Session 2

• American West


  The land that lay beyond the original 13 colonies
• Settling the American West

  1. Crossing natural boundaries/frontiers

  2. Appalachian Mountains

  3. Mississippi River

  4. Great Plains

  5. Rocky Mountains

  6. Plateaux Region

  7. Sierra Nevada

  8. Pacific coastlands
• Appalachian Mountains


  • 2000 metres high in places with steep rock faces and deep valleys
• Mississippi River


  • Wide, slow and dangerous to cross along much of its length with only 4 natural bridging points
  • Valleys of rivers flowing into it were wooded
  • Berries and other wild fruits were plentiful
• Great Plains


  • Rolling grassland
  • In the east the land is flat, with long prairie grass as far as the eye can see
  • As the land rises to the foothills of the Rockies, the grass becomes shorter
  • Barren landscape with few trees, little surface water
  • Semi desert in the south with extremes of climate (scorching sun/drought in summer but sub-zero /blizzards in winter; howling winds, tornadoes and sudden storms)
  • Great herds of buffalo, antelope, coyote, gophers as well as eagles and hawks
• White settlers regarded the Great Plains as inhospitable and uninhabitable, and did not believe at the start of the 19th century that the land could be cultivated
• Rocky Mountains


  • In the south the Rockies are heavily wooded and home to grizzly bears, beavers and mountain lions
  • Reach heights of 5 kms and are 1000 km wide
• Plateaux Region


  • Semi desert vegetation (sage brush and cacti) and dry hostile winds
  • To the north lies the Columbia basin which includes the Great Salt Lake
  • Further south the Colorado River Plateau is an area of dramatic canyons and ravines
• Sierra Nevada


  • Snow-capped peaks which form the backbone of the Pacific coast
  • Deep ravines and treacherous mountain passes which are blocked by snow in winter
  • Slopes are wooded and reach, in places, heights of 4500 metres
• Pacific coastlands


  • Hospitable with a milder climate and fertile soils
• Manifest Destiny


  The American belief that it was their God-given right to control and rule the whole of North America
• Manifest Destiny was first used by a journalist, John O'Sullivan, who wrote in the "New York Morning News" in December 1845 that "the right of our manifest destiny to overspread and possess the whole of the continent"
• To many Americans, Manifest Destiny meant that as they occupied the new lands, they should bring with them the ideas of Christianity, democracy and freedom
• The government in Washington was worried that unless the land was settled with loyal, hardworking Americans, other countries such as France, Britain, Mexico and Spain might try to take it back
• To encourage the settlers to fulfil their Manifest Destiny, the government gave away free or cheap land to settlers and to the railroad
• As Indians stood in the way of Manifest Destiny, many white settlers believed it was right that they should go to war with them