The frontier never closed; instead it changed. After spending nearly the entire 19th century shifting quickly west, the frontier gradually moved east, to the point where large stretches of the Great Plains have now reverted to frontier.

As settlers and homesteaders moved westward to improve the land given to them through the Homestead Act, they faced a difficult and often insurmountable challenge. The land was difficult to farm, there were few building materials, and harsh weather, insects, and inexperience led to frequent setbacks.

Now they were being asked to restrict their desires to expand and explore. This angered the colonists. They felt the Proclamation was a plot to keep them under the strict control of England and that the British only wanted them east of the mountains so they could keep an eye on them.

How Did Colonists React to the Proclamation of 1763? A desire for good farmland caused many colonists to defy the proclamation; others merely resented the royal restrictions on trade and migration. Ultimately, the Proclamation of 1763 failed to stem the tide of westward expansion.

Describe the kinds of hardships these new settlers faced. The times were hard and the food scarce. They had to raise their own plants and gardens and hunt animals for food.

Interesting Facts about Daily Life on the Frontier Native Americans often helped the settlers, teaching them how to plant crops and about the local herbs they could use for medicine. Settlers didn’t have running water or bathrooms. They had outhouses where they used leaves or dried cornhusks for toilet paper.

Once they embarked, settlers faced numerous challenges: oxen dying of thirst, overloaded wagons, and dysentery, among others. Trails were poorly marked and hard to follow, and travelers often lost their way.

Pioneer settlers were sometimes pulled west because they wanted to make a better living. Others received letters from friends or family members who had moved west. These letters often told about a good life on the frontier. The biggest factor that pulled pioneers west was the opportunity to buy land.

I thing the most difficult part of moving west for the settlers is leaving their family and their partner.

Suggested Teaching Instructions

• Gold rush and mining opportunities (silver in Nevada)
• The opportunity to work in the cattle industry; to be a “cowboy”
• Faster travel to the West by railroad; availability of supplies due to the railroad.
• The opportunity to own land cheaply under the Homestead Act.

Some had trouble finding a job, overcrowding started being an issue in certain areas, and farmers wanted more land to farm. Others just didn’t like living in what was becoming an industry-driven country with large cities. Still others moved west to escape persecution.

One of the main reasons people moved west was for the land. There was lots of land, good soil for farming, and it could be bought at a cheap price. There were many different opportunities to get rich, such as: logging, mining, and farming that could not be done in the east.

The consequences of the Westward Expansion include purchases, wars, trails, compromises, and impacts on social groups. The War of 1812 and the Mexican American War had many casualties. The California Gold Rush led to emigration from other countries and helped boost the economy.

Americans justified westward expansion through the ideology of Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was a term coined in the mid-1840s.

The United States expansion abroad was bad because it was based on the economic exploitation of people and resources from other countries. Expansion abroad was not justified because the United States infringed on the rights of other free people.

There were also negative effects of Manifest Destiny. This idea that it was their destiny to expand caused Americans to disregard the territorial rights of Native Americans, wiping out many tribes and causing a cultural divide, tension and wars.

Westward Expansion generally had negative effects on the Native Americans. Native Americans were forced to live on reservations. The buffalo, an important resource, experienced rapid population decline. Military conflict between Whites and Native Americans resulted in many deaths.

Three effects of Westward expansion were conflicts with American Indians over land use the discovery of gold in the American River and the addition of Texas into the United States.

Terms in this set (10)

• Pro #1: There was territorial expansion.
• Pro #2: It brought more land for farming and improvement.
• Pro #3: It was good for trade and industry.
• Pro #4: As it doubled the land area of the U.S., it also increased goods, services and wealth.
• Pro #5:
• Pro #6:
• Con #1:
• Con #2.

Land, mining, and improved transportation by rail brought settlers to the American West during the Gilded Age. New agricultural machinery allowed farmers to increase crop yields with less labor, but falling prices and rising expenses left them in debt.

The mining industry was one of the industries that had great impact for the westward expansion in northamerica. Many people seeking wealth settled in western territories creating small mining towns. The timber industry began when settlers cut wood to build their settlements on American land.

Much of the West had a drier climate than that of the East, and western terrain often proved much harsher. As a result, immigrants to the West had to adapt and find new ways of doing things to survive. Their efforts were aided by improvements in transportation, communication, farm equipment, and other areas.

As a result, cholera, known as the “unseen destroyer” spread by contaminated water, was responsible for the most deaths on the overland trails to California and Oregon.

If one managed to grow old in the American West – not a great occurrence, as the average life expectancy in the 19th century was 30- to 45-years-old – there was of course no Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or other government programs as we know them today to help the elderly during their “golden years.” Thus.