{"id":115,"date":"2023-03-06T23:52:24","date_gmt":"2023-03-06T23:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppschis1210\/chapter\/module-4-11\/"},"modified":"2023-03-31T03:24:27","modified_gmt":"2023-03-31T03:24:27","slug":"module-4-11","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppschis1210\/chapter\/module-4-11\/","title":{"raw":"4.11 Life and Culture in the West","rendered":"4.11 Life and Culture in the West"},"content":{"raw":"The dream of creating a democratic utopia in the West ultimately rested on those who picked up their possessions and their families and moved west. Western settlers usually migrated as families and settled along navigable and potable rivers. Settlements often coalesced around local traditions, especially religion, carried from eastern settlements. These shared understandings encouraged a strong sense of cooperation among western settlers that forged communities on the frontier.<\/span>\r\n
\r\n\r\nBefore the Mexican War, the West for most Americans still referred to the fertile area between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River with a slight amount of overspill beyond its banks. With soil exhaustion and land competition increasing in the East, most early western migrants sought a greater measure of stability and self-sufficiency by engaging in small-scale farming. Boosters of these new agricultural areas along with the U.S. government encouraged perceptions of the West as a land of hard-built opportunity that promised personal and national bounty.\r\n\r\nWomen migrants bore the unique double burden of travel while also being expected to conform to restrictive gender norms. The key virtues of femininity, according to the \u201ccult of true womanhood,\u201d included piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness. The concept of \u201cseparate spheres\u201d expected women to remain in the home. These values accompanied men and women as they traveled west to begin their new lives.\r\n\r\nWhile many of these societal standards endured, there often existed an openness of frontier society that resulted in modestly more opportunities for women. Husbands needed partners in setting up a homestead and working in the field to provide food for the family. Suitable wives were often in short supply, enabling some to informally negotiate more power in their households.1<\/sup><\/a>\r\n\r\nAmericans debated the role of government in westward expansion. This debate centered on the proper role of the U.S. government in paying for the internal improvements that soon became necessary to encourage and support economic development. Some saw frontier development as a self-driven undertaking that necessitated private risk and investment devoid of government interference. Others saw the federal government\u2019s role as providing the infrastructural development needed to give migrants the push toward engagement with the larger national economy. In the end, federal aid proved essential for the conquest and settlement of the region.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"556\"]\"Painting American artist George Catlin traveled west to paint Native Americans. In 1832 he painted Eeh-n\u00eds-kim, Crystal Stone, wife of a Blackfoot leader. \u202fSmithsonian American Art Museum<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nEconomic busts constantly threatened western farmers and communities. The economy worsened after the Panic of 1819. Falling prices and depleted soil meant farmers were unable to make their loan payments. The dream of subsistence and stability abruptly ended as many migrants lost their land and felt the hand of the distant market economy forcing them even farther west to escape debt. As a result, the federal government consistently sought to increase access to land in the West, including efforts to lower the amount of land required for purchase. Smaller lots made it easier for more farmers to clear land and begin farming faster.2<\/sup><\/a>\r\n\r\nMore than anything else, new roads and canals provided conduits for migration and settlement. Improvements in travel and exchange fueled economic growth in the 1820s and 1830s. Canal improvements expanded in the East, while road building prevailed in the West. Congress continued to allocate funds for internal improvements. Federal money pushed the National Road, begun in 1811, farther west every year. Laborers needed to construct these improvements increased employment opportunities and encouraged nonfarmers to move to the West. Wealth promised by engagement with the new economy was hard to reject. However, roads were expensive to build and maintain, and some Americans strongly opposed spending money on these improvements.\r\n\r\nThe use of steamboats grew quickly throughout the 1810s and into the 1820s. As water trade and travel grew in popularity, local, state, and federal funds helped connect rivers and streams. Hundreds of miles of new canals cut through the eastern landscape. The most notable of these early projects was the Erie Canal. That project, completed in 1825, linked the Great Lakes to New York City. The profitability of the canal helped New York outpace its East Coast rivals to become the center for commercial import and export in the United States.3<\/sup><\/a>\r\n\r\nEarly railroads like the Baltimore and Ohio line hoped to link mid-Atlantic cities with lucrative western trade routes. Railroad boosters encouraged the rapid growth of towns and cities along their routes. Not only did rail lines promise to move commerce faster, but the rails also encouraged the spreading of towns farther away from traditional waterway locations. Technological limitations, constant repairs, conflicts with American Indians, and political disagreements all hampered railroading and kept canals and steamboats as integral parts of the transportation system. Nonetheless, this early establishment of railroads enabled a rapid expansion after the Civil War.\r\n\r\nEconomic chains of interdependence stretched over hundreds of miles of land and through thousands of contracts and remittances. America\u2019s manifest destiny became wedded not only to territorial expansion but also to economic development.4<\/sup><\/a>\r\n\r\nThe constant struggle between expanding American settlers and native peoples, while not always violent, existed as an ebb and flow down to the smallest scale of individual families scattered across a landscape not yet fully unified by the rapidly advancing technologies of movement and communication.\u00a0 Trade, learning, and intermarriage happened more often than violence, though these were often unequal.\u00a0 And while hatred certainly simmered from the experiences of all those caught up in violence and inequality, so did the construction of new families of people of mixed ancestry.\u00a0 Non-racist terms for these people in American English are few, but in Spanish-speaking lands mestizos<\/em> come from mestizaje<\/em>, while in French-speaking lands m\u00e9tis<\/em> come from m\u00e9tissage<\/em>.\u00a0 Many of these people carried tribal affiliation, but many more \u201cpassed as white\u201d or forgot, over generations, their ancestry.\r\n\r\nThe violence that did erupt was not always, or even most often, driven by powerful leaders and organized political or military forms.\u00a0 Weapons of many kinds, for many purposes, existed in the hands of most the peoples of the West, and the frontier was not a sharply defined as many imagined \u2013 then and now.\u00a0 It was rather outposts of different groups and cultures dotted across the land, with native groups numbers decreasing and retracting to smaller areas over time as Americans \u2013 and, in the Southwest, Mexicans \u2013 moved in to settle.\u00a0 Arguments turned violent, grief or desperation turned violent, and hatreds learned by rote or learned by trauma turned violent.\r\n\r\nAll of these interactions, positive and negative, proved impossible for any political authority \u2013 native or American \u2013 to fully control or even manage.\u00a0 Once America took control of what had been northern Mexico, and eventually conquered all of the native peoples in the region, new Spanish-speaking peoples \u2013 many of whom spoke native languages as well, some as members of tribal nations \u2013 brought yet more complexity to the interactions.\u00a0 From this, combined with the eventual expansion of post-Civil War capitalism and further waves of American settlement, emerged the American West.\r\n\r\nWestern expansion was fraught with problems, and great rewards. The pioneers can be viewed as both people of great, indomitable spirit, and a misguided belief that their culture and institutions were mandated by a higher power. They were neither good, nor evil, but instead a people of their times pushing forward to reshape the continent into the image they imagined. The US government\u2019s and their reckless disregard and dismissal of the beliefs and rights of others would lead to further conflict both within and without and ultimately to war.\r\n

Notes<\/h4>\r\n
    \r\n \t
  1. Adrienne Caughfield, True Women and Westward Expansion<\/em> (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2005). \"image\"<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t
  2. Murray Newton Rothbard, Panic of 1819: Reactions and Policies<\/em> (New York: Columbia University Press, 1962). \"image\"<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t
  3. Carol Sheriff, The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817\u20131862 <\/em>(New York: Hill and Wang, 1996). \"image\"<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t
  4. For more on the technology and transportation revolutions, see Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815\u20131848<\/em> (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2007). \"image\"<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"

    The dream of creating a democratic utopia in the West ultimately rested on those who picked up their possessions and their families and moved west. Western settlers usually migrated as families and settled along navigable and potable rivers. Settlements often coalesced around local traditions, especially religion, carried from eastern settlements. These shared understandings encouraged a strong sense of cooperation among western settlers that forged communities on the frontier.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n

    Before the Mexican War, the West for most Americans still referred to the fertile area between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River with a slight amount of overspill beyond its banks. With soil exhaustion and land competition increasing in the East, most early western migrants sought a greater measure of stability and self-sufficiency by engaging in small-scale farming. Boosters of these new agricultural areas along with the U.S. government encouraged perceptions of the West as a land of hard-built opportunity that promised personal and national bounty.<\/p>\n

    Women migrants bore the unique double burden of travel while also being expected to conform to restrictive gender norms. The key virtues of femininity, according to the \u201ccult of true womanhood,\u201d included piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness. The concept of \u201cseparate spheres\u201d expected women to remain in the home. These values accompanied men and women as they traveled west to begin their new lives.<\/p>\n

    While many of these societal standards endured, there often existed an openness of frontier society that resulted in modestly more opportunities for women. Husbands needed partners in setting up a homestead and working in the field to provide food for the family. Suitable wives were often in short supply, enabling some to informally negotiate more power in their households.1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

    Americans debated the role of government in westward expansion. This debate centered on the proper role of the U.S. government in paying for the internal improvements that soon became necessary to encourage and support economic development. Some saw frontier development as a self-driven undertaking that necessitated private risk and investment devoid of government interference. Others saw the federal government\u2019s role as providing the infrastructural development needed to give migrants the push toward engagement with the larger national economy. In the end, federal aid proved essential for the conquest and settlement of the region.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \"Painting
    American artist George Catlin traveled west to paint Native Americans. In 1832 he painted Eeh-n\u00eds-kim, Crystal Stone, wife of a Blackfoot leader. \u202fSmithsonian American Art Museum<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Economic busts constantly threatened western farmers and communities. The economy worsened after the Panic of 1819. Falling prices and depleted soil meant farmers were unable to make their loan payments. The dream of subsistence and stability abruptly ended as many migrants lost their land and felt the hand of the distant market economy forcing them even farther west to escape debt. As a result, the federal government consistently sought to increase access to land in the West, including efforts to lower the amount of land required for purchase. Smaller lots made it easier for more farmers to clear land and begin farming faster.2<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

    More than anything else, new roads and canals provided conduits for migration and settlement. Improvements in travel and exchange fueled economic growth in the 1820s and 1830s. Canal improvements expanded in the East, while road building prevailed in the West. Congress continued to allocate funds for internal improvements. Federal money pushed the National Road, begun in 1811, farther west every year. Laborers needed to construct these improvements increased employment opportunities and encouraged nonfarmers to move to the West. Wealth promised by engagement with the new economy was hard to reject. However, roads were expensive to build and maintain, and some Americans strongly opposed spending money on these improvements.<\/p>\n

    The use of steamboats grew quickly throughout the 1810s and into the 1820s. As water trade and travel grew in popularity, local, state, and federal funds helped connect rivers and streams. Hundreds of miles of new canals cut through the eastern landscape. The most notable of these early projects was the Erie Canal. That project, completed in 1825, linked the Great Lakes to New York City. The profitability of the canal helped New York outpace its East Coast rivals to become the center for commercial import and export in the United States.3<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

    Early railroads like the Baltimore and Ohio line hoped to link mid-Atlantic cities with lucrative western trade routes. Railroad boosters encouraged the rapid growth of towns and cities along their routes. Not only did rail lines promise to move commerce faster, but the rails also encouraged the spreading of towns farther away from traditional waterway locations. Technological limitations, constant repairs, conflicts with American Indians, and political disagreements all hampered railroading and kept canals and steamboats as integral parts of the transportation system. Nonetheless, this early establishment of railroads enabled a rapid expansion after the Civil War.<\/p>\n

    Economic chains of interdependence stretched over hundreds of miles of land and through thousands of contracts and remittances. America\u2019s manifest destiny became wedded not only to territorial expansion but also to economic development.4<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

    The constant struggle between expanding American settlers and native peoples, while not always violent, existed as an ebb and flow down to the smallest scale of individual families scattered across a landscape not yet fully unified by the rapidly advancing technologies of movement and communication.\u00a0 Trade, learning, and intermarriage happened more often than violence, though these were often unequal.\u00a0 And while hatred certainly simmered from the experiences of all those caught up in violence and inequality, so did the construction of new families of people of mixed ancestry.\u00a0 Non-racist terms for these people in American English are few, but in Spanish-speaking lands mestizos<\/em> come from mestizaje<\/em>, while in French-speaking lands m\u00e9tis<\/em> come from m\u00e9tissage<\/em>.\u00a0 Many of these people carried tribal affiliation, but many more \u201cpassed as white\u201d or forgot, over generations, their ancestry.<\/p>\n

    The violence that did erupt was not always, or even most often, driven by powerful leaders and organized political or military forms.\u00a0 Weapons of many kinds, for many purposes, existed in the hands of most the peoples of the West, and the frontier was not a sharply defined as many imagined \u2013 then and now.\u00a0 It was rather outposts of different groups and cultures dotted across the land, with native groups numbers decreasing and retracting to smaller areas over time as Americans \u2013 and, in the Southwest, Mexicans \u2013 moved in to settle.\u00a0 Arguments turned violent, grief or desperation turned violent, and hatreds learned by rote or learned by trauma turned violent.<\/p>\n

    All of these interactions, positive and negative, proved impossible for any political authority \u2013 native or American \u2013 to fully control or even manage.\u00a0 Once America took control of what had been northern Mexico, and eventually conquered all of the native peoples in the region, new Spanish-speaking peoples \u2013 many of whom spoke native languages as well, some as members of tribal nations \u2013 brought yet more complexity to the interactions.\u00a0 From this, combined with the eventual expansion of post-Civil War capitalism and further waves of American settlement, emerged the American West.<\/p>\n

    Western expansion was fraught with problems, and great rewards. The pioneers can be viewed as both people of great, indomitable spirit, and a misguided belief that their culture and institutions were mandated by a higher power. They were neither good, nor evil, but instead a people of their times pushing forward to reshape the continent into the image they imagined. The US government\u2019s and their reckless disregard and dismissal of the beliefs and rights of others would lead to further conflict both within and without and ultimately to war.<\/p>\n

    Notes<\/h4>\n
      \n
    1. Adrienne Caughfield, True Women and Westward Expansion<\/em> (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2005). \"image\"<\/a><\/li>\n
    2. Murray Newton Rothbard, Panic of 1819: Reactions and Policies<\/em> (New York: Columbia University Press, 1962). \"image\"<\/a><\/li>\n
    3. Carol Sheriff, The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817\u20131862 <\/em>(New York: Hill and Wang, 1996). \"image\"<\/a><\/li>\n
    4. For more on the technology and transportation revolutions, see Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815\u20131848<\/em> (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2007). \"image\"<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"menu_order":41,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-115","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":250,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppschis1210\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppschis1210\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppschis1210\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppschis1210\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppschis1210\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":547,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppschis1210\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/115\/revisions\/547"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppschis1210\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/250"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppschis1210\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/115\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppschis1210\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppschis1210\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=115"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppschis1210\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=115"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppschis1210\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}