Why do people move?

Westward
Trails
Manifest Destiny
Manifest destiny was a cultural belief in the 19th-century United States
that American settlers were destined to expand across North America.
There were three basic tenets to the concept:
● The special virtues of the American people and their institutions
● The mission of the United States to redeem and remake the West
in the image of the agrarian East
● An irresistible destiny to accomplish this essential duty
Santa Fe Trail

● Established 1822
● Major Trade route connecting
Santa Fe with Franklin, Missouri
and by extension St. Louis,
Missouri which was a major trading
post on the Mississippi River
● International Trail between Mexico
and United States passing through
Comancheria - The territory of the
Comanche.
Oregon Trail
● Established in the 1830’s by mountain men and fur traders and widely
publicized by the early 1840’s. 2,170-miles from Independence Missouri to the
Willamette Valley in Oregon
● From the early to mid-1830s (and particularly through the years 1846–1869)
the Oregon Trail and its many offshoots were used by about 400,000 settlers,
farmers, miners, ranchers, and business owners and their families.
California Trail
● Late 1840’s route to get to the California
Gold Fields. The first portion of the trail
follows the Oregon Trail
● Has several offshoots to get to various
different gold fields.
● More people travelled the California Trail
than any other westward route
Mormon Trail
● Also an offshoot of the Oregon Trail
● First used in 1846-47 by members of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints on the way to Salt Lake
Valley from Illinois
● Like the other trails, it became
obsolete once the Transcontinental
Railroad was finished in 1869.
So Why Did People Move?
● To make money via trade
● The promise of free and fertile land
● The opportunity to try and get rich
quick in California
● Religious freedom
● Manifest Destiny!
Student Questions
How many people died on the Oregon
Trail? 20,000
Can you still walk the Oregon Trail?
Yes! There are wagon ruts in some
places
How long did it take to walk the Oregon
Trail? It normally took 4 to 6 months.
Travel the Or
egon Trail