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Topic: Oregon Trail, Trail of Tears, Westward Expansion

Last updated over 3 years ago
4 questions
Day 1 Learning Intention: I can examine the event of Oregon Trail that contributed to the United States Westward Expansion by analyzing multiple resources.
Day 2 Learning Intention:I can examine the event of The Trail of Tears that contributed to the United States Westward Expansion by analyzing multiple resources.
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Oregon Trail: 1st Person POV
An Oregon Trail Diary, 1852
We cast our lots and sought our fortunes in the far West. It meant leaving our homes, our loved ones, our parents, and our friends to endure the hardships of a long and tedious journey.... to brave the dangers of camp life in the mountain wilds, added to the terrors and fears of molestations by the Indians. Our reason for coming to Oregon . . . to get free land in the heavenly country where sickness was hardly ever known.
[In 1850 Congress passed a law which is known as the Donation Land Claim Bill. It gave a man and wife 640 acres, and 320 to single men or unmarried women.]
In 1852 the train was mostly from Decatur and Rush Counties, Indiana with considerable members from Ohio and Illinois. There were nearly 100 families of the oldest and best known of the counties and all were well fixed financially. The Sunday previous to our departure on March 5, 1852 we were prayed for in all the pulpits.
From Madison we chartered a new boat, the Kate Sweeney, to take us on our journey as far as St. Joseph, Missouri.

On March 14, 1852 at midnight we started loading our wagons and by daylight all were on board.

March 15th: We slipped cable and at 4 o'clock [p.m.] we were lying at the Louisville Wharf. The next day we passed over the Falls of the Ohio.

On March 16th: We touched at Shawnytown, Kentucky [Shawneetown, Illinois]. Some of the passengers got off the boat and nearly missed getting back on board. We passed the mouth of the Ohio about 9 o'clock [p.m.] Had a bad storm and could not land and so had to ride the storm out.

March 18th: We arrived in St. Louis about 10 in the morning, wind very strong and the dust flying. After dark we put out again and passed the mouth of the Missouri River during the night. There seemed something almost mysterious in the scene when we steamed into the yellow flood of the Missouri.

March 20th: We had service today with Mr. Worth preaching.
March 21st: Monday made Boonville. Today, had visitors, pretty girls.

March 23rd: We came across the "Alton" lying on a sand bar high and dry, we took some of her passengers in our cabin, was very crowded and uncomfortable. We also had some Indians aboard.
March [no date] We ran aground on a sand bar. The Limour coming up towed us off having been aground 12 hours.

March 26th: This morning during a high wind we ran against a bank and into a tree top tearing off a part of the guard and tore a large hole in the ladies cabin. In the evening we passed the mouth of the Kansas and caught the first glimpse of the Indian Territory.

March 27th: At 3 o'clock this evening we arrived at St. Joseph were we stayed one month buying teams, supplies, clothing and equipment for our trip. We held a meeting and agreed to start again on April 28.

April 28th: We completed our purchases, finished loading up, hitched in about 12 noon and started on our journey overland. We drove 12 miles and camped in a beautiful grove with lots of grass. We tied all the oxen and horses to the trees.

April 29th: We found some of our cattle had wandered away so had to form groups to look for them, but did not find them.

April 30th: Searched again for lost stock without finding them.

May 1: Rode 15 miles alternating between groves of beautiful timber and prairie. We came across curious mounds, some were 200 feet high. Had a bad thunder and lightning storm.

May 2nd: Went 5 miles. Hot and dry and dusty. The wind upset some of our tents. We traveled through Iowa for 100 miles.

May 8th: A lot of wagons bogged down at a bad slough. We overtook Mr. Hunt and Watkins Teams which had traveled faster than the main train. Here we dug a well to get drinking water.

May 10th: Our turn came to ferry over the river so we hitched up and raced to the river just in time to save our turn. There were 27 wagons together now.

May 9th & 10th: We crossed the Missouri River on a rope ferry where Omaha now stands. Nothing to see but Indian and Buffalo trails going down to water. Very quiet here, only sounds of the birds chattering and the wings of the locust or the wave made by the wind on the tall grass. Very depressing. The emigrants mostly were in stout wagons, there were a few horses but mostly all had oxen. On both sides of the Platte river a continuous stream of prairie schooners could be seen. We saw many Indians riding along on ponies with lowered heads. We forded the Platte River [at a place where Platte City now stands.] Each wagon cooked and ate by themselves. Stock was put in a corral made by a circle of wagons if the spot seemed unsafe, otherwise they were allowed to feed close by during the night. We encountered thunder storms with lightning. The streams raised during the hard storms and often ran through our tents. We also met with high wind storms which flattened our tents like mushrooms. Many of the immigrants were frightened out of their wits by the Indians. No plow had ever turned a furrow on the black loam. Our wagons were packed with boxes, bundles, bedding, tin cans and, in short, all the equipment of a camper who, as it were, took his life in his hands and had gone into an unknown land for a length of time where he will be cut off from communications without any base of supplies.

[Note by Mary Elkins:----May 16, 17, 18, 19, & 20 nothing much happened except that they passed thru two Indian villages which they plundered for the wood they contained. They also saw an Indian Chief's grave surrounded by 32 horse skulls forming a circle 12 feet wide.]

May 20th: We met a group of 300 to 400 Indians going to St. Joe with heavily loaded horses. Shortly afterward we met a party of 60 soldiers coming to punish the same group of Indians for some offence they committed.

May 23rd: Today we had our first death, that of a small child from whooping cough. Bad Camp. Poor grass and no wood.

May 23rd: Today a division of opinion arose, some wanted to stay here, others to go on to a better place to camp so 6 wagons left including Hunt, Watkins, Craig, and Stroup who get out by themselves.

June 26th: This morning we overtook Mr. Hunt. He was by himself having been left by his company near Laramie. One of his children, Mr. Craig's wife, Mr. Watkins and a young man named Jones and a young man named Garrett had all died of Cholera. Garrett seems to have been traveling west with the Hunts.
2

How has the journey along the Oregon Trail impacted the individuals along their journey? Provide two detail to support your response.

Trail of Tears

In the early 1800’s, America’s population was booming and people were moving west. Westward expansion came mostly at the expense of the Indians who were often forced to move from their native lands.
In the state of Georgia, the population increased 600 percent in the matter of 40 years. As a result, many of its native tribes were pushed out. The Cherokee Indians, of western Georgia, had managed to keep their land until gold was discovered in their territory in 1828. In 1830, however, President Andrew Jackson authorized the Indian Removal Act. The Cherokees fought the law, and it was overturned by Chief Justice John Marshall two years later.
Just three years later, however, in 1835, the Treaty of New Echota was signed. The "Treaty" was not authorized by the Cherokee Nation, but rather, a small group of Cherokee radicals led by John Ridge. Under the "Treaty", the Cherokee were to leave Georgia and the government would compensate them at a price determined to be about 5 percent of the value of the land. The majority of the Cherokee Nation would never have agreed to the "Treaty", but the U.S. government ratified it anyway. John Ridge was thus seen as a traitor by the Cherokees and would later pay with his life. The Georgia government then staged a "land lottery" in which Cherokee land was divided into 160 equal portions. They were sold to anyone who had $4.00 and who had won a chance to own land.
In 1838, General Winfield Scott and 7,000 troops invaded Cherokee land. Men, women, and children were forced to walk westward from Georgia nearly 1,000 miles with minimal facilities and food, to reservations set up for them in Oklahoma. Cherokee Chief, John Ross, eventually was able to convince Winfield Scott that his people should lead the tribe west. Scott agreed and Ross divided the people into smaller groups so they could forage for food on their own. Although Ross may have saved countless lives, nearly 4,000 Indians died walking this Trail of Tears.
2

Which of the following best describes the 1835 Treaty of New Echota?

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2014/06/17/interactive_map_loss_of_indian_land.html
1

What can you infer about the lives of the Native Americans during this time?