Impact of westward expansion

What did American gvmts encourage?

settler colonists to move west to open up the rest of the continent for the growing population and because of a belief in Manifest Destiny

What is Manifest Destiny?

(Americans had a god-given right to settle the rest of the continent)

What happened as a result of Manifest Destiny?

Native Americans were gradually driven out of their traditional lands

What did the 1830 Removal Act do?

Seen tribes moved from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Virginia on to the Great Plains in Oklahoma, which was designated as Indian Territory

How did process continue in 1840s?

Trails or tracks originally used by fur trappers or mineral prospectors earlier in the century provided routes to the West and encouraged US colonists to move to the fertile lands of Oregon in 1840s and California

How was westward movement given further encouragement?

By gold discovery and other minerals in the region. 1849 gold discovered in California

What did new settler colonists do to tribes already in those areas?

Displaced them, many of these NAs were fishers and if they stayed they were deprived of their fishing rights, but if they moved to the Plains they couldn’t continue traditional practice

What did the colonisation of the Appalachian Mountains by settler colonists do?

acted as a barrier between settler-colonists and Native Americans, and on to the Great Plains, where many of the NAs lived

What did treaties do?

Land handed over to US government (Fort Laramie 1868)

What did it become more difficult for NAs to do?

Follow buffalo