After America declared independence in 1776, its citizens began migratingfrom the original colonies along the Atlantic coast, crossing the AppalachianMountains and heading west. By 1800, trading centers had been establishedfrom Ohio to Alabama and pioneers were already making their way towardsthe Mississippi River. With the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and further landacquisitions, the frontier of the American nation was continually pushedwestward, and groups of settlers were never far behind.<br> This tremendous migration was carried out by individuals who chose toleave the relative safety of the East and venture into unknown territories. Theyfollowed common trails, the earliest of which led to places like Missouri, Kansas,and Nebraska. After 1840, others into the Far West were opened and saw steadilyincreasing traffic.The people who undertook such journeys were motivated by avariety of factors. Early American cities, particularly those in the Northeast, haddeveloped at a tremendous pace, leaving some longing for a return to simplerlifestyles. They were crowded, employment was often limited to the factories,and smoke from coal-burning industrial facilities polluted the air. For manyAmericans, the urban landscape did not match their image of the ideal life.<br> Yet economic pressure was likely the primary catalyst for westwardmigration. For some families in the early 1800s, it was difficult to obtain enoughresources to live on. This was true in the South as well as the North, whereinstead of factories the expansive plantations ruled the economy. A privilegedfew owned most of the farmland and dominated the agricultural market sothat small farmers had trouble making money. Americans struggling undersuch conditions were very receptive to the reports constantly arriving fromwestern settlers, which described vast regions of bountiful farmland waitingto be claimed. These accounts were often terribly misleading, emphasizing thepositive aspects of migration while ignoring the negative, but they nonethelessconvinced many that their fortunes lay on the western frontier.
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