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Causes
- The land in the west was more fertile than in the east, meaning that people were attracted there to get better land, more crops and from this more profit to have a better quality of life and more luxuries than when in the east.
- The frist people to go west were mountain men that were attracted west to hunt animals in the 1820s and the 1830s. Also, they sold the skins of the animals that they hunted, which mean that they could make a living for themselves. They did not settle in the west, but they did establish trails that the settlers would later use.
- Missionaries also settled on the west coast in the 1830s and were attracted there to convert the many Native Americans to Christianity.
- Larger groups then began to arrive west, to create a new life for themselves away from their old life in the east. Moreover, the first of these people were the Peoria Party, who went west in 1839. These were followed by other groups similar to them in the 1840s. The routes that they took were known as the Oregon and California Trails.
- Economic issues in the east lead to many people making their way westward, especially after 1837 saw the Great Recession, which lead to unemployment and low wages in the east.
- European immigration meant that the east became overpopulated and there was little space for people to farm and have a livelihood. This was different in the west, as there was little settlement there, meaning there was ample space for new people.
- Outbreaks of yellow fever in the east meant that people went west to escape this.
- The west offered people cheap and fertile land and this was different to the east where land was less fertile and more expensive.
- The government funded campaigns to encourage settlement in the west.
- Manifest destiny encouraged many Americans to go west, as they were influenced, by their faith, to go and occupy the land; it was their GOD-GIVEN right to have it. John L.O'Sullivan coined the term in 1845, as a simple way to describe the already established belief.
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Effects
- The gradual, yet mass migration of settler from the east to the west lead to the Great Migration of 1843, which saw 1000 people move from east to west at one given point. This was due to many others gradually making their way west, showing the possible success that people could have in the west.
- The eastern epidemics of yellow fever may have been a result of overcrowding in the east and this meant that, when people went to the less populated west, there was less disease, as people were not living on top fo each other.
- An effect of overcrowding in the east was that land was more expensive, as it was in higher demand, meaning that (when people went west) they stayed as they could own good land that was affordable for them.
- The government wanted people to take land in the west; then it would strengthen America's claim to it, as so many Americans were already settled on it. This would definitely strengthen their case to keep the land, if they ever had to fight for it.
- The belief in Manifest Destiny would have influenced many Americans to believe that they could take the western settling land from the Native Americans; as, it was their God-given right to do so. Also, this would have influenced many others to say that they were superior (in the eyes of God) to the native Americans; they were on their land, making them more superior in a situation similar to this.
- As a result of desperation to get to the west quick (due to the many put and pull factors), the Donner Party went west in 1846, but took a short cut (out of desperation) but got stuck in snow and this mean that, out of the 87 that went on the journey less than 50 survived, by eating the corpses of their fellow settlers. This is example of the sheer desperation for people to get west.
- The journey westward was dangerous and 10% of the migrants would die on the way, as a result of trying to cross rivers and mountains with wagons, food and water shortages, disease (for example: typhoid and cholera) and accidents (such as: accidental shootings and people falling under wagon wheels.)
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