Indians and the Westward movement essays

Indians and the Westward movement essays The white people had now found our Country. The transportation problems facing the nation were as huge as the country itself. Only a few roads for coaches and wagons stretched between the states. Coaches and wagons also moved slowly, very slowly. The 260-mile journey from New York to Boston, for example, took 39 hours by stagecoach. The only other ways to travel or move goods were by small boats, on horseback or on foot. Slow, costly transport was bad for business. It could isolate Americans in one region from those in another. Let us bind the Republic together with a perfect system of roads and canals. Let us conquer space, John Calhoun said. States began to take on the challenge of building roads and canals. This transportation revolution had a huge impact on the everyday life of Americans resulting in conflicts with the Indians. The most successful, and most daring, improvement of this period was the Erie Canal. The success of the Erie Canal opened the upper Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes region to settlement. Thousands of immigrants traveled into Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. Farm products from this region flowed eastward and their population grew. Fed by the West, easterners could concentrate on trade and manufacturing. In turn, the westerners bought the manufacturers goods of the East. The success of the Erie Canal encouraged more canal buildig in other parts of the country. It helped Americans push west in search of new lands to farm; American victories during the war of 1812 had also crushed most Indian resistance east of the Mississippi. In addition, there was a spirit of confidence and restlessness in the air. People were on the move just to be on the move. Before this time, the way of life was very different. The policies on transportation came also with policies on economic development. Before these policies individuals produced everything ...