America Expands West – The First FrontierThe acquisition of the wild, untamed Western territories at the turn of the 19th century marked the beginning of a new era of expansion and exploration. Thousands of settlers and pioneers alike uprooted their lives in the East hoping to find adventure and cheap, fertile land beyond the Mississippi. The Frontier became where civilization ended and the unknown and uncultivated lie beyond. Our nation's Manifest Destiny and relentless need to expand and spread our culture and ideas divulged itself in the form of The Western Frontier. For the people at the time, The Frontier was an opportunity for a fresh start; an opportunity to own your own land, seek prosperity and adventure, and live the American Dream.
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Image source: Wikimedia Commons
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The statue above – illustrating the signing of the Louisiana Purchase by President James Monroe – stands today outside of the Missouri state capitol. The Louisiana Purchase was the first spark to the Western expansion: the country's land mass was doubled in one swift move with this signing of the Purchase. Without this event, The West and The Frontier would never have existed (Source 1).
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This is excerpt below, from Thomas Jefferson's journal regarding the discoveries of Lewis and Clark just West of the Mississippi River. He describes the natural beauty of the Northern Great Lakes area – an likely in what is now modern-day Minnesota. The excitement with which he describes his discoveries is similar to what others felt when they entered the new, foreign land (2).
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This illustration by Mr. Francis Palmer, circa 1800, shows a family of pioneers crossing over a river in the foreground – representative of their crossing into the western United States. Across the river in the middle ground, there is a quaint log cabin with a field for growing crops. In the background, there are a variety of types of trees composing a thick forest. This was an ideal pioneers home: one could farm their own land, raise a family, and live in seclusion on The Frontier (3).
This watercolor painting illustrates a western riverfront settlement. In the foreground there is a tired pioneer walking his horse on the high ground overlooking a river below. Across the river there is a small, wooden, village community in front of a forest of green pines. Many of the early communities and settlements resembled the one in this painting in that they were constructed near fresh bodies of water such as rivers for travel and power (4).
This 1869 illustration, pictured above, portrays the dash that Americans made to move West and claim the cheap, fertile land. The drawing shows the scores of horses and covered wagons scrambling to be the first ones to capture their own piece of the frontier (5.)
"The wagons are in corral, and the stock which has been let loose to graze at the hour of the eventide is just being driven in for the night. This hour is occupied with the principal meal of the day. The party encamped then reposes for the night, to resume its journeying at daybreak". This advertisement, pictured to the right, from the early days of the Westward movement is promoting the vast wealth of land – almost a million acres – that was available and affordable for settlers to cultivate for farming. Railroad companies bought the land for constructing railroads at dirt cheap prices and then sized and resold the unnecessary land to the public for a profit (6).
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"As the first group of Mormon pioneers reached the Salt Lake Valley in the summer of 1847, Brigham Young looked out over what was then a barren, dry desert and declared, 'This is the right place'...Under Brigham Young’s direction, an estimated 70,000 Latter-day Saints made the difficult journey to Utah from 1847 until the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869".
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The wave of westward migrations brought with it large immigrant/minority populations looking for simpler lives out West. This particular article talks about the Mormons. Led by Brigham Young, the founder of modern-day BYU University, settled in communities throughout Utah and Idaho. Many left to escape the growing prejudice against Mormons that was prevalent in the Middle States such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Missouri. The Mormon presence and culture is still evident today throughout the rocky mountains and northwestern states (7).
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#1: Signing of the Louisiana Purchase Statue. Digital Public Library of America, cdm16795.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/divtour/id/10725. Accessed
20 Nov. 2016. #2: Jefferson, Thomas, and Lewis Merriweather. AJ-090: Jefferson's Message on Lewis & Clark. American Journey, content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/compoundobject/ collection/aj/id/266/show/261/rec/1. Accessed 16 Nov. 2016. #3: Palmer, Frances F., Mr. The pioneer's home: on the western frontier. 1860. Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/2001700590/. Accessed 5 Oct. 2016. #4: Bryson, Bernarda. Western Frontier Stockade. 1935. Library of Congress, congress.gov, www.loc.gov/item/2004679007/. Accessed 5 Oct. 2016. |
#5: Pilgrims on the Plains. 12 June 1869. Harper's Weekly: 1857-1912,
thewest.harpweek.com/. Accessed 17 Nov. 2016. #6: 900,000 Acres of the Best Farming Land. 4 Mar. 1865. Harper's Weekly: 1857-1912, thewest.harpweek.com/. Accessed 17 Nov. 2016. #7: "Pioneer Trek." The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Newroom, 17 Oct. 2014, www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/pioneer-trek. Accessed 26 Oct. 2016. |