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Going West in the 1840s

I - Why did people go West?

 

  

Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way (1861)

  

Going Deeper

The following links will help you widen your knowledge:

The Oregon Trail - History.com

  Why did Americans move west in such great numbers in the 1840s?

 

YouTube

Westward expanions in maps - simple overview introduction

Why people went west - the dream

Manifest Destiny - Mr Cloke: includes a good explanation of Leutze's Westward the Course of Empire

On 22 May a train of 120 wagons and 875 people left Independence, Missouri, for Oregon – the Great Oregon Migration of 1843.

In 1849 perhaps 80,000 '49-ers' travelled West to California.

 

Ultimately, there were as many reasons for going west as there were people going west, because each migrant had their own reasons for doing so, but here is a list of some general reasons historians have suggested why Americans moved west in the 1840s:

  1. ‘Mountain Men’ – including famous characters such as James Bridger, Kit Carson and James Beckwourth – went west in the 1820s and 1830s to trap beavers for their fur.  When the Beaver fur trade came to an end in the late 1830s, many of the Mountain Men earned a living as trail guides and wagon train captains for Americans moving west. 

  2. Economic depression: in 1837 the eastern United States was hit by an economic depression; banks collapsed, wages were cut by 40 per cent and unemployment grew.  There was agricultural depression in the Midwest in the 1840s; farmers in the Mississippi valley faced ruin when the price of the wheat and corn collapsed. 

  3. Overcrowding: some of the farmers in the Mississippi valley were beginning to feel 'crowded' – the population of Missouri grew from 14,000 in 1830 to 353.000 in 1840. 

  4. Propaganda stories: told how wonderful the West was (see Source A).  They were sales pitches.  Some were from missionaries who wanted people to go and help them convert the Indigenous peoples to Christianity; others came from people who were hoping to make money from new settlers; some adventurers wanted to set up their own state (one of these was Lansford W Hastings whose ambition was to take California from Mexico and establish an independent country with himself as President). 

  5. The government: printed 10,000 copies of the Oregon Trail; it wanted American settlers there who would drive out the British.

  6. Farming opportunities: Both California and Oregon had good soil and a good climate. 

  7. Land was expensive in the East: younger sons who were not going to inherit the family farm could not afford to buy another. 

  8. Adventure and Freedom: There was government, laws and taxation in the eastern United States.  Going West offered excitement, danger and ‘a fresh start’. 

  9. Persecution: some groups (such as the Mormons and black former slaves) moved west to escape persecution. 

  10. Oregon Bill: in 1843, Senator Lewis Linn’s Oregon Bill (which promised a square mile of land in Oregon FREE to anybody over 18 who had lived there for five years) was passed in the Senate (although it would not become law until 1850). 

  11. Marcus Whitman: in May 1843, Marcus Whitman – who with his wife Narcissa had set up a Mission on the Oregon Trail near Walla Walla – passed through Independence Missouri, and promised to guide a wagon train to Oregon.

  12. Gold: In 1848, gold was discovered in California. 

Some people moved multiple times, moving west as the Frontier moved.  David Lenox (see Sources A and B) was born in New York State; at 18, he moved 750 miles to Kentucky; at 27, 420 miles to Illinois; at 38, 300 miles to Missouri; at 41, 1,800 miles to Hillsboro, Oregon; and at 68, 250 miles inland to Weston, Oregon. 

 

Source B

Following the Frontier: the homes of David Lenox, 1802-74 (right-click to see a larger version of the map).

 

Source A

The excitement in connection with the settlement of Oregon was stirring the hearts of the pioneers on the Mississippi frontier...

One Saturday mnorning father said that he was going to hear Burnett talk about Oregon.  Mr Burnett hauled a box out on to the sidewalk, took his stand upon it, and began to tell about the land flowing with milk and honey on the shores of the Pacific.  He told of great crops of wheat whch it would be possible to raise in Oregon, and pictured in glowing terms the richness of the soil and the attractions of the climate, and then with a little twinkle in his eye, he said, ‘and they do say gentlemen, that out in Oregon the pigs are running about under the great acorn trees, round and fat, and already cooked, with knives and forks sticking in them so that .you can cut off a slice whenever you are hungry’. 

Edward Henry Lenox, 1842

Edward Lenox's father David (who was a farmer and school-teacher) signed up and the family moved to Oregon.  David Lenox became one of the leaders of the wagon train, organised the first Baptist Church in Oregon, and became a Justice of the Peace and judge. 

 Peter Hardeman Burnett was a small-time lawyer and failed shop-keeper with $15,000 of debts, six children and a seriously ill wife.  In 1842, in his own words, he "set to work most vigorously to organize a wagon company", and was elected as its captain when it set off in 1843.  Having moved to Oregon he got into politics, became a Judge of the Provisional Government of Oregon and, in 1849, the 1st Governor of California.

 

  

Consider:

1.  Textbooks are desperate to get you to appreciate that there were some 'Push' factors which led people to want to leave the east, and that there were 'Pull' factors which attracted them to go west.  Divide the list of reasons-why-Americans-went-west into 'Push' and 'Pull' reasons.

2.  Read the cases of David Lenox and Peter Burnett in Source A.  Which of the different reasons why Americans went west best applies to their stories?

3.  I think it is clear that pressures had been building in the years before 1843 and 1849, but in both cases there was a 'trigger' that unleashed the rush; find those triggers.

4.  I don't think that the Great Migration of 1843 can be wholly explained in terms of a reasoned response to push and pull factors.  There was something more, something not merely rational, going on.
Study Emanuel Leutze's painting.  Use the skills you have learned in English to analyse its denotation and connotations, and to find the message conveyed by its imagery and colours.  Can you add a 17th reason why so many people flooded west in the 1840s?

 

  

  • AQA-style Questions

      6.  Which of the following was the more important reason why white Americans travelled across the Great Plains in the 1840s and 1850s:
        •  religion
        •  economic opportunity?

  • Edexcel-style Questions

      1.  Explain two consequences of the Gold Rush (1849) for migration.

      2.  Write a narrative account analysing:
        •  early migration to c1850
        •  why Americans went west in the years 1836-49..

      3.  Explain the importance of the Oregon Trail for early migration to the West.

  • OCR-style Questions

      1a.  Identify one 'Pull' factor influencing people to 'go west'

      1b.  Name one famous 'Mountain Man'

      1c.  Give one example of people who went west for religious reasons.

      3.  Why did so many Americans migrate west in the 1840s.  Explain your answer.

      4.  How far do you agree that economic factors were the main reason Americans went west in the 1840s?

  

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