The factors making people travel west

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  • Created by: ell1e24
  • Created on: 20-02-16 12:20

Buying, selling and gossip

  • Mountain men and trappers were the first people to head west to trap beavers and hunt antelope
  • Big companies like The American Fur Company built trading stations (known as forts as they were defendable against the NAI's) where Agents would buy fur and skins from the mountain men and trappers
  • Gossip of rich fertile farming land spread quickly among the traders and spread eastwards towards the farmers 
  • Missionaries also spread news of rich fertile farming land in hope to gain helpers spread christianity to the NAI's 
  • People hoping to make some quick money also spread news of good farming land as all the essentials that were needed to travel west could have the price increased 
  • the news travelled east very fast and many people decided to head west in hope for a richer life
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Financial panic

  • Early 1830's good for those living in the east as there was full employment and good wages were paid-cotton trading especially good 
  • In 1837 that all changed though cotton prices dropped, banks increased interest rates on loans and people began to panic. Many banks collapsed, savings were lost, bussinesses closed and so people lost jobs. Those who did have jobs faced wage cuts as well. 
  • All of this lead people to wonder if life out west was better than were they were. 
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Farming Crisis

  • Farmers in Mississippi faced a crisis. The price of wheat they had been growing had dropped dramitically
  • They couldnt make a profit from it
  • Many faced ruin 
  • The population had also boomed from 14000 in 1830 to 353000 in 1840
  • This made farmers feel very crowded and closed in 
  • As a result many began to wonder what life out further west was like
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Manifest Destiny

  • By 1848 USA owned whole of continent of America, the government worried about how to keep control of these lands and came up with the solution of putting men and women loyal to the USA on those lands 
  • This solution soon became popular and was viewed as part of the American dream, the dream that the whole of America would be populated with white Americans
  • Eventually many came to believe that this was the right and natural thing to do, not only right and natural though it was their destiny. Their Manifest Destiny
  • So many started to head west believing it was their destiny to do so
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