The completion of railroads to the West following the Civil War opened up vast areas of the region to settlement and economic development. White settlers from the east traveled across the Mississippi to mine, farm, and ranch.Westward expansion began with the Louisiana purchase, the gold rush, the Oregon Trail and a belief in manifest destiny. Pioneers and immigrants built the Overland trails to the American Old West throughout the 19th century beginning  around 1829 until 1870 as an alternative to railroad transportation. Immigrants colonized much of North America west of the Great Plains in mass migrations in the mid-19th century. There are many motives for this treacherous journey including religious persecution, inexpensive land and the gold rush. The history of these trails and colonizers who traveled them have become embedded in American culture and folklore. The Oregon Trail, the California Trail, Old Spanish Trail, Santa Fe Trail, Southern Emigrant Trail and the Mormon Trail still have signs along the highways that today's modern travelers can follow. The most common vehicle for Oregon and California colonizers were covered wagons pulled by oxes or mules.10% of the migrants who attempted to cross the United States died during the trip.After the American Civil War ended people began to move to the West. The "Wild West" began around 1865 and lasted for 30 years. It was called the Wild West because of the general lawlessness that existed. All of the land west of the Mississippi River to the Pacific ocean was considered the Wild West. The American West featured all sorts of people from pioneers to outlaws, cowboys, gangs and gunfighters. Settling the West was encouraged by President Thomas Jefferson after the Louisiana Purchase. The expansionist attitude was known as manifest destiny. The legends and historical events of the American fronttier are part of the United States culture and became one of the defining features of American national identity. Popular movies and novels romanticized the idea of the West, but the reality was far more brutal and unforgiving.

The Oregon Trail was the name of the 2,170 mile East-West route westward across the United States taken by about 400,000 pioneers, settlers, farmers, ranchers, business owners and their families during Western expansion from 1835 through 1869. the route runs from the state of Kansas and nearly all of what is now Nebraska and Wyoming stretching past Idaho and Oregon. The use of the trail declined as the first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869 making the trip West considerably faster and safer.

Shoot Out with Wild Bill Hickok (Eyewitness to History)

Annie Oakley

 Texas Rangers Bring Law and Order

Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny 1810-1853

Expansion and Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny vocabulary

Manifest Destiny Jeopardy

Manifest Destiny Interactive

Manifest Destiny Rags to Riches

The Issue of Slavery and Manifest Destiny (quia)

Learn about Manifest Destiny (mrdonn)

Western Expansion (mrdonn)

The Oregon Trail (mrdonn)

Oregon Trail Interactive Map

Hardship without Glory - Life on the Trail

Oregon Trail - Questions and Answers

Cowboy and Pioneer Games for Children

Western Themed Party Ideas and classroom activities for kids

Pioneer cowboy games

Western party game ideas for groups of kids

Daily Life in the Colonies

Western Expansion games that Pioneer childrens played

Western Expansion: Pioneer Era Games That Laura Ingalls Would Have Played

Western Expansion Early American Pioneer Children's Games

Western Expansion Historically Accurate American Pioneer Children's Games

Interactive History - Colonial House

Wonderful website: 13 colonies government

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut 1639

Virginia House of Burgesses

Vocabulary Matching

Western Expansion

Free iPad apps about the Oregon Trail

American History Games

Johnny Appleseed

Eyewitness to the Old West

The West (pbs)

Western Expansion & Growth

American History Games