being given
scaffolds to help us
learn our exam
structures
• Responsible
• By completing
independent work
Success Criteria
N3
• I can explain one
reason why
Americans began to
move West
• I can list the
different reasons
for Westward
Expansion, and can
try and say which I
think was the most
important.
N4
• I can explain two
simple or one
developed reason
why Americans began
to move West
• I can describe the
different reasons for
Westward Expansion
and give a conclusion
about which reason
was the most
important.
N5
• I can explain six
simple or three
developed reasons
why Americans began
to move West
• I can analyse the
different reasons for
Westward Expansion
and come to a
supported conclusion
about which reason
was the most
important.
Yeah…but why?
• The move west is really important for our later topic on
relations with Native Americans.
• The move west cut across traditional lands and caused
conflicts and displacement.
• It will explain the rush to civil-war in 1860.
• It will help you understand modern American society better
and will help you better understand how America has
developed through history.
Starter
What do we know about the American West
already?
Mexican American War
Texas, California, Utah,
Arizona, Colorado, New
Mexico, Nevada and
Wyoming owned by
Mexico until 1848.
A war began over the
territory in 1846, and
ended in 1848 with Mexico
granting all territory north
of the Rio Grande to
America
This opens the
American West for
further settlement by
American citizens
Great
Plains
Hostile environment. Called
the “great American desert”
or the “grassland sea”
Settlers didn’t want to live
there – but DID want to cross
to get to California.
Rocky
Mountains
Characteristics of the Great Plains
Huge
Poor land
Animals
• Covered an enormous area
• But had a lack of trees – not sheltered
• Semi arid – little water available.
• Unpredictable weather.
• Cold, violent winters. Scorching hot summers.
• Locusts and grasshoppers
• Wolves
• Bears and Bison
People were reluctant to move before 1850.
However, after 1865, things picked up:
Freed slaves from the
‘South’ – to start a new
life or to escape social,
and economic problems
after the Civil War
European immigrants –
seeking political or
religious freedom, or to
escape poverty at
home
Younger sons from the
east – they couldn’t
inherit, and it was too
expensive to buy land
in the east
Topic Key Concepts
• The key concept to understand for this topic are the reasons
WHY people moved West.
• Here are some example questions on this topic:
• Explain the reasons why Americans began to move west after
1850.
• How fully does Source A explain/describe the reasons for westward
expansion?
• Evaluate the usefulness of Source A as evidence of why people
wanted to move west.
• To what extent was X the main reason for westward expansion?
Task
• We will look at SEVEN reasons for westward
expansion.
• For each one, get down two-three DETAILED facts
• Then, write an ABC(D) sentence for it in the space
provided.
ABCD – How to answer a question
A
One reason for
westward expansion
was
B
because
C
Americans believed it
was their Manifest
Destiny to take over
the Great Plains and
spread their way of
life.
LI: Use ABCD
to answer an
explain
question
D
The idea of Manifest
Destiny was further
encouraged by being
advertised in
newspapers and from
government funding.
Manifest Destiny
The term manifest destiny is
thought to have been
originally used by John L
O'Sullivan, the editor of both
the Democratic Review and
the Morning News at the
time.
“other nations have undertaken to
intrude themselves ... for the
avowed object of ... checking the
fulfilment of our manifest destiny
to overspread the continent
allotted by Providence for the free
development of our yearly
multiplying millions.”
This basically meant that Americans
and their way of life were morally
superior and therefore Americans
are morally obligated to spread this
way of life in order to free people
from their lesser cultures/systems
of government
O'Sullivan's phrase was taken by some to mean
that it was America's manifest destiny to
expand and encourage the American way of
life on the Great Plains.
Politicians felt that it was part of God’s plan
to take over the whole country. This belief
they felt gave them the right to take land
from the Native Americans. They even
encouraged this idea by offering grants to
people willing to fulfil their manifest destiny
and move west.
LI: Explain
the reasons
for Westward
Expansion
Manifest Destiny cont’d
O'Sullivan's phrase was taken by
some to mean that it was
America's manifest destiny to
expand and encourage the
American way of life on the
Great Plains.
Politicians felt that it was part of
God’s plan to take over the
whole country. This belief they
felt gave them the right to take
land from the Native Americans.
They even encouraged this idea
by offering grants to people
willing to fulfil their manifest
destiny and move west.
“It is our manifest destiny to
overspread and to possess the
whole of the continent which
Providence has given us for the
development of the great
experiment of Liberty”. Horace
Greeley, American writer
Soon newspapers all over the country
were taking up the cry and telling
people to fulfil their Manifest Destiny.
The people of the US saw their country
as a shining example to freedom loving
people everywhere. Their government
was the perfect form of government.
It must therefore be the ‘God Given’
duty of the United States to spread
these blessings across the whole of the
continent of America.
Gold Rush
In 1848 gold was discovered in
California, and soon thousands of
prospectors rushed there, hoping to
make their fortune. By spring 1849
there were 40,000 miners (the
'49ers') in California.
This was the start of the gold rush,
which lasted from 1849 to 1856.
Relatively small finds could make a
man rich as it was so valuable at the
time. It also appeared to be easy to
find, and many had success with gold
panning which wasn’t hard to do.
These successes encouraged even
more to move.
It is estimated that by 1855 some
300,000 people had streamed
into California hoping to strike it
rich.
At first almost all the miners were
men, and they lived in makeshift
tent-settlements, hoping to make
a quick fortune. They were soon
followed by shopkeepers and
traders.
Few miners made their fortune
from gold. But they spent the
savings they had used to go mining
with, and this kick-started the
California economy.
LI: Explain the
reasons for
Westward Expansion
Government grants to
encourage gold prospecting also
increased westward expansion.
Grants were given to people to
move to Colorado and Montana
in 1858, and the Black Hills in
1874.
The port town of San Francisco
went from a population of
about 1,000 in 1848 to become
the eighth largest city in the
U.S. in 1890, with a population
of almost 300,000.
LI: Use ABCD
to answer an
explain
question
ABCD – now you try
A
One reason for
westward expansion
was
B
because
C
What happened and
when? Why would
this make them
move?
D
How many moved?
Were there other
things that combined
with this to
encourage people?
Railroads
LI: Explain
the reasons
for Westward
Expansion
The first of five Pacific Railroad
Acts was passed by President
Abraham Lincoln in 1862. It
provided government support for
the building of first railroad to link
the east and west coasts of the
U.S.A.
Land around the railways
became valuable, people
wanted to live there and be
connected to the rest of the
country.
The cost of travel using the
railroad was also much cheaper
– this encouraged more people
to move west as it didn’t cost
them as much
In order to encourage the railroad
companies to build the
transcontinental railways, the
government gave them 6400 acres
of land (10 square miles) and
$16,000 in government bonds for
each mile of track laid.
Railways made it much easier
to move people, goods and
cattle to different parts of
the country. This made life in
the West easier and so more
appealing.
The railroad connecting east
and west completed in 1868.
A trip that once took four
months in a cart could now be
done in days via the railroads.
Therefore they launched a
massive sales campaign,
offering a settlement package,
which included:
1.a safe, cheap and speedy journey
west
2.temporary accommodation in
'hotels' until the families had built
their own home
3.other attractions such as schools,
churches and no taxes for five years
Its completion was seen as
Manifest Destiny being
fulfilled, and the wild west
being tamed.
LI: Use ABCD
to answer an
explain
question
ABCD
A
One reason for
westward expansion
was
B
because
C
What happened and
when? Why would
this make them
move?
D
Were there other
things that
combined with
this/about this that
encouraged people?
Religious Freedom
Mormonism was a religion
founded by Joseph Smith after
he said he found some gold
plates with angelic writing on
them. Smith won many
followers, but also angered
others who accused him of
fraud and blasphemy. By 1831
the Mormon Church had more
than 1,000 followers, and Smith
decided to move them to set up
a City of God.
They were hated in the East because of
their beliefs:
They allowed polygamy – Joseph Smith
had ten wives
The number of Mormons grew very
quickly
They had their own army
They were very hard-working and
became very successful – this made
many jealous
Smith ran for President – people were
worried that if they became too
powerful they would enforce their
beliefs on the people of America
LI: Explain the
reasons for
Westward Expansion
The government persecuted them. For
example:
Governor Lilburn Boggs issued
an exterminating order against them.
The state governor of Illinois asked them
to leave
Mormons were persecuted in most
places, so moved to Salt Lake and
founded Salt Lake City where they could
live in peace. Brigham Young, who took
over from Joseph Smith, told Mormons
that Salt Lake was “the promised land”
In 1849 they established the Perpetual
Emigration Fund to encourage more
Mormons to move west to Salt Lake City
ABCD on the search for religious freedom
A
One reason for
westward expansion
was
B
because
C
Who were the
Mormons? Why did
they want to move?
LI: Use ABCD
to answer an
explain
question
D
Were there other
things that
combined with
this/about this that
encouraged people?
Homestead Act
After the Civil War, the
government encouraged
people from both north
and south to settle the
plains with a series of
grants and Acts:
The Homestead Act of 1862
allowed homesteaders to claim
160 acres of land free if they
lived and worked on it for five
years. The prospect of free
land was very attractive to
people who could never have
afforded a farm back home
The Timber Culture Act was
passed by Congress in 1873.
The act allowed homesteaders
to get another 160 acres
(65 ha) of land if they planted
trees on one-fourth of the land
The Desert Land Act
1877: Families could
purchase 640 acres of
land for cheap in places
where there was low
rainfall
By the end of the century, more
than 80 million acres had been
granted to over 480,000
successful homesteaders. In
total, about 10 percent of the
U.S. was settled because of the
Homestead Act
LI: Explain
the reasons
for Westward
Expansion
ABCD – on the Homestead Act as a cause of
westward expansion
A
One reason for
westward expansion
was
B
because
C
What happened and
when? Why would
this make them
move?
LI: Use ABCD
to answer an
explain
question
D
Were there other
things that
combined with
this/about this that
encouraged people?
Advertising and adventure
Once the population of an area
reached 60,000, it could apply to
become a state of the USA. Local
governments therefore could
benefit from encouraging more
settlers to move to their areas.
They attracted people using
publicity campaigns. They
advertised how health was better in
the west, and printed fantastic
idealised pictures of it in
newspapers
Stories circulated about the
high quality of the crops that
could be grown in California
and Oregon. Potential
emigrants were told that wheat
“grew as tall as a man, with
each stalk sprouting seven
kernels”.
LI: Explain
the reasons
for Westward
Expansion
Being a “cowboy” and working on
farms with cattle was
romanticised. People wanted the
‘adventure’ of living in the Wild
West.
Letters home encouraged more
and more people to follow onto the
Plains
ABCD – on the role of advertising and
adventure in the westward expansion
A
One reason for
westward expansion
was
B
because
C
What did people hear
and where did they
hear it which would
make them want to
move?
LI: Use ABCD
to answer an
explain
question
D
Were there other
things that combined
with this/about this
that further
encouraged people?
Overcrowding and Opportunities
LI: Explain
the reasons
for Westward
Expansion
Lots of people in the East were stuck in factory and other low-paid jobs. It
was almost impossible to work themselves up in life, so people who had
failed to get a good life in the cities of the East Coast left for a new life in
the West where they thought they would be better off and could escape
from poverty.
There was also significant overcrowding
in the eastern cities. The population in
the east of the United States was 12
million in 1830, but had risen to 23
million by 1850. So people moved to
escape the overcrowding, poor living
conditions, and difficulty finding work.
Freed slaves moved west after
the end of the civil war. They still
faced persecution in the slave
states, and often couldn’t make a
living there because of it.
Opportunities in the West
• Shopkeepers and hotel owners also travelled west to exploit the
demand of the settlers. This was especially true during the Gold
Rush.
• Certain wheat strains were discovered and was capable of
adapting to the climate of the plains, so people took advantage
of this new crop to grow and make their living from.
• Younger sons weren’t able to inherit their father’s property by
law, and they couldn’t afford to establish themselves in the East
without that money. So they took advantage of the opportunity
of cheap/free land to make their own fortune in the West.
ABCD (hint – you can actually get more than one ABCD
for this topic if you want to challenge yourself)
A
One reason for
westward
expansion was
B
because
C
What opportunities
did people hear of
in the West which
would make them
want to move?
LI: Use ABCD
to answer an
explain
question
D
Any further detail,
or another
opportunity you
could include to
expand?
Exam Questions
• Explain the reasons why people moved
west after 1850 (6 marks)
Plenary Question
• To what extent was the gold rush the
main reason for Westward Expansion after
1850? (9 marks)
Plenary
• Label the painting “American Progress”
with different reasons for Westward
expansion which are shown in the image