Westward Expansion - Manifest Destiny
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Westward Expansion Tutorial
Objective
In this lesson, we will:
Identify major factors that contributed to the United States' expansion westward.
Discuss the interactions and conflicts between changing demographic groups that occurred because of westward expansion.
Summarize the roles that mining, cattle ranching, and farming played in settlement in the West.
Explain key events in Native Americans' resistance to westward expansion and their consequences.
In the nineteenth century, American settlers began to move westward in search of new opportunities. Encouraging this movement was the idea of Manifest Destiny—the belief that the United States was destined by God to expand across the continent, and that this expansion was inevitable. More broadly, American exceptionalism believed that the United States held a special place among the countries and people of the world.
As they moved west, White settlers came into contact with the native people who already inhabited the lands.
Think about how believing in Manifest Destiny would make settlers view native people and any other people who had already settled in the western United States.
How might Manifest Destiny affect the ways settlers approached native people? What might the native people think about this colonization?
As you proceed through this lesson, look for specific information or broader themes that help you ask and answer these investigation questions:
What challenges and opportunities were posed by American expansion in the late nineteenth century?
In what ways did expansion shape the experiences of various people living in North America?
Manifest Destiny and the Closing of the Frontier
Manifest Destiny was the belief that the United States was divinely destined to expand its territory across North America. It also included the beliefs that this expansion was inevitable and that it was the settlers' duty to spread democracy and capitalism. Manifest Destiny was a key motivator behind movement west. Additionally, many people were drawn by emerging opportunities there:
Railroads: Railroad construction experienced a boom from 1865 to 1900, making the West more accessible and creating economic opportunities in new towns and cities that sprang up along rail lines.
Mining: The discovery of gold in California in 1848 led to widespread mining and prospecting across the West.
Farming: Promises of free land for those who could farm it inspired hundreds of thousands to move to the plains.
Ranching: As the frontier filled up, wealthy cattlemen began raising cattle on huge ranches.
Transcontinental Railroad
The Transcontinental Railroad was built from 1863 to 1869, spanned over 2,000 miles, and was a major technological innovation. It reduced the trip from the East to the West Coast from several months to less than a week, made it less dangerous, and more affordable. Thus, it played a big role in the movement west.
Chinese immigrants made up most of the workforce that constructed the railroad by hand. They worked in harsh conditions, were treated terribly, and hundreds were killed in the process. Irish and German immigrants also worked on building the Transcontinental Railroad. Notably, eight Irish immigrants completed an immense amount of work in one day, laying 3,520 rails.
The Transcontinental Railroad eventually helped bring an end to the American frontier by uniting the East and West. Goods could now be transported from the West back to the East, and settlers realized that the plains were not just an inhospitable wasteland.
For a span of about twenty years following the Civil War, the Great Plains in the West were called the open range because much of the land was still open and unsettled by White settlers (Indigenous people were already there). Herds of cattle could roam and graze freely in large numbers.
The increased construction of railroads, particularly into Kansas, opened new economic opportunity in the cattle market.
Cattle could be bought cheaply or rounded up from wild herds in Texas. Then they had to be driven northward along cattle trails to stockyards in railroad towns. Finally, the cattle were loaded onto trains and transported either east or farther west to large cities, where they were sold at a huge profit.
The workers who drove the herds from plains to market came to be called cowboys. The era of cowboys and the cattle frontier were short-lived, but quickly captured the public imagination.
The Cowboy's Life shows the romanticized view of cowboy life on the range that soon became popular. Unlike the image of the lone, rough-riding, and gun-wielding cowboy shown entertainment such as Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show (and later, the Hollywood Western), the real life of a cowboy was difficult. Conditions on the cattle trails were harsh with few comforts.
Cowboys faced dangers from natural elements and from the cattle themselves, which were prone to stampede. There was also the potential for conflict along the route, sometimes with Native Americans, but increasingly with farmers who claimed plots of land and did not want to share grazing area with the free-range herds.
Cowboys were a diverse group, as many were African American or Mexican. Cowboys worked in groups that included a trail boss, a cook, and a crew to keep the cattle in line. Crew members were often paid only around a dollar a day, with cooks receiving slightly more. Bosses could be paid $100 or more per month.
Although the era of cowboys and the open range lasted only about 20 years, it had a huge effect on American culture as a result of the romanticized version of cowboy life that became popular in the late 1800s. The descriptions of cowboys below are either myth or reality.
The romanticized view of cowboys doesn't reflect the fact that cowboys worked long days for low wages, and it's not widely known that many cowboys were Mexican and African American. It's a myth that cowboys were lone adventurers, and they could do what they wanted, wherever they wanted.
1897 map published by the US Military showing the country had expanded from coast to coast.
The closing of the frontier was declared in 1890 when the census superintendent stated that there was no longer a frontier line. According to the census, there were no longer large areas of land in the West unsettled by White Americans. This marked the end of the open range.
The cattle boom ended around 1880. As competition for land increased between farmers, ranchers, and railroads, cattle driving became increasingly difficult. Eventually, grass in the plains was damaged by overgrazing from so many cattle and sheep farmers who competed for use of the same land. Two years (1885–1887) of notably harsh weather killed nearly 90% of the cattle. At the same time, growth of both long- and short-haul rail lines brought transportation into cattle country so that herds no longer had to be driven hundreds of miles to rail depots.
For these reasons, farmers and ranchers fenced off their land with barbed wire, which was invented in 1868. Cattle drives and cowboys became a thing of the past, replaced by large stationary ranches.
Federal land policies also affected western settlement.
Under the Homestead Act (1862), settlers who lived on land for five years were granted ownership of 160 acres.
The Morrill Land-Grant Act (1862) allowed the establishment of land-grant colleges in states using proceeds of federal land sales. The colleges were founded to promote the study of agriculture and mechanics.
The Dawes Act (1877) gave Native American individuals specific units of land, and any land left over was sold to White settlers. Much of this reservation land could not be farmed, and many Native Americans sold their land to White settlers. Other land was taken in a 1909 policy that allowed the government to take reservation lands from Native Americans who they deemed incompetent.
Think about how this information helps you answer the question: In what ways did expansion shape the experiences of various people living in North America?
The Dawes Act allotted reservation land to Native Americans. The Homestead Act offered land to settlers who built homes on it for more than five years. The Morrill Land-Grant Act gave the states land used for land-grant colleges.
Many immigrants to the United States in the second half of the nineteenth century were farmers. They were attracted by inexpensive and large tracts of available land on the Great Plains.
Their experiences in the US were far different from their experiences in their home countries. Life on the Great Plains was difficult, if promising. Migrants from the eastern and southern US also experienced these challenges.
But because of their efforts, the Great Plains became one of the most important agricultural areas in the world.
Think about how this information helps you answer the question: What challenges and opportunities were posed by American expansion in the late nineteenth century?
Farming on the Frontier
Benefits and Challenges
Land on the frontier was plentiful and relatively cheap. In some cases, as with the land grants provided through the Homestead Act, it was even free. Many Americans and immigrants were drawn to frontier farming by the desire to own their own land. However, farming the Great Plains was extremely difficult. The climate was harshly cold in the winter and hot in the summer. There was little surface water, so settlers had to dig wells and develop new farming techniques that maximized what little water there was in order to survive.
Rivalries with Ranchers
During the cattle driving years, ranchers did not usually have defined areas of land. Instead, their cattle grazed freely in large herds on public lands. Owners marked their cattle with brands so they could determine which cattle belonged to them when the time came to drive them to market. When the government started assigning defined plots of land, conflicts broke out between farmers who were settling their assigned plots and ranchers who were already on the land and resented the encroachment and strain on limited resources.
Ranchers who were accustomed to letting cattle roam freely over the plains came into conflict with farmers who were assigned specific plots of land from the government or the railroads, and fenced their land to keep cattle out.
Railroad Expansion
To encourage the growth of the railroad industry and the settlement of the West, the government gave railroads large land grants. The idea was that the railroads would in turn sell the land to settlers. This did happen in some cases, but in other cases the railroads kept the best of the land for themselves. Railroads were essential for many frontier farmers to get their goods to market, but had little regulation at first and were charged high fees. Farmers were frustrated to see what little money they were earning eaten up by high transportation costs.
Mechanization
The development of new machinery revolutionized farming. Work that had traditionally been done by hand was now done by steam engine-powered machines that could complete the work faster and on a larger scale. Replacing work done by hand with work done by machines is the process of mechanization. Mechanized farming favored large, commercial farms growing single cash crops that could afford to own or rent the expensive machines. Many smaller farmers could not afford to upgrade, which meant they could not produce as much and stay competitive with the larger farms.
Overproduction and Overcultivation
Increases in the amount of land being farmed and increased production from mechanized farming led to higher crop yields. Because crops were being grown in abundance, prices for agricultural products went down. Farmers needed to produce more to make enough money to live on, but producing more just drove prices down further, creating a cycle of debt for many. At the same time, overcultivation of crops year after year began to deplete the soil in some areas, further contributing to farmers' problems.
Turner and Safety Valve Theory
Frederick Jackson Turner published his essay "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" in 1893, only three years after the US Census Bureau made its determination that the frontier had been fully settled, and thus no longer existed.
Turner viewed the existence of a frontier throughout much of the country's history as a positive element that had made the United States unique from other countries and helped establish an American cultural identity. The frontier, according to Turner, had contributed to a uniquely American spirit of independence, democracy, and ingenuity.
Turner also believed that the frontier had served as a safety valve for society. People who were discontented with the social structures of cities or who needed a fresh start had been able to look to the frontier. Turner worried that without the safety valve of the frontier, American society might become more divided and conflicted.
Turner viewed the American frontier as both a critical force in the development of uniquely American culture and a safety valve that prevented the United States from developing the same social conflicts as other countries.
Westward Expansion Guided Notes
(with answers)