Social Studies Project: Oregon Trail Migration

Social Studies
Period 4
14, April 2014

Social Studies Project

Oregon Trail
Many people went to the Oregon Territory to get free farm land. Some went hoping to find better health or better living conditions. Some went to escape problems. Others went for adventure and to seek new experiences. The Oregon Trail migration, also known as the Oregon-California Trail migration, is one of the most important events in American History. The Oregon-California trail was a 2,170 mile route from Missouri to Oregon and California that enabled the migration of the early pioneers to the western United States. The first emigrants to make the trip were Marcus and Narcissa Whitman who made the trip in 1836. However, the first mass migration did not occur
In the 1820s, Stephen Austin won the Mexican government 's approval to bring American families into the sparsely settled Texas region. Vast land grants would be awarded to the settlers if Austin could sponsor 300 families and assure the officials that the newcomers would be loyal to the Mexican government, learn the Spanish language, and convert to Roman Catholicism. Only the earliest Texans paid much attention to these requirements and the distance from the Mexican central government left the settlers free to follow their own way of life. This area 's great attraction was the fertile soil, ideal for cotton production. By the early 1830s, transplanted Americans, many of them slave owners, outnumbered the Tejanos. The Mexican government soon understood that it had committed a great error by encouraging the migration of U.S. citizens with a want for independence. a Mexican-American inhabitant of southern Texas. At first, the settlers were content to live under Mexican rule, but several events helped to incline Texan minds toward independence. In 1831, Mexico abolished slavery, following the lead of most western nations. This loss of unpaid labor, if actually enforced in Tejas, would have been a severe blow to the region 's emerging cotton economy. It also reminded many transplanted citizens of the tolerant official view
Control over this vast territory would halt the westward expansion of the young United States and would supply French colonies in the West Indies with the goods they needed. In 1800, Napoleon signed the secret Treaty of Ildefonso with Spain, an agreement that stipulated that France would provide Spain with a kingdom for the son-in-law of Spain 's king if Spain would return Louisiana to France. However, Napoleon 's plan collapsed when the twelve-year revolt of slaves and free blacks in the French colony of Saint-Domingue succeeded, forcing French troops to return defeated to France and preventing them from reaching their ultimate destination, Louisiana, and from being able to defend it. As Napoleon 's New World empire disintegrated, the loss of Haiti made Louisiana unnecessary.The United States wanted to acquire the area near New Orleans primarily to guarantee its right to sail vessels down the Mississippi River through Spanish territory and unload goods at New Orleans for shipment to the Atlantic coast and Europe. Moreover, the United States wanted to possess the entire territory of Louisiana because so many American settlers and merchants were already in the region and because of its vital geographic position at the mouth of the Mississippi River. The United States discovered the transfer of Louisiana from Spain to France and sent