Chapter 13: Manifest Destiny Section 1: Trails West

1
Chapter 13 Manifest DestinySection 1 Trails
West
B
2
Would anyone like to know about Jacksons Tariff
of Abominations?

• Or the crisis of nullification?
• William Henry Harrisons run for the presidency
  against John Tyler?
• The rise of the Whig party?

• Then read about it in your book were not going
  over it in class

B
3
The west was really beginning to open up in the
mid 1800s

• Some of the first white people in the west were
  mountain men
• These men were independent, tough, adventurous,
  willing to take on anything.
• Many of them were trappers looking for animal
  skins to eventually send east.

B
4

• Theyd spend their time trapping animals.
• Theyd agree to meet traders from the east once
  in a while.
• These meetings were called the rendezvous
  system.
• (a rendezvous is a meeting)
• Theyd then get supplies to last them while they
  hunted some more.

B
5
The next wave of people went west because of land

• Land speculators (19) bought huge areas of land.
• They would divide it up and smaller pieces to
  newcomers in the west and make a good profit.

B
6
The next group came west as farmers good
productive land.

• Then came groups of people like merchants and
  manufacturers trying to make money by selling
  farmers products.

B
7
B
8
How would you get west?

• On one of the several main trails west
• The Oregon Trail
• The California Trail
• The Santa Fe Trail
• The Old Spanish Trail
• The Mormon Trail
• The one you took depended on the purpose of your
  trip

B
9
For example The Santa Fe Trail

• Was for American businessmen who hoped to make a
  profit selling new products in Mexico and some
  of them became VERY rich.
• When people heard how much money you could make,
  lots more went thats the first time you hear
  of the prairie schooner.
• From Missouri to Mexico was about 800 miles and
  the trip might take 2-3 months.

B
10
B
11
One most people have heard about The Oregon
Trail (29)

• The first white men to Oregon were missionaries.
• Then came stories about the rich land and
  thousands decided that Oregon was the place to go.

B
12
Today if you decide you want to go to Oregon,
you might fly, or at least get in a car and take
a couple of days to drive there.

• But in 1840 it wasnt that easy.
• Indians?
• Animals?
• Sickness/disease?
• Accidents?
• Starvation/no water?
• Freeze to death in the mountains?

B
13
B
14
Your packet has a1st person account of the
Oregon Trail

• Why that might be a good description of what
  happened

• Why that might be a bad description of what
  happened

B
15
The one group people sometimes talk about were
the Donner party

• They became trapped in the Sierra Nevada
  Mountains and were forced to build a winter camp
  with little food to sustain them. When the food
  ran out, some survived by eating the corpses of
  their companions. It was several weeks before
  rescue parties could be sent to help because of
  the Mexican War. Even after the war ended, not
  everyone could be rescued at once because of the
  harsh weather conditions and difficult terrain.
  The last of the survivors reached Sutter's Fort
  (now Sacramento) almost exactly one year later.
  Of the 87 members of the Donner Party, 46
  survived.

B
16
And the Mormon Trail

• Mormons (46) are from the Church of Jesus Christ
  of Latter Day Saints
• Their religion claims Jesus came to Vermont to
  Joseph Smith and told him to start a new
  Christian church in the Americas.
• Mormons had some ideas that others didnt like
  such as polygamy (52) (many wives)
• The Mormons were chased out of New England and
  moved to Illinois (Nauvoo).

B
17
In Illinois, an anti Mormon mob killed Joseph
Smith and they decided they needed a place to
live where no-one would bother them

• This place was out west to the Utah Territory
  (their new leader was Brigham Young).
• Utah at that time was actually part of Mexico.
• When they got there, they settled by the Great
  Salt Lake and theyre still there today.
• Today, Utah is about 60-75 Mormon

B
18
B