Heading West

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Heading West
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Manifest Destiny

• Idea that God wanted America to spread from sea
  to sea
• Reasons
• Religious freedom
• Wanted own land

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Settling Land

• squatter person who settles on land hoping to
  own it
• Jethro Tull iron blade plow
• John Deere plow with sharp steel blades
• Cyrus McCormick mechanical reaper

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Moving West (Trails)

• Oregon controlled by both U.S. GB
• California owned by Mexico but Americans
  allowed to settle there
• Oregon Trail most popular westward route
• Others
• California Trail
• Santa Fe Trail

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Trails cont.

• Mormon Trail
• Religious freedom
• Brigham Young led 1,000s west
• Stopped at the Great Salt Lake
• Travel
• Journey made in conestoga wagons
• 5-6 months at 15 miles per day
• Men drove wagon, hunted, tended animals
• Women cooked, laundry, child care

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The Donner Party

• The trip west was extremely difficult and didnt
  always go as planned
• Roughly half of the 87 ppl in the group died on
  the trip