The Way West
 George Catlin – painting & sketching “the looks and customs of the vanishing race of Native
man in America – set out to record the grace and dignity of their history & customs
 300,000 traveled Oregon trail 1840’s-50’s
 Pushed into the LA Purchase – plains, deserts, mountains & ocean coast few Americans had
seen before
 People of diverse cultures – Plains Indians, Mexicans of SW – white people convinced of
superiority and God given right to defeat and subjugate those in their way
 Manifest Destiny – justification for expansionist Polk & Mexican American War
I.
The Agricultural Frontier

5.8 million in 1800 --- 23 million by 1850 – shift westward 1 in 10 W of Appalachian in 1800 -- by 1850 half did

Size of US more than 3X in 1st half of 1800’s – 6-8 children living to adolescence

Declining soil fertility & rising pop. – common desire for economic opportunity – sectioned by
geography and slave/free
A. The Crowded East
1. Heading west did not guarantee success but was best option to land starved easterners
looking to raise a family
2. By the early 19th century NE was out of land for young men – even VT felt overcrowded
3. S land was productive but expensive – mid-Atlantic tied to wheat (commercialized) – 1/3-1/2
of the young men in NJ & PN
landless – they headed west (Scots-Irish & German)
4. Slave states along coast high pressure to move – soil more exhausted and landholdings
more concentrated – not enough land for younger sons of even the wealthy
5. West had abundant, accessible land ($2-$3 an acre)
6. Public policy and private aspirations key to preserving American Freedom
7. Price and amount of land you needed to buy dropped – The Preemption Act of 1841 – right
to purchase up to 160 acres minimum @ $1.25 per acre
B. The Old Northwest
1. 1810-1840 OH, IN & IL 10X – end of War of 1812 open region to flood of migrants
2. One stream of Northern migrants and one stream of Southern migrants
3. Became a mosaic of settlements – NE and upstate NYers spread over Upper Midwest (OH,
IN, IL, WS & MI) – antislavery –- Southerners settled in southern OH, IN, IL and KY
distrusting of Yankees and centralized authority
4. Took 10 years hard labor to create 80 acre farm – clear woods, cultivate soil, grow food,
tend to livestock etc.
5. Claims Clubs – helped intimidated land speculators until locals had acquired land they
wanted (help raise cabins/barns)
6. Initially territories built on bartering – eventually more commercialized agriculture comes
about with steamboats, canals & RR
7. 1st major market down the Oh & MS Rivers – corn & hogs – Eventually Erie Canal opened
up upper Midwest
8. 1840’s wheat production skyrocketed – new plows – mechanical reaper led to 12 acres a
day (6X as much previously)
9. Commercial crop growth in west led to increase in Eastern manufacturing (symbiotic
relationship) – leads to MI, IA & WS
10. Favorable farm prices & dropping transportation costs – led to disposable income leads to
growth of cities on RR lines
C. The Old Southwest
1. “Alabama Fever” – 1850 600,000 settlers from MD, VA and Carolina’s living south and west
bringing 800,000 slaves with them – soaring cotton prices post war and crushing NA
opened land in Black Belt
2. 1830’s cotton prices high again – NA forced out – less than 30 years 2 new slave states
(MS, AL, MO, AK, FL & TX)
3. Both plantation and small farmers – Alabama a “garden of plenty” compared to old fields in
Carolina’s
4. Cotton grow with 210 frost free days – cotton gin (removal of seeds 50X faster), GB textile
industry, fertile land, available labor ----- 9% of world cotton production in 1800 to 68% by
1850
5. Many typical settlers on southern frontier poor working farmers – with no slaves
6. Two waves of Yeomen farmers – 1st were hunters, restless transient group spread from
Western Carolina’s-TX and measured wealth in livestock and were quick to moved out when
2nd group started to clear land
7. 2nd wave were the farmers – diversified agriculture aimed at feeding families (corn & pork)
and his labor was his family
8. Old SW was wealthier society (cotton money) in 1850 – more important to national
development as well because of its chief commodity
9. By 1840’s rural communities in Old NW supporting towns & cities – By 1850’s Midwest
almost as urbanized as NE and nearly half the labor force no longer worked on farms
10. Old SW remained predominantly agricultural – once land was settled the next generation
continued moving west – By1850’s KY, TN, AL & MS losing more migrants
II.
The Frontier of the Plains Indians

Pike & Long had promoted the idea of a Great American Desert

Horse mounted Indian tribes (Sioux) – before 1840’s fur traders worked with these tribes –
Oregon trail is going to lead white settlers into this area and change it forever
A. Tribal Lands
1. 350,000 NA plains & mountains of Trans-Miss. West – agricultural tribes (Kansas, Osages,
Omaha, Arikara, Mandan & Hidatsa) and nomadic hunting tribes (Sioux, Crow, Cheyenne &
Arapaho)
2. Platte River to Red River for the tribes of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 – boundaries
violated by nomadic NA tribes and
White settlers
3. Black Hawk’s War of 1832 (Sauks & Foxes) – 1838 Territory of Iowa both pushed NA out
4. Pawnees were the hardest hit by invading tribes and whites taking their lands
5. Pawnees signed a Treaty to leave Platte River Valley in exchange for subsidies and military
protection – neither of which happened and where eventually dispersed by both NA & whites
6. Sioux were able to hold their own against white settlers – guns from the French they
dominated prairies west of MO
7. Sioux learned how to use horses (other plains tribes) – buffalo hunting – transportation of
materials – mobile warfare melted into an Indian Warrior-Hunter culture
8. They fought other tribes not to kill but to dominate land (counting coup) – did not feel peace
with others worth a life or two
9. LA Terr. Was where the Sioux hunted buffalo in summer & trapped beaver in the winter –
held great trading fairs to exchange goods
10. Sioux have to go farther to keep up with demand for buffalo hides and diminished beavers
– pushed aside weaker tribes
11. Epidemics helps Sioux, because of their nomadic ways – were vaccinated by BIA – and
their population grew during smallpox outbreak of 1837
12. By 1850 – western Sioux 25,000 – pirates of the Missouri – TJ stressed to have good
relations
13. US could not force them into dependence during the 1st half of 19th century
B. The Fur Traders
1. Golden
Age 1820’s-30’s – trappers blazed trials whites would eventually follow
2. Rendezvous system (annual fair to bring traders together) – broke the Hudson Bay Co.
dominance & exchanged guns, traps, tobacco, whiskey and other goods
3. Trappers married NA (40%) – poor living conditions – 80% mortality rate
4. Many fleeing the confinements & comforts of white civilization – loved the beauty of
wilderness
5. Smallpox and diminished furbearing animals lead to decline of this lifestyle & WHISKEY!
6. Main corridor – Lower Missouri to North Platte to South Pass – this became the main path
followed by settlers
C. The Oregon Trail
1. 15,000 made this 2000 mile trek during the 1840’s-50 – walking alongside wagons up to 15
miles a day
2. Oregon Country still jointly administered – Missionaries 1st permanent settlements in 1830’s
in Willamette Valley south of Columbia River
3. Missionaries continually failed – tried to change culture. N/A held on to traditional ways,
numbers already thinned by disease
4. 1st large party left Independence MO 1842 (Willamette Valley) – competition began to outfit
(supply) migrants in different towns
5. Most were young families looking to farm to avoid debt
6. Men made decision – women help tremendously – study of diaries showed 1/3 were in favor
7. 1840’s 5,000 out of 90,000 died – Cholera was main killer, then accidents THEN N/A
8. Families cooperating led to success – wagon trains with contracts – could not leave too
early or too late
9. “Oregon Fever” – changed ecology & economy of the Great Plains – Plains Indians stood in
way of progress
10. BIA led Ft. Laramie Treaty of 1851 – limited movements for $50,000 annual compensation
for 50 years – restricted Sioux to hunting north of Platte River
11. Standoff between the Sioux & US Govt
III.
The Mexican Borderlands
IV.
Politics, Expansion and War