Westward Expansion
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Westward Expansion FOR SALE: LOUISIANA Border Disorder TRAILS BEFORE RAILS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Westward_Expansion_FC.indd 1 3/1/17 12:55 PM In the early 1800s, American Indians The United States in 1815 saw waves of pioneers traveling across Your family has seen so many changes the land. Many of the settlers were recent in the year 1815, you can hardly count immigrants from Britain and other parts them. You’ve traveled a long way by ship of Europe. They had heard explorers’ to the United States, and now you’re reports of wide-open spaces ready for headed west in a covered wagon, with taking and wanted some for themselves. everything you need to start a new farm. These pioneers had come from different One day, as the wagon rumbles along, you places. But more and more, they thought play tag with your little brother. Through of themselves as Americans. Many had the trees, you see some American Indian even begun to believe Americans were kids running. They’re playing tag, too! meant to own all the land between the You wonder what else you have in Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. common. You don’t realize that, like yours, their lives are changing, too. r ONE WAY FOR early settlers to go west was through the Cumberland Gap, an opening in the mountains where present- day Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia meet. American Indians used this pass long before Daniel Boone showed up. He was one of u EARLY IMMIGRANTS from what is now German farmers the first pioneers in the U.S. included Northern Ireland. came to the new to travel through many groups from Many settled in republic in the it. Later he was Britain and other frontier areas of early 1800s. They hired to build the parts of Europe. Pennsylvania and often headed west Wilderness Road. It The Scots-Irish, Virginia, beyond and bought land to became the main also called Ulster communities that start new farms. path from the East Scots, came already existed. to Kentucky. westward_expansion_2-3.indd 16 3/1/17 12:59 PM 3 Louisiana Purchase PACIFIC British OCEAN Territory Maine (part of Massachusetts) New Hampshire Vermont Massachusetts Rhode Island Connecticut Spanish New York Territory Indiana New Jersey Territory Ohio Pennsylvania St. Louis Delaware Kentucky Maryland Virginia Tennessee North Carolina Southwest Territory South Carolina ATLANTIC United States OCEAN Mississippi Territory Louisiana Purchase, 1803 Georgia N New Orleans Spanish 0 500 mi Florida Gulf of Mexico W E 0 500 km S u IN 1803, r SHAWNEE INDIAN fought the War of President Thomas chief Tecumseh 1812. After the Jefferson made talked other war, many in the the Louisiana American Indian U.S. felt like win- Purchase, dou- tribes into joining ners. People began bling the size of forces to stop seeing themselves the United States. the settlers from as Americans This huge ter- pushing them off rather than, say, ritory stretched their land. The New Yorkers or from the city of British in Canada Virginians. New Orleans to helped him. This Canada, and from alliance was one the Mississippi reason the United River to the States and Britain Rocky Mountains. Meriwether Lewis l EARLY ON, THE to take over west- and William Clark U.S. government ern lands. This idea explored these said it wanted to had started among lands. Other respect American the early English explorers, such as Indians. But it colonists. Zebulon Pike and didn’t do a very John C. Frémont, good job of that. also mapped the Tribes would be territory. Reports sent to places set- of their discoveries tlers didn’t want, made people want only to be moved to go west. again when their new homes were found to contain something valu- able, like gold. By 1815, many Americans thought they were destined westward_expansion_2-3.indd 17 3/1/17 12:59 PM 4 The Indian Removal Act The elders of your Cherokee tribe are hold- ing a big meeting, and everyone’s in a very serious mood. Listening outside, you and your best friend hear your father say, “The Americans are going to make us go west.” But your people already have homes here, in the place the Americans call Georgia. Some of your friends even learn English in their schools! Why would they want you to leave? The U.S. government had promised to respect American Indians’ rights, but as more settlers moved to land west of the Appalachians, many didn’t like being around native people. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, a law that broke many earlier trea- ties. It said Indians east of the Mississippi River had to trade their land for land west of the river. This area, known as “Indian Territory,” took up most of what is now Oklahoma. What if tribes refused? Then the government forced them to leave. l IN THE EARLY 1800s, the Cherokee lived on land that cov- ered a big chunk of the South, including North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama. The Cherokee people were interested l BY THE LATE created a Seminole in how Americans 1700s, many reservation, or land lived. They even Seminole set aside for only started to assim- Indians lived American Indians. ilate, or do things in the swampy But later, the gov- the way Americans Everglades of ernment made did them. Some Spanish Florida. them move west Cherokee kids They helped people again. After the went to American who had escaped U.S. put Seminole schools and slavery, and many chief Osceola learned English. American settlers into prison, didn’t like that. where he died, This tension led many Seminoles to the Seminole moved west. Wars. The U.S. westward_expansion_4-5_v2.indd 16 3/1/17 1:00 PM 5 u AFTER GOLD WAS President Jackson found in Cherokee didn’t agree, even Nation territory, though it was his the Georgia gov- job to support the ernment gave the decision. Instead land to American he said, “John settlers. Cherokee Marshall has made chief John Ross his decision, now (above) argued for let him enforceTREATY WITH OREGON his people before it.”* the Supreme BRITAIN TERRITORY Court. And in 1832, *From The Supreme Court in TREATY WITH United States History, Volume1842 1846 Chief Justice 2, by Charles Warren. Little, BRITAIN John Marshall Brown, and Company, 1922. 1818 said Georgia was wrong. But Trail of Tears l IN 1838, President Martin Trail of Tears Van Buren sent army troops to MEXICAN Cherokee Nation force the Cherokee to walk about CESSION Present-day border ILLINOIS INDIANA OHIO 800 miles to the 1848 Missouri River Indian Territory. Bad weather and MISSOURI Ohio River hunger killed many Golconda KENTUCKY of them. The path Springfield was called “the GADSEN Fort Gibson Nashville Murfreesboro place where they ARKANSAS INDIAN TERRITORY TENNESSEE cried.” It was later PURCHASE (later Oklahoma) Arkansas River u THE CHEROKEE could collect more Tennessee River known as the Trail were1853 interested in knowledge, which New of Tears. Other Echota the American way would help them Indian groups, Mississippi River ALABAMA GEORGIA of life but wanted to stay independent. MISSISSIPPI including the keep their culture By 1821, he had Red River Chickasaw and alive. Cherokee invented a Cherokee Alabama River Creek, were also ALASKA leader Sequoyah alphabet, and in forced off their thought there was 1827, his people LOUISANA lands. They, too, PURCHASE New Orleans power in written lan- used it to write a died by the thou- N 1867 guage. He thought constitution. The sands on the Trail 0 400 mi. that if his people Cherokee Nation W E of Tears. had one, like the would elect leaders, 0 1,000 mi. 0 400 km. S Americans0 100 did, mi. they as the U.S. did. 0 1,000 km. 0 100 km. westward_expansion_4-5_v2.indd 17 3/1/17 1:00 PM 6 Trails West It’s been a long trip over bumpy land and rushing rivers, but your family has finally come to Independence, Missouri! Many pioneers are gathering in this busy town, buying supplies for their journey west. At first your folks planned to follow u IN 1826, FUR Mountains. That explorer John C. trader Jedediah became part of a Frémont mapped the Oregon Trail, which would take you Smith became path to the Oregon this path. It became almost to the Pacific Ocean. But they one of the first Country, an area known as the might take the Santa Fe Trail instead. It Americans to enter covering parts of Oregon Trail. His California from the modern Canada, reports sparked also goes west but heads south through east. Then he found Washington, Idaho, “Oregon fever” warmer territory. Which path would you the South Pass Montana, and across the country. like best? across the Rocky Oregon. Later, How did settlers find their way across plains, through mountains, and over rivers? How did they deal with hardships along the way? Some got help from path- finders, or people who mapped paths through unfamiliar territory. Many pathfinders were early western settlers who had made a living selling furs. As more people moved in, trappers found fewer wild animals to hunt. But they knew u THE OREGON TRAIL mountains. But most where many pio- more about the West than most pioneers stretched about kept going. Some neers carved their did. They could help settlers when the 2,000 miles, from even left messag- names. Some trail got rough or the weather was bad. Independence to es for the people settlers reached the Willamette River behind them. One part of what is now Guiding travelers to choice land became a Valley.