Exam Paper 1 In what ways did the American West of the late nineteenth century represent a contrast to the East? In what ways did the two regions resemble each other? The contrasts between the American West and East in the nineteenth century range from a new start to the adventure of the living in the Wild West. The east had become overcrowded and did not allow much opportunity for people of lesser wealth. “In 1893, the historian Frederick Jackson Turner gave a celebrated lecture, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” in which he argued that on the western frontier the distinctive qualities of American culture were forged: individual freedom, political democracy, and economic mobility. The West, he added, acted as a “safety …show more content…
The east was full of diverse cultures and new ideas, the west had many cultures that gave it diversity as well. The east was filled with large metropolises and businesses. The west was a wide open range metropolis that had ranches that could reach thousands of acres and enough cattle to feel a moderate city. So while the east was full of people making money for people the west too was full of people making money for people. The diverse cultures where basically the same. The immigrants tired of slaving for big corporations in the east moved west and brought their cultures with them. The west had cultures from all over the globe because the ones that moved out west for the opportunities that the west presented also brought family members that hadn’t even been to this country yet. The east at times was just as scary as the west with gangsters, and mobsters, and rich powerful politicians. You could just as easily disappear in New York as you could in San Francisco. The similarities between the east and west didn’t stop there, with the introduction of the railroad the west became a booming place for business. A lot of smart business men saw this potential and jumped on it just as they had building huge manufacturing plants on the east coast they bought up land to create mega ranches that eventually put a lot of the smaller farms out of
In 1893 Frederic Jackson Turner a historian, introduces the “Frontier Thesis” in Columbian Exposition, he explains from this thesis about the importance of American history. Frontier thesis remarks the end of a great historic society. Because Frederic Jackson argues that continuous western settlement had an extraordinary impact on American social, political and economic development throughout 20th
1. The Truth: In the 1880s, many citizens moved to the west after the Civil War. They came to mine and farm, for greater economic development. Whites and blacks both came, blacks especially to found their segregated towns.
Susan Rhoades Neel - A Place of Extremes: Nature, History, and the American West In her essay, Susan Rhoades Neel examines the significance of the environment of the American West when shaping western history by referring to and analyzing regional approaches claimed by Webb, Limerick, Worster, and White in order to deemphasize Frederick Jackson Turner's frontier thesis. In fact, most historians may regard Turner's theory as the most influential and adequate one in attempting at giving meaning to the mythical territory of western America as it offers a common sense for the entire American nation. Nonetheless, because of the particular emphasis on nature and the human - nature relation, new approaches have been developed in order to outline
During the period of 1830 to 1860, it is the time that had been changed American West so much. It is actually critical and controversial for the specific reasons and evidence why the American obviously becomes more significant. I would like to highlight the important points about this issue. Since the end of Louisiana Purchase, the US government broadly stated the idea of expansionism, around 1840, through many areas of America in order to occupy territory, the growth of federal government, and the creation of a bureaucratic state. With Polk as a president of US, he declared the needs to expand the territories westward.
Along with the westward development, the Transcendental Railroad fueled economic growth and began to change the industrial
In this essay I will account for the key events of the Westward Expansion, while also incorporating a discussion of the United States national identity, and the procedures that best express this credence. I expect
During this time period in the United States, the country was growing and expanding, cities in the American east were booming and “filled to the brim” with people. The West was untouched by man and filled with clean land. Manifest Density and the American dream, were all “pushing” the Donner party to go west. But there was a lot of risks involved. Their Health, Lives, and Fortunes.
In my opinion and based on readings I think that the western frontier fostered values of American democracy and individualism. Moving west allowed settlers and even immigrants the opportunity to make a new life for them and their families. The “Gold Rush” and mining for other precious metals such as silver, copper, lead and iron brought many people west to explore and find riches. Many cities such as Virginia City, Nevada were industrialized and colonized by those who wanted to find riches in those precious metals. Many of these settlers were immigrants, it is noted that the Utah Territory, that eventually became known as Nevada, had about 30 percent of people settling that were from outside the United States, compared to 25 percent in New
some of the reasons are the soil in the east is thin and overworked. Traveling west is a good opportunity to find new and rich farmland. Most people did not have enough money to buy farmland in the east. The settlers found it easier to get land in the west. The fertile rich soil helped the farmers that moved west to be successful.
A massive amount of Americans moved west of the Mississippi River between the Civil War and the end of the 1800s for many reasons. I think the biggest reason for the movement was all of the new land. People even lined up at the border of Oklahoma in 1889 waiting to claim land. Another reason people moved west was to earn lots of money. When gold was discovered in a town, a tremendous amount of people moved to that town so it became a boomtown.
Characteristically, the settlement of American land was established almost exclusively by men, especially those of European decent. Therefore, after the Louisiana purchase -- and the consequential doubling in size of the continental United States -- the western half of the country begged to be explored and settled, a job that many believed lay in the hands of the white man. Despite the “White Man’s West” that lay readily ahead of them, many potential settlers were hesitant to travel to the newly claimed land. It wasn’t until the combination of both the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the Homestead Act of 1862, alongside the construction of complex railway systems, that a mass migration from the east coast began to occur; unsurprisingly, the majority of the demographic were indeed male. Throughout several years of work in rudimentary frontier towns and countless attempts to modernize the vast expanse of land the settlers had received, the living conditions of the Wild West remained harsh, any endeavor to provide comfort collapsed, and frankly the men west of the Mississippi River became desperate for the presence and attention of their female
In a sense, America is what it is today because of every challenge, every victory, every defeat it has faced. With each victory over the Native Americans, America gained new territory. Even slavery holds a place in the development of the western frontier. The allowance and disallowance of slavery existed in the new frontier depending on each territory’s popular choice. Instead of having separate states with split decisions and “ignoring the huge elephant (slavery) in the room,” the frontier proposed the idea of having a uniform decision where slavery was either illegal or legal in all territories, thus introducing the idea of democracy.
After the Civil War, many northerners began to promote the west, they wanted to advise people that there was scientific evidence that rain follows the plow. These promoters began promoting these images in magazines and writing articles to address that the west would soon be known as "The Garden of America. " People began to pack up all they had and moved to the west in hopes of providing for their families. It was a time of desperation for many Americans, newly freed Africa-Americans thought it would be a great opportunity to move out to the west. Corporations began to move west as well, the development of agribusiness began.
The new settlers, many from different parts of the world, in conflict with others, created lines on a map as land became physical property, exhibiting that migration was not just about adapting to new practices and ideas. The history of America’s West cannot exist without including growing savagery caused by the division between genders, races, and classes, as these events were not only processes. To Limerick, the discovery of the West was not just the end of a journey, but also “as many complicated environments occupied by natives who considered their homeland to be the
The Frontier’s Influence on the American Identity An important era in the history of American development reached its ending, but left its society anything but the same. The westward movement of the frontier in the seventeenth and eighteenth century created such ethical values for America, and has always been an inspiration for our country, and others, to expand. We were determined and industrious people, constantly driven by our wanting for free land and opportunity. The pioneers were people willing to face hardship for the sake of opportunity, hoping to find something better over the western horizon. The daily life of the settlers on the frontier was constantly filled with difficulties, and each of the frontier’s barriers the colonists came across challenged their discipline, their morals and values, and had an important role in the shaping of