American frontier

The American frontier was an area of undeveloped land that constantly changed as the United States expanded. The border of the frontier divided cities, towns, and villages from miles of open, unsettled land. Although the American frontier is often associated with the Old West, the original frontier encompassed land in New England and the Mid-Atlantic regions.

Settlers began exploring the frontier almost as soon as the first English colonies were established in the early 1600s. Although many of the newcomers were eager to assimilate in their new communities, others felt stifled by laws and societal rules or preferred to live in solitude miles from civilization. This was especially true in the Plymouth Colony of Massachusetts where strict religious laws often made some feel ostracized.

From 1607 through 1890, the American frontier gradually moved west and south as the United States commissioned exploration expeditions into the frontier, acquired new territories, established mail routes, and built railroads that made it possible to travel to reach new settlements in record time.

The American frontier offered the promise of a fresh start for people who were eager to explore the country or were disillusioned with their lives in developed areas. Settlers interested in farming, trapping, hunting, or other livelihoods found acres of untamed land, often free for the taking. Living conditions were harsh in the frontier but moving west or south offered independence and the opportunity for financial security.

Background

The settlers who first arrived in what is now the United States immigrated to the country for many reasons. Some wanted to avoid religious persecution, while others were lured by the promise of abundant land and riches, or the thrill of an exciting new life.

Although the United States may have looked different than the colonists’ homelands, some settlements quickly became much like the places the settlers had left behind. Homesick settlers named their new towns after the villages and cities in Europe. They also adopted many of the same rules, laws, and moral codes, and created a class system that left some struggling to survive while others thrived.

Restless settlers soon began moving beyond the country’s original settlement boundaries as they worked the land, hunted, trapped, and built new homes and towns. In some cases, expansion occurred in areas already occupied by Native American tribes. Although some tribes were willing to co-exist with the settlers, deadly battles for control of the land were not uncommon.

Some of the land that made up the American Frontier was originally claimed by England, France, or Spain. Through treaties or wars, the land eventually became American territories and later states. During the nineteenth century, rapid expansion of the frontier occurred as settlers descended on the west in search of gold and prime land for ranching and farming.

Although the idea of a new life in a new place was appealing for many people, frontier living was not ideal for everyone. Settlers endured hardships, severe weather, travel difficulties, attacks by Native Americans, food and building material shortages, and other problems that saw some of them return to civilization. Those that remained created new settlements that drew even more settlers, thanks to the introduction of railroad lines that made traveling to the distant frontier faster and more comfortable.

Overview

In the mid-1700s, the border of the American frontier expanded beyond the eastern seaboard as settlers explored and claimed land in the western regions of the thirteen colonies and later states. The land beyond these boundaries was once British land but passed to the United States after the Revolutionary War. Known as the Northwest Territory, it consisting of present-day Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and a portion of Minnesota. The Northwest Ordinance, passed by the US Congress in 1787, established laws regarding the admission of new states to the union, the rights of the settlers, and governing procedures of the Northwest Territory.

Early travelers relied on rivers, canals, and Native American trails to reach new parts of the frontier. Eventually, the trails became well-traveled dirt roads wide enough to accommodate horse-drawn wagons and coaches. By the early 1800s, a few new hard-surfaced roads had been built, including one that extended from Cumberland, Maryland, to Wheeling, West Virginia.

The construction of these roads was an essential aspect of the migration to frontier areas. A toll system was eventually instituted to support maintenance of the road system and build new roads farther into the west. The network of roads reached as far as the banks of Lake Michigan by 1819. As the frontier receded and new towns arose in the wilderness, dusty trails became well-traveled roads.

The border of the American Frontier moved south as Kentucky and Tennessee became states in the latter part of eighteenth century. In 1803, the US government bought 827,000 square miles (2.14 million square kilometers) of land from France. Known as the Louisiana Purchase, the transaction doubled the size of the country, providing more land for homes, farms, and businesses.

At end of the Mexican-American War in 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo established the Rio Grande River as the border between the United States and Mexico. As part of the treaty, the United States received land that is now part of Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming.

By the mid-1800s, the border of the American Frontier reached the Mississippi River and beyond and extended as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. During the nineteenth century, explorers, some of them funded by the US government, carried out expeditions to frontier areas. Daniel Boone and Lewis and Clark were among the most well-known explorers.

Boone, a hunter and trapper, became concerned when an influx of settlers to North Carolina decreased the amount of land available for hunting and trapping. He is credited with exploring Kentucky and building the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap in 1775. The road, bankrolled by the Transylvania Company, connected Virginia with Kentucky and offered a safe route to relocating settlers.

Captain Meriwether Lewis and Second Lieutenant William Clark of the US Army led a group of volunteers and soldiers from Missouri to the Pacific Coast in 1804. The explorers were commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and were ordered to find the most direct path to the west. Other objectives of the expedition included establishing an American presence in the west, noting the locations of Native American peoples, mapping the area, and documenting plants and wildlife.

Lewis and Clark were assisted by Sacajawea, the Shoshone wife of a French-Canadian trapper. Sacajawea served as an interpreter and goodwill ambassador when the expedition encountered Native Americans.

Settlers were often reluctant to share the land with the Native Americans who had lived in North America for thousands of years. In fact, many believed that seizing native lands fulfilled a mythical “Manifest Destiny” to own and cultivate the land. Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole and other peoples throughout the country were forcibly relocated to Native American reservations or brutally massacred due to the prevailing belief in Manifest Destiny.

Although the tribes fought against American troops, they were often outmatched militarily. After losing bloody battles, some Native Americans willingly gave up a portion of their lands in hopes of retaining some of their territories. In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act at the urging of President Andrew Jackson. Tribes that relinquished control of their lands were offered new land in an area west of the Mississippi known as the Indian Territory, according to the provisions of the act.

Cherokee Nation representatives signed the Treaty of New Echota in 1835 and agreed to give up seven million acres and relocate to the Indian Territory for a payment of $5 million. The Cherokee representatives who signed the treaty were considered traitors by other tribe members who opposed the agreement. Although the Cherokees subsequently rejected the treaty, the US government did not accept their withdrawal and enforced the provisions of the agreement.

During a ten-month period between May 1838 and March 1839, federal and state troops forcibly evicted 16,000 Cherokee Nation citizens from their homes in several states. The group was forced to march to land set aside for them in Indian Territory in Oklahoma. Their journey, called the “Trail of Tears,” was difficult and dangerous and resulted in the deaths of 3,000 to 4,000 Cherokees. Some died due to disease, while others succumbed to accidents, drowning, starvation, or exposure to the elements.

The 1848 Gold Rush drew miners to California, along with settlers interested in building homes, buying inexpensive land, and establishing ranches. At first, men far outnumbered the women in the new towns that sprung up in California and other areas where gold was discovered in the west. Lonely men solved the problem by advertising for wives in newspapers back east. Just like their husbands, “mail order wives” were looking for an adventure or a new beginning in life.

Miners hoping to strike it rich traveled for months on foot, in wagon trains, or by sea to reach California. Just over twenty years later, a link between the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads made it possible to travel from coast to coast in about one week.

Most of the workers who built the Central Pacific Railroad were from China. The Chinese workers laid rails and blasted through rock while enduring abysmal treatment and racism from local communities. Chinese employees did not receive the same benefits as other employers and were paid less than their American counterparts. Sentiments against the workers led to worries that their reduced wages would result in a decrease in wages for all employees. Due to pressure from American citizens, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. The act stopped further immigration from China and made it impossible for Chinese settlers to reunite with their families in the United States.

Life on the frontier was often difficult and dangerous. In fact, some settlers died of injuries or illnesses on the journey to the frontier or shortly after beginning their new lives. As many as 30,000 settlers are estimated to have died on the 2,000-mile-long Oregon Trail.

The Oregon Trail stretched from the Missouri River to Oregon and was a key route to the west. The lure of gold, free or inexpensive land, and plenty of room for farming, cattle ranching, or other business pursuits drew millions of settlers westward. Among the thousands of people traveling the trail were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, commonly called the Mormons. Groups of Mormons traveled the Oregon Trail and an offshoot known as the Mormon Trail in their quest for religious freedom in Utah.

Building new homes and towns from the ground up took ingenuity and sacrifice. If traditional building and heating materials were not available, settlers scoured the land for alternatives. In the Great Plains, settlers built sod houses and burned buffalo chips to keep warm. Later, new roads and railroad extensions made it possible to transport brick, wood, stone, and other building materials for homes, ranches, and businesses.

Despite the challenges, thousands of Americans decided to move west, thanks to the Homestead Act. Passed by Congress in 1862, the act was designed to encourage new settlements in the west and stimulate the economy. Settlers received 160 acres of land at no charge in exchanging for farming the land. Free and clear title to homesteads was granted after settlers lived on the land for five years or paid $1.25 per acre after occupying the land for six months.

While free or low-cost land was certainly appealing, the Homestead Act was not quite as helpful as expected. Prospective farmers could not always afford to erect buildings or buy livestock and supplies. In the end, about 20 percent of the land was settled by homesteaders. The remainder was owned by land speculators, cattle ranchers, logging companies, and railroads.

Financial support from the US government was essential during the settling of the American frontier. The money and services the government provided helped settlers tame wild areas, build the infrastructure for towns and transportation services, and set the foundation for thriving new towns. During the 1800s, more than seven million people moved westward, intrigued by the possibility of a new life.

As civilization began to take over the formerly untamed land, the American Frontier shrunk rapidly. In 1890, the US Census Bureau announced that that the frontier line no longer existed.

Bibliography

“Following the Frontier Line, 1790 to 1890.” United States Census Bureau, 6 Sept. 2012, www.census.gov/dataviz/visualizations/001/. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.

Holland, Brynn. “7 of the Gutsiest Women on the American Frontier.” History.com, 2 Feb. 2020, www.history.com/news/women-american-frontier. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.

“Homestead Act (1862).” National Archives, 7 June 2022, www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/homestead-act. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.

“Indian Treaties and Removal Act of 1830.” Office of the Historian, history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/indian-treaties. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023

“Permanent Indian Frontier.” National Park Service, 19 Jan. 2022, www.nps.gov/articles/pifront.htm. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.

Wills, Matthew. “Colonial Civility and Rage on the American Frontier.” JSTOR Daily, 23 Jan. 2022, daily.jstor.org/colonial-civility-and-rage-on-the-american-frontier/. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.

Woodward, Collin. “How the Myth of the American Frontier Got Its Start.” Smithsonian Magazine, Jan./Feb. 2023, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-myth-american-frontier-got-start-180981310/. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.