The American Frontier

by Torr, James D.

• ISBN13: 9780737707861
• ISBN10: 0737707860
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-12-01
• Publisher: Greenhaven Pr

Summary

Essays in this volume examine the significance of the frontier in American history, with emphasis on how the frontier changed throughout the nineteenth century. Selections trace how the wilderness frontier first explored by Lewis and Clark gave way to the mining frontier of the California gold rush, the cattle-driving frontier of the cowboys, and finally the farming frontier of countless pioneers who settled the Great Plains.

Table of Contents

Foreword	9	(2)
Introduction	11	(16)
The Opening of the West
Lewis and Clark's Journey Across the Continent	27	(9)
Gerald F. Kreyche
From 1804 to 1806 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark journeyed across the continent in search of the Northwest Passage to the Pacific
Their efforts vastly increased Americans' knowledge about the frontier
The Significance of the Lewis and Clark Expedition the National Park Service	36	(8)
The Lewis and Clark expedition was the first step in the opening of the West
Their reports of the frontier encouraged other pioneers to begin exploring and settling the region
East of the Mississippi: The Agricultural Frontier	44	(7)
Thomas D. Clark
At the beginning of the nineteenth century the frontier began just west of the original thirteen colonies
In the period between 1815 and 1840, thousands of pioneer families settled the territories that would become Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan
The Opening of Texas and the Santa Fe Trail	51	(7)
Dale Van Every
A major turning point in the settlement of the frontier occurred in 1821 when Mexico gained its independence from Spain
Only after Spain loosened its hold on the region were Americans able to open trade along the Santa Fe Trail and make permanent settlements in Texas
Mountain Men: The Importance of the Fur Trade in the Opening of the West	58	(11)
William H. Goetzmann
Throughout the 1820s and 1830s hundreds of pioneers made their living in the Rocky Mountains, trapping beaver for their valuable pelts
These mountain men blazed the trails that future frontiersmen would follow
Destiny and War
Manifest Destiny: Americans Embrace Expansionism	69	(9)
Ray Allen Billington
In the 1840s an expansionist fervor swept the United States
Under the doctrine of Manifest Destiny, Americans proclaimed that their nation should extend all the way to the Pacific
War with Mexico	78	(11)
Don Nardo
The first battle to be fought in the name of Manifest Destiny was the Mexican War, a two-year clash between the United States and Mexico over Texas
Manifest Destiny as a Turning Point in U.S.-Indian Policy	89	(7)
Reginald Horsman
In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, U.S. leaders had hoped that the Indians could be assimilated into Anglo-American culture
Under the doctrine of Manifest Destiny, however, the Indians came to be viewed as an inferior race whose destiny was to be overrun by white, society
Manifest Destiny---or Genocide?	96	(9)
W. Eugene Hollon
Just as the United States fought Mexico for Texas in the 1840s, in the decades that followed the U.S. Army fought American Indians for control of the Southwest and the Great Plains
The wholesale slaughter of the major Indian tribes in the period from 1860 to 1890 is one of the most regrettable legacies of Manifest Destiny
Gold Fever
The California Gold Rush and the American Dream	105	(9)
Malcolm J. Robrbough
For nineteenth-century Americans, the frontier had always represented opportunity
The California Gold Rush solidified this image of the United States as a land where anyone could achieve wealth through risk-taking and hard work
A Veritable Revolution: The Economic Significance of the California Gold Rush	114	(11)
Gerald D. Nash
The California Gold Rush of 1848-1850 was a turning point in the economic development of the United States, as gold mining spurred both industrial and agricultural development along the Pacific Coast
The Gold Rush as Melting Pot	125	(7)
Walter Nugent
The Gold Rush transformed California frontier society, and it has had high levels of racial and ethnic diversity ever since
European, Chinese, and Jewish immigrants all came seeking their fortunes, while the California Indians were decimated as white settlers forced them off their lands
The Colorado Gold Rush and the Reimagining of America	132	(14)
Elliot West
Even after the California Gold Rush drew settlers to the Pacific Coast, the middle of the continent was still viewed as the ``Great American Desert'' because of its emptiness
But in 1859 the discovery of gold just west of what is now Denver drew thousands of settlers to the Eastern Rockies and the valleys below, and soon after the Midwest became known as ``America's heartland.''
The Transcontinental Railroad
The Transcontinental Railroad and the Development of the West	146	(9)
Leonard J. Arrington
The building of the transcontinental railroad increased immigration to the frontier and stimulated the development of cattle, mining, and other industries throughout the West
The Destruction of the Buffalo and the Opening of the Cattle Driving Frontier	155	(10)
Richard White
The expansion of the railroads into the Great Plains dealt the final blow to the buffalo, which were being slaughtered by hunters and the U.S. Army
The destruction of the buffalo paved the way for cattlemen, who drove their herds of longhorn up through Texas to the railroad towns of the plains
The Rise and Fall of the Cattle Kingdoms	165	(7)
T. Harry Williams
Richard N. Current
Frank Freidel
The long cattle drive across the Great Plains is one of the most memorable images of the American frontier
The railroads first made the long drives profitable in the 1860s, but by the late 1880s farmers had settled much of the open range
The Closing of the American Frontier	172	(8)
John F. Stover
The network of railroads that spread across the country after the Civil War tied the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains to the rest of the nation, thus closing the last regions of the American frontier
Epilogue: The Frontier Thesis in Modern American History
America's Frontier Heritage	180	(6)
Ray Allen Billington
The Image of America as a land of opportunity grew largely out of the possibilities that the frontier offered new settlers
American history since 1890 can be interpreted as a struggle to insure that opportunities for self-advancement do not vanish along with the frontier
Appendix of Documents	186	(41)
Chronology	227	(5)
For Further Research	232	(3)
Index	235