Essay, Research Paper: Development Of The West Beyond The Mississippi

Development Of The West Beyond The Mississippi
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The years 1840 to 1890 were a period of great growth for the United States. It was
during this time period that the United states came to the conclusion that it had a
manifest destiny, that is, it was commanded by god to someday occupy the entire
North American continent. One of the most ardent followers of this belief was President
James K. Polk. He felt that the United States had the right to whatever amount of
territory it chose to, and in doing this the United States was actually doing a favor for
the land it seized, by introducing it to the highly advanced culture and way of life of
Americans. Shortly after his election he annexed Texas. This added a great amount of
land to the United States, but more was to follow. The Oregon Territory became a part
of the United States is 1846, followed by the Mexican Cession in 1848 and the Gadsden
Purchase in 1853. At this point the United States had accomplished its manifest
destiny, it reached from east to west, from sea to shining sea. Now that the lands it so
desired were finally there, the United States faced a new problem- how to get its
people to settle these lands so they would actually be worth having. Realistically, it is
great to have a lot of land, but if the land is unpopulated and undeveloped, it really
isn't worth much. And the government of the United States knew this. One of the
reasons that many did not choose to settle there immediately was that the lands were
quite simply in the middle of nowhere. They were surrounded by mountains, inhabited
by hostile Indians, and poor for farming. Because of these geographical conditions, the
government was forced to intervene to coax its citizens into settling the new lands.
Basically the lands were not settled because they were available, they were settled
because of various schemes the government concocted to make them seem desirable.

The government participated in a great "push" to get its citizens to move to west. At
first few people moved to the west, but this changed when gold was discovered in
California in 1848. This caused a "gold rush" to the west coast which consisted of many
prospectors seeking to find their fortunes in the gold mines of California. Many traveled
to the west coast, however few actually found their fortunes. The problem remained
that the midwest was still relatively unpopulated. There were people on the west coast
of the United States, there were people on the east coast of the United States, but
relatively few in the center of the country. In order to convince people to move to the
central midwest, the United States started a massive propaganda drive that Hitler
would have been proud of. Everywhere one would look they would find brochures telling
of how wonderful the central midwest was, and how it would be an ideal setting for
someone to settle down and raise a family, and how it was great for farmland. In the
tradition of propaganda, however, this was often far from the truth. In reality the land
that looked so beautiful in the brochures and posters was actually the Great American
Desert. To work in conjunction with the propaganda posters and brochures, the United
States passed the Homestead Act, which offered extremely cheap land to anyone who
was willing to live on it and farm it. The Homestead Act actually went as far as offering
tracks of land as large as 160 acres for as little as ten dollars. The Wyoming Territory
actually went as far as passing laws allowing women's suffrage and property rights to
encourage settlers. This would seem like a step forward in human rights. In actuality,
this was a terrible periods for civil rights for a certain ethnic group: the Indians.

President Hayes was one of the most ardent supporters of the Homestead Act.
However there was another act passed under Hayes called the Dawes Act that was a
travesty as far as the Indians were concerned. Under this act, the Indians were able to
become citizens of the United States and participate in the Homestead Act, but at a
terrible price. In order to become a citizen, an Indian would have to move away from
his reservation, renounce his tribal ways, and "accept" American ways. Needless to
say, this made the Indians furious. Originally designed to remove the Indian problem so
more settlers could move to their lands, it only served to make the Indians madder.
Now settlers were claiming they could not settle in the west because of fear of being
carved up by blood-thirsty Indians. To try to remedy the problem, the government sent
men like General Custer to dispel the Indian problem. Although Custer was slightly
successful at first, he was eventually killed by a group of Indians at the Battle of Little
Big Horn. Needless to say, white man-Indian relationships were at a low point in this
period.

In conclusion, the west was settled slowly because, geographically it was in the middle
of nowhere. It was isolated from the rest of the country, although the transcontinental
railroad would soon solve this problem. Another problem of the west was the hostility of
the Indians, which was not the unjustified considering what they had gone through.
Although today the central midwest is populated, it is not to the degree that the
coastal areas are, and it will likely remain that way until the population of the United
States becomes so large it actually forces people to move there.