American West: Going West

Mountain Men
1. Trapped animals for their fur
  1. Made a living by trading furs at forts
2. Explored the Plains extensively
  1. First explorers to go to the West
    1. Fertile and rich lands
    2. Freedom and Independence
    3. Space
    4. Furs & Fish
    5. In the East...
      1. Overpopulation
        Unemployment
      2. Collapse of banking
      3. Persecution
3. Gave advice to travellers and Government explorers
4. They worked with Indians, often marrying Indian women
Manifest Destiny
1. The belief that God wished white men would control the entire continent
2. Originated from a newspaper article by John O'Sullivan in 1845
3. Now considered a racist viewpoint
  1. Indians were 'inferior' to whites
    1. Indians were not Christians
    2. Indians had not discovered writing, or the wheel
Wagon Trails
1. Early Settlers 1843
  1. Disturbed the buffalo
  2. Crossed land that Indians claimed to own
  3. Only intended on moving West
    1. California
    2. Oregon
2. Problems
  1. 3, 800km to travel
  2. Tough terrain including the Rocky Mountains
  3. No maps or landmarks
  4. Dangers
    1. Lots of disease (e.g. cholera)
    2. Buffalo stampedes
    3. 34,000 died
3. The Wagons
  1. FOOD: Had to carry enough for the entire journey, and 18 months after, before crops could be harvested
  2. WEAPONS: Some carried guns to defend against buffalo and Indian attacks
  3. MONEY: A short supply for trading at forts along the way
  4. TOOLS: For fixing the wagon and setting up housing on arrival in the West
The Gold Rush
1. Gold was discovered in California in 1848
2. Forty-niners
  1. Planned to return home (East USA or Europe) after making their fortune
  2. Panned for gold in rivers, digging down a few metres
  3. Set up shanty towns of tents and small cabins
  4. Violence and crime was very high, rivals
  5. Few succeeded in dreams of wealth
  6. Few could even afford to go home
3. Proffessional miners
  1. Mined deep underground
  2. Took their whole family with them
  3. Were backed by businessmen in the East

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American West: Going West

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	Created by James McConnell over 10 years ago