Migrating West

1. Migrating West 9.1

2. Objectives • Trace the settlement and development of the Spanish borderlands. • Explain the concept of Manifest Destiny • Describe the causes and challenges of westward migration.

3. Key Parts • Settling the Spanish Borderlands • Americans Look Westward • The Journey Westward

4. Introduction • Read section 9.1 • Answer questions 4-6 on page 304

5. Settling the Spanish Borderlands • One of the biggest factors discouraging further settlement was the threat of war with nomadic Native Americans. • Colonists depended on protection based on an alliance with local Pueblo Indians. • Disease steadily reduced the Pueblo population. • During this time the nomadic Apaches were becoming more powerful.

6. Cont. • The nomads also acquired horses and weapons from the French. • This allowed them to become more successful hunters. • They still used bows and arrows to hunt with, but guns to wage war. • Some Apache’s found a haven in the canyons of the northwest New Mexico and settled. They were then called the Navajo.

7. Cont.. • Most Apaches stayed nomadic. • During this time raids on Spanish settlements became more frequent and destructive. • Comanches also began to attack Mexico as well. • Spanish Officials rescued New Mexico by building stronger frontier defenses and using more flexible diplomacy with the nomads.

8. Cont… • Spain learned it is better to become allies with some rather than fight all the nomads. • They paid the Comanche and Navajo to attack the Apaches. This worked pretty well for the most part. • As the colony became safer the population began to grow and its economy developed. • By 1821 the Hispanic population had grown to 40,000.

9. Americans Look Westward • In 1760 the Spanish increased their buffer zone into California to prevent the Russian Traders from attaining the land. • Led by Father Junipero Serra, Franciscan priests set up a string of missions. • The missions in California were much more successful than in New Mexico or Texas because the Indians there did not have guns or horses.

10. Cont. • In 1821 a revolution toppled Spanish rule and established Mexico as an independent republic. • Soon after American Expansionists began to covet New Mexico, Texas, and California. • These expansionist began to use the term Manifest Destiny in trying to gain land. • They said the God wanted the United States to own all of North America.

11. Cont.. • Mexican independence spurred American trade with northern Mexico. • The large systems of trails that the trade occurred on was called the Santa Fe Trail. • During this same time men began up the Missouri River into the Rockies seeking valuable furs from the abundant beaver filled mountain streams. They were called Mountain Men.

12. Cont… • These men found the best route through the mountains, in 1826 Jedediah Smith found a great route that became the California Trail. This linked the United States with the Pacific Coast. • A variant of this trail turned northwest at South Pass to reach Oregon Country. In 1836 Marcus and Narcissa Whitman established this trail as the Oregon Trail.

13. The Journey Westward • In 1842 an official government expedition led by John Fremont set off across the western country following the trails blazed by the Mountain Men and the Whitmans. • This stemmed the vast movement of wagon trains journeying west. • There were a lot of dangers to the 2,000 mile journey that took approximately five months to complete, but the rewards could be great.

14. Cont. • Between 1840 and 1860 about 260,000 Americans crossed the continent to settle on the west coast. • The Mormons decided to settle along the way. Brigham young moved the Mormons west to establish a new colony named New Zion on the eastern shore of the Great Salt Lake. • By 1860 around 40,000 Mormons moved west