The Westward Movement 1832-1889

VOICES FROM AMERICA’S PAST
Edited by Richard B. Morris Gouverneur Morris Professor of History Columbia University New York, New York
James Woodress Chairman, Department of English San Fernando Valley State College Northridge, California
WEBSTER PUBLISHING COMPANY ST. LOUIS ATLANTA DALLAS
VOICES FROM AMERICA’S PAST The Beginnings of America 1607-1763 The Times That Tried Men’s Souls 1770-1783 The Age of Washington 1783-1801 The Jeffersonians 1801-1829 Jacksonian Democracy 1829-1848 The Westward Movement 1832-1889 The House Divided: The Civil War 1850-1865 ( Other titles in preparation )
Copyright ©, 1961, by Webster Publishing Company Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved
It is hard to fix a beginning date for the Westward Movement, unless we start with 1492 and Columbus’ first voyage of discovery. In reality the entire history of the New World is a movement of Europeans to the Western Hemisphere. In earlier booklets in this series we have dealt with the migrations of pioneers from the Atlantic Coast to the land beyond the Appalachian Mountains. We also have covered the expedition of Lewis and Clark to the Pacific Coast in 1805 and the annexation of Texas in 1845. This booklet is primarily concerned with the region beyond the Midwest, the high plains, the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevadas, the deserts, and the fertile Pacific Coast.
Restlessness and mobility have always been distinguishing characteristics of the American people. Revolutionary War veterans settled in Ohio or Kentucky and lived to see their children move on to Missouri or Texas. Their children’s children pushed farther west to the Pacific Coast over the Oregon Trail or sailed around Cape Horn to join the gold rush in California. The westward movement still goes on, as a glance at the latest census report will quickly show. The difference is that nowadays the immigrant can arrive in California in a few hours by jet from New York, pan his gold on the assembly line of a company making guided missiles, and sleep in a cabin with a barbecue grill and a swimming pool in the back yard.