Many Americans in the 1800s were excited to move west. The west made many different settlers want to travel there. Some wanted to go for adventure and to make money. Others wanted to go for fertile farmland and to make a new life. No matter what the reason the people were important the expansion of the United States.
People rushed west because of the beaver skin hat that was popular in the U.S. And Europe. The first people that traveled west were mostly fut traders and trappers. They became known as mountain men and became some of the first people to explore the Rocky Mountains. But then eventually the beaver fur hat went out of style and a lot of the beavers were already killed but there stories made other Americans want to move west. These settlers traveled on the Oregon Trail and had many difficulties along the way but many finally made it.
In 1821 Mexico became independent. In 1824 it made a Republican constitution that made all Mexicans have rights. They hired men to bring in more settlers to Texas. He had a successful colony which made lots of other settlers want to come. On March 2nd 1836 Texans declared their independence from Mexico. There was fighting and the Texans won which gave them their independence. Texas gave out land grants which brought many settlers. Many people …show more content…
The gold brought many miners and immigrants to California to try to get gold. They called these people forty niners. California's population grew tremendously. Mining for gold remained an important part of the state's early economy. California soon found other ways to make a living other than gold mining though. Some people started to farm and ranch to make a living also. California had to face a problem to grow. The state was separate from the rest of the country. To solve the problem they brought the railroad all the way to California which made it