5.34

****Standard 5.35>** media type="custom" key="29338509" align="right" = = = = =Explain the reasons that pioneers moved west from the beginning to the middle of the 19th century, and describe their lives on the frontier .=



//Focus Question: What motivated westward expansion by the pioneers and what were their lives on the frontier?//

 * ===Link to United States History I.26 for material on westward expansion and relationships with Native Americans.===
 * === **For further information on manifest destiny and territorial expansion, link to United States History AP Theme 9** ===


 * [[image:primary_sources.PNG link="@http://library.mtsu.edu/tps/sets/Primary-Source_Set--Westward-Migration.pdf"]]Primary Source Set: Westward Expansion from Middle Tennessee State University**
 * Lewis & Clark
 * Santa Fe Trail
 * Oregon Trail
 * The Pony Express
 * Transcontinental Railroad

[[image:map_icon.jpeg width="58" height="37"]]Link here for a [|virtual tour of the Oregon Trail], 1843
Oregon Trail Simulation using the programming language Scratch

Play the Original 1990 Oregon Trail designed as a Floppy Disk game for the Apple II computer here


 * The Oregon Trail Experience: Minecraft Meets the Oregon Trail**


 * [[image:Multimedia.png link="@https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvSG7y4irZ4"]]The Oregon Trail, video from Ken Burns**

One of the first women to walk the 2000 mile Oregon Trail
 * The Letters and Journals of Narcissa Whitman, 1836-1847**


 * An Oregon Trail Diary, 1852 by Mary Jane Sarah Watkins**

Push and Pull Reasons Why the Pioneers Moved West
Historians discuss //**push/pull**// factors in why people moved from the east (places like Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and New York) to the west.
 * Pioneer settlers were sometimes **//pushed//** west because they couldn't find good jobs that paid enough. Others had trouble finding land to farm. With more and more people from Europe moving into the eastern states, crowding was sometimes a problem. Still others wanted to move from their homes in the east because they didn't like the new industries and the developing cities.
 * Pioneer settlers were sometimes //pulled// west because they wanted to make a better living. Others received letters from friends or family members who had moved west. These letters often told about a good life on the frontier. The biggest factor that pulled pioneers west was the opportunity to buy land. [|Pioneers] could purchase land for a small price compared to what it cost in states to the east.

With the much newly acquired land from the Louisiana Purchase and the Annexation of Texas, President Thomas Jefferson chose William Clark and Meriwether Lewis to explore these newly purchased lands since little was known about them.
 * This became to be known as the [|Lewis and Clark Expedition]
 * (See Grade 5.30 for more on Lewis & Clark)

Not everyone came to the West from the eastern part of the United States. [|Chinese] and Japanese immigrants came from Asia to the western frontier.

Lives on the Frontier and Wagon Trains
The travels of the Pioneers varied among their travels. They commonly used trails such as the [|Oregon Trail] and the Natchez Trail on their journey.

The Pioneers traveled in a wagon called a covered wagon. The wagon was usually a wooden wagon made of hickory, oak, or maple. A wooden piece made from hickory stuck out from the front of the wagon. This piece called a tongue was connected to the yoke of the oxen, mules, or horses.
 * The wagon could not carry more than 2,000 pounds.
 * It had big wooden hoops, called bows that were bent from side to side.
 * There would be 4 to 7 wooden hoops on one wagon.
 * There was a canvas pulled across the hoops that would keep out the rain, wind, and the hot sunshine.
 * Pioneers would rub oil on the canvas to make it waterproof. Inside the wagon there were many hooks that hung from the wooden hoops. They could hang weapons, clothes, milk cans, and anything there was room for.
 * The front wheels of the wagon were smaller than the back wheels. This helped the wagon turn. Underneath the back wheels there was a bucket full of grease hanging from the axle. This was used to make the wheels run smoothly.
 * The [|Conestoga wagons] were called prairie schooners because from a distance the conestoga wagon looked like a ship sailing slowly across the green prairie.

Traveling in a wagon was not an easy trip. There were many things that could go wrong. Some wagon wheels would break or there would be no water. If they ran out of food they would need to hunt. When they were on the trail it was very noisy because all the pots and pans hanging off the wagons were clanging against each other.

They would take as many supplies as they could with them. Some of the the food they would take included: yeast for baking, crackers, cornmeal, bacon, eggs, dried meat, potatoes, rice, beans, and a big barrel of water. The pioneers might even take some chocolate for special occasions. They would also take a cow if they had one. They would use it for milk and meat. Pioneers made their own clothing so they brought cloth to sew, needles, thread, pins, scissors, and leather to fix worn-out shoes. They had to make their own repairs so they brought saws, hammers, axes, nails, string and knives.