Early American Settlers

This is the first time the white America begin to settle west of the Mississippi in the early 1800s. There three reasons for them to settle in that particular area, the first was religious reasons, the second is they wanted social freedom and last they wanted wealth. This would be the beginning of westward migration of Americans. There were two phases, in the first phase the Americans moved without any kind of government’s consent they just packed and move out for personal reasons. The second reason was President James Polk was for American expansion. He believed in the power of Manifest Destiny which meant the American civilization was spread far and wide and that they were destined by God to take over North America's land. Between 1820 and

1844 they put together four unique territories in the West they were; Texas, Oregon, Utah and California.
Texas was the most popular place for all the migrants who was moving forward. Texas became a part of the nation of Mexico but first they were a Spanish colony until 1821. They found out that the new nation of Mexico was not as strong as Spain and they took the chance they had to settle in Texas, they brought their slaves with them and their cotton gins. During the move the American quickly moved in the area and in the past decade outnumbered the Mexican by 15,000 who were already living there. Only a handful of Americans took up the Mexican culture but the others did not care to, and choose to continue to speak English. Because of the difference in language they had to have separate schools. Even though Mexico abolished slavery in 1829 the American planter just ignored it because they had brought their own slaves to the west. Texas was gaining control and this made Mexico worried. They also saw that the Americans was still using illegal slaves and this infuriated the Mexicans governments so they started to raise taxes, they built new military post and they did not want any more American to settle in Mexico. But Mexico reacted too late the Americans and their slaves continued to pour in like running water.
General Santa Anna became the dictator of Mexico, and wanted to rein as dictator in Texas. Led by three of the prominent leaders in the West the Texans refused to let Mexico get the upper hand. So Santa Anna refused and took 1,600 troops in to attack San Antonio and the American rebels at a mission that was called the Alamo. During the battle there were western legends David Crocket, David Bowie and 187 others who were killed. The Texans had killed between 400 and 600 Mexicans soldiers. This was a win for Texas and slavery.
The Americans next settled in Oregon.

The Oregon fur trade started to increase in the early 1800s. Only a few Americans drifted into the distant Oregon and these were usually the protestant missionaries. The reason for this was that Oregon was actually controlled by some Native American Tribes and British fur companies. The British withdrew from Oregon when the beaver population started to decline. Around the 1830s and 1840s the Americans started to move in the Oregon Willamette River Valley and as time moved on the Americans increased in numbers from about 500 to 5000. As the American Settlers moved their settlement throughout the valley the Indians became closed in and felt that it was getting crowed and many of the Indians were dying from disease that was brought there by the American settlers. The actual trouble began when a group of Indians killed 14 settlers, and one of them killed was a white doctor who was treating the whites but refused to help the Indians. The violence with the Indians continued and there was increased government

control.
In the Great Salt Lake which would later become the state of Utah is where the Mormons came to seek religious persecution.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was founded by John Smith. This Mormon religion really emphasized a direct connection with God. The people who believed were attracted to John Smith. They had thousands of followers and many Christians viewed this as curious practices and peculiar ways and particularly polygamy which means plural marriages. The Mormons were growing in number and prospering until 1844 is where the trouble begin when a local newspaper who was frightened of smith who was growing in power wanted to exposed the polygamy practice which started and uproar. Other religions wanted to drive the Mormons out of town. The Mormon war of 1845 began so they torched about two hundred buildings that the Mormons owned in Nauvoo. Arrested for treason Smith and his brother Hyrum entered the jailed with others and they both were shot

dead.
The federal government was planning a raid and the Nauvoo city charter was revoked, at least that was the rumor. Brigham Young became Smith’s successor and he wanted to help his people leave Illinois peacefully so he negotiated a truce. They move to a remote location where the Mormons would be safe and not encounter any religious persecution. They could follow their own laws, customs and function independently. Young was an excellent leader and he had no trouble with his people following him to Salt Lake Utah. They did not live beyond the reach of the U.S. Government for very long, because as a part of the settlement of the Mexican-American war the United States took control over Utah. For the next fifty years this would give the Mormons and the federal government a contentious relationship.
The last of the four territories in the West was California which was farther west. In the 1840s there were huge land grants offered to several of American citizens and they were awarded to them by the new republican’s leaders. Over half of the resident that came to California from across the country because gold was the key attraction. In that era the Chinese made a big presents in California. The demographic of the miners were young unmarried men who had no intention of settling in California, they only had a desire to get rich. Whether or not the mines worked out or not the “forty-niners” ended up staying any way.
In Conclusion, there were four territories in the West and this was only the beginning of things to come in the west. The main interest in the western territories were the Market Revolution created access to the pacific ocean for closer trade routes. The government needed new transportation corridors, so they targeted land that they wanted. The political leaders knew that Westward expansion was popular. The most important is that Manifest Destiny beliefs was popular.