Western Expansion In The Nineteenth-Century

In the time between 1860 and 1900, many American settlers made their way across the western plains in search of a new future for generations to come. This experience was deemed the Western Expansion. Also another term that would describe this period would be Manifest Destiney. The term Manifest Destiney was coined in the 19th-century and is the belief that the expansion of the US and exploration of natural resources was justified under the US constitution. As more Americans settled the West, the lands they inhabited were established in territories. Both before and after the Civil War, people were exploring and settling in the Western parts of the United States. Settlers were pouring into California and Oregon discovering new sources of

income, agriculture, and a chance to experience all that country had to offer at the time.
The first wave of westward expansion began with the manufacturing of roads, canals, and railroads beginning in New England.

A faster system of mobility allowed for the connection of towns and cities and allowed a path for families to settle across the west. The California gold rush was a major factor in westward migration. The mining company allowed for people from all areas of the US to try and make it big by mining for gold. Men would pack up their families in search of a brighter tomorrow. Women often performed housework that allowed mining families to subsist in often difficult conditions, a significant portion of the mining workforce were single men without families dependent on service industries in nearby towns and cities. During this time, there is a record of around 100,000 pilgrims that settled these lands during the time of the gold rush.  The income from the migration specifically regarding the gold rush estimated at around $25.5 million (Source). This was less than Half of what outside parties that moved in search of gold had invested in this

migration.
Along with the search for a sustainable income, people also migrated to the west for an opportunity to be the first to cultivate land and produce agriculture. Family farms were very important for the economy after the civil war and so naturally it would help expand the nation throughout the migration. A key component of the agriculture in the west was the passing of the Homestead Act in 1862. The Homestead Act allowed male citizens to claim federally-owned lands in the West. Settlers would begin to head west, choose a 160 acre surveyed section of land, file a claim, and begin farming. The flat treeless land was the perfect environment for crops. After five years of living on the land, the farmers could apply for the official title deed to the land and make it officially theirs. Hundreds of thousands of Americans used the Homestead Act to acquire land (Source). There was an estimated growth in family owned farms within western states that included almost 200,000 farms all across the western states. The federal government counted 200,000 persons in Texas in 1850, 1,600,000 in 1880, and 3,000,000 in 1900, becoming the sixth most populous state in the nation. (Source)
Another main reason for the westward migration was the search for adventure.

The settlement of a new region was exiting and offered and sense of change that many American citizens would find appealing. Mining families were adventurous in the fact that they risked everything in order to test their luck in search for gold and silver. Farming families would migrate to a new unfamiliar region in order to try and succeed in the agriculture business. Even cattle ranchers would spend two to three months migration loads of livestock in order to be able to cultivate new land. The adventure that followed the western migrations created a new world that resulted in the expansion of the United States and for new opportunities for all US

citizens.
In conclusion, the movement of people that has resulted in the settlement of America is one of the most fascinating and important events that took place in the history of the United States. Nowhere else has an area of equal size been able to settle as a result of the initiative of faster travel. Westward expansion helped stimulate the American economy from mining and agriculture to families that were looking for a change in scenery. The beautiful western states offered exactly what the United States were needing after the divide of the nation after the Civil War and allowed for this nation to flourish and become the great nation it is today.