Oregon Trail Essay

The Death Trap Trail During the early 1800s, a 2,200 trail was used to travel from Oregon to Illinois(or vice versa) for Americans migrants to claim land and settle on the other side. Fur trappers and traders laid out the trail and were the ones to establish it. Migrants used the trail to seek a better life on the other side. The use of this trail was one of the important events of our American History.

— Virginia Reed, daughter of James Reed. A tragic story of the Donner party is a very harrowing adventure through the journey of the big group and how about half of the people lived to tell the tale. On April 16, 1846 nine wagons were reported departing from Springfield Illinois on a journey of what is now called the Oregon Trail. Formerly known as the northern trail there were a lot of advantages and disadvantages to the Oregon trail there was more land and wonderful

In 1840, most of Western American was untouched by settlers. A few Americans lived in either territory, and most were scattered among the Mexican settlers. However, when the 1840s came around and saw a increase in American settlers in the West. Oregon drew many settlers from the Mississippi with the promise of farmland. During the 1830s the church had moved into Oregon's Willamette Valley, and by 1840, there were about a few hundred Americans there.

hook: Approximately 20,000 people died while traveling on the Oregon Trail, this fact alone is nearly enough to support the idea that American western expansion, due to the manifest destiny, was not justified. However, some other reasons why America was not justified in its expansion were that the settlers treated the natives harshly and inhumanely for no discernible reasoning, also the traveling was too much of a gamble, and finally that modern-day America is against imperialistic expansion. background info: thesis: America was not justified in its western expansion due to the lack of morality behind putting one person’s comfort above the safety of another. claim 1: Modern day America is against the taking of another country’s land

The Oregon Trail was traveled by over five hundred thousand people between 1841-1869. Many people wanted to travel on the Oregon Trail in hope of better health. They did not bring many supplies; they only brought the bare necessities. The pioneers traveled in covered wagons, called prairie schooners, pulled by oxen. The journey started in Independence, Missouri, and ended in Oregon City, Oregon.

In conclusion, the westward expansion was one of the most important times in American history but one of the hardest for those who made the journey. The settlers had to go through a lot of hardships to get a new life in the west. The Gold Rush helped bring people to the west and populate California so it became a state. People such as Sacagawea helped Lewis and Clark helped explore the new terrain and make maps so people could live there. Even though the pioneers got diseases, had conflicts with the Native Americans, and had to travel for long periods of time in a ship or covered wagon, they never gave up hope.

The Oregon Trail was written by Francis Parkman, Jr. Parkman was born on September 16, 1823 in Boston Massachusetts and died November 8, 1993, at age 70. He was a well known historian and writer, he attended Harvard College where he graduated in 1844. He is best known for this book The Oregon Trail and many of his accounts are still used as historical sources today. The book was originally published in 1849 and gave a vision of what Francis Parkman witnessed while traveling on the trail.

After years of waiting and preparing we started on the journey to the west. We made our way to Independence, Missouri to go on the Oregon Trail which was laid by traders and trapers. While there I became familiar with George Wilson who was also a working family man. A lot of families left together making the trail busy and causing jams..

The families came together to form what was called a wagon train in May 1846. Another reason for the Americans movement westward, was the belief in manifest destiny. Manifest destiny was the belief of the United States expanding towards the California coast. It was also because the views on religious freedom, were nowhere near as strict as they wear on the East

It changed the time it took to travel from the east coast to the west coast from a few months to a week. This transcontinental rail road brought a more civilized life to the west and helped the surge of immigrants heading west. This rail road also lead to a huge boom in agricultural trade from the national level all the way to the global

“In 1820, about 58 towns more than 2500 inhabitants; by 1840, there were 126 such towns, located mostly in the Midwest and Northeast.” The fastest growth occurring in areas were near canals, railroads, and roads because of the easy access of raw and manufactured materials. Toward the later 19th century, the settlers began to move west for cheaper property because the land inhabited near the town built around transportation was getting

During the late 1800’s, many settlers were expanding to the West and the Transcontinental Railroad helped them move from the East to the West. Some wanted to gain 160 free acres of land known as the Homestead Act. The Transcontinental Railroad connected the East and the West. The Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad were the companies that built the Transcontinental Railroad; however, the companies were run by greedy men and felt no guilt as they asked the government to pass special bills for them. The railroad cut through many lands and affected the Native Americans in a perilously way.

In between California and the rest of the country were the Great Plains which were not heavily populated so there was no easy way of trade and transportation to the growing western territories. A group of men called the “Big Four” which consisted of Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker and Mark Hopkins, decided what the country needed was a transcontinental railroad. Their company, The Central Pacific Railroad company would hire 15,000 Chinese men to work on constructing the railroad due to the fact that they would work for less than the average American. This made transportation cheaper and quicker than ever

Before the 1800s, there were two early roads, Forbes and Wilderness Road. In 1811, the National Road known as Cumberland Road was built to reach Western settlements, because they needed a road to ship farm products that connect East and West. The National Road passed thousand of wagons and coaches. John F. Stover states in American Railroads, “The rich agricultural production of the country, the small but expanding factories of eastern cities, and the largely untapped natural resources of the nation-all of these called for improvements in transport. ”(Stover1)

In the West during the 1800s, the population was expanding. It was Very Wild, So that is why they called it the "Wild West". Trails were expanding and the territories were being organized. In the southern of the United States lifestyle was more traditional.