New Settlers in the West

1. Read pages 10 - 18  List three reasons why people in the United States moved west.

a. The land in the east had very poor soil, and many people wanted to establish farms to make a living. These people moved out west for the farmland, as well as the forests for timber and mineral resources in the mountains. They were followed by doctors, lawyers, politicians, etc. to establish towns.

b. The population in the United States had more than doubled in forty years, from 7.25 million to 23 million. The crowding in cities led people to move west. Also, a lot of this growth was European immigrants looking to make a life for themselves in the Western frontier of America, so this contributed to the expansion as well. 

c. For some Americans, the West was a place where they could establish their own government, completely free of the discrimination of the Eastern policies. The Mormons migrated to Utah for religious freedom, whereas many former slaves moved west because at first it was a safe haven for blacks. This changed when more and more Anglo-Americans moved from the south, however. As part of this social freedom, Wyoming gave women the right to vote, which encouraged many women to move west as well.

2. How did westward expansion contribute to sectional tensions in the United States?

                 

             As more and more people moved west, groups in the Louisiana Territory began applying for statehood. This brought up the question of whether or not these new states would be slave states or not. By this time, most states in the north had emancipated slavery, while the south relied on slavery for their economy. There had always been a balance in the senate, an even number of slave and free states. States recognized that if these new states entered the union on their side of the argument, they could advance their agendas much more easily. The north and south fought often on the subject. In 1819, Missouri applied for statehood as a slave state. The north was worried, because this would upset the balance of eleven slave and free states in the senate. Eventually, with the help of Henry Clay, an act was passed admitting Missouri as a slave state at the same time as Maine being introduced as a free state. This was only a temporary fix however, as more people were moving west, so this argument would be brought up again and again, continuing to build tensions.

3. What was the Peace Policy?

                

                The Peace Policy was a policy introduced by Ulysses S. Grant reassessing the opinions of the U.S. towards Native Americans. The policy was responsible for putting Indians on reservations, where they would be instructed by religious leaders on English, U.S. farming methods, and Christianity. All Indians not in the reservations would be considered hostile by the U.S. government. Essentially, the Peace Policy was another attempt and at the pacification and assimilation of Indians.