From: Anonymous Seven
Date: 3/15/00
Time: 8:05:22 PM
Remote Name: 155.247.244.48
Anonymous Seven Week Eight Text Assignment How mobile were Americans (white, black, and red) in the early nineteenth century? Was migration voluntary or involuntary? Explain. During the early nineteenth century the United States began to fulfill its "continental destiny" by acquiring possessions from Spain in the Florida and Far West regions. As the land opened many people began to migrate whether they chose to or not. The major land activity during the early 1800's was the nearer west. Before white Americans could begin to make use of the land they felt that they had to drive the Indians to a new location. Members of what were known as the five civilized tribes-the Cherokees, Creeks, Seminoles, Choctaws, and Chickasaws had become settled agriculturists. These Indians were being driven by force or hustled by treaties to reservations beyond the Mississippi. Removing them from the lifestyle that they were accustomed to aided in the continual destruction of the Indians. The whites coming to the West were mostly farmers who needed cheaper land and fertile soil. As families, they created communities based on the ideals that they carried with them. Those from the South brought slaves with them to help build their homes. These slaves, just as the Indians, had no control over their migration. A great deal of the mobility typical during the nineteenth century was due to the pioneer's economic expectations. They found that by improving land they could make a profit and move further West where the land was assumed to contain richer soil.