The Donner Party
Forty-six survivors out of an original 87, reached California starving, tired, and traumatized for life from the experience they had just been through. A year of suffering was spent on a time that was thought to have been only a few months of easy traveling on a shortcut routed by a man named
Lance Hatings.
The journey began on May 12th from Springfield Illinois. A train of nine wagons, filled with members of the Donner and Reed families, set out in hopes of reaching California for free land and a new life. The families had heard of a route that would get them to this great new country taking
350-400 miles off their planned trip. It seemed to be a good idea to follow the lead of Hastings if his
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So they were way behind schedule. On Aug 30 they began the trip across the Salt Desert according to Hastings, it should have only taken 2 days but it took five and was very difficult. Thirty oxen were lost and people almost died of heat exhaustion.
Soon after the desert, Reed murdered a man named Snyder. He was banished from the group and had to set out on his own. Once winter arrived, everyone got stranded in the mountains. It snowed most of November and all the people began starving and dying of mal nutrition. Most of the oxen died and all the wagons were long gone. Some men went to try to get help but they got lost. After being in the snow so long, the people got desperate for something to eat and drew straws to see who would be used for food. It was extremely cold and the women and children suffered immensely. Some women had to watch their husbands die and be eaten. A man named Patrick Dolan was the first to be eaten. Seven relief men came to try and rescue the remaining people. They slowly made their way towards California. On the way two children died. James Reed, the man that was banished, led the relief party.
In April of 1847 the Donner Party survivors left the mountains and reached their destination. Only 46 out of 87 people survived. All of the Reeds survived and 8 of the Donners died. They wished they wouldn't have gone along with Hasting's route. They did get the land they wanted though, and in
1848
“The Stolen Party” by Liliana Heker is a short story about a girl’s life experience that changes her point of view on society. One day, she gets an invitation to a rich daughter’s birthday. Her mother is a maid and works for them. Rosaura’s youth and innocence shows that she doesn’t realize the true meaning of the invitation, and firmly believes that there is no social distinction between the rich and the poor. She believes that even if she is the maid’s daughter she is welcomely accepted in the party. Although she is only nine years old, Rosaura feels confident that she knows more about rich people than her mother. Heker uses symbols and figurative language to convey “to always
In the early 1900s, the United States had an increase of settlers leaving their hometowns to the west in the faith of being able to live in a more catholic freedom world, others also joined by the inspiration of Manifest Destiny, a thought in which the Americans thought that everything between the Atlantic and the Pacific ocean is theirs and should therefore settled by them. A group, that was on the way to the western U.S., for those reasons in 1846, had a tragic loss of 34 settlers due to many tragic events. This group was led by George Donner, which was elected the leader of this group on 19 July 1846, this group inherited his name, called the Donner Party. The Donner Party consisted of the families of George Donner, his brother Jacob
While following the regular California trail, the emigrants decided to take a "shorter" route suggested by a trail guide, Lansford Hastings. By all means, he assured them there was an easier passage through the Wasatch Mountains. With this in mind,
In the early 1800’s, the United States had an escalating number of settlers looking to conquer and create new lives in the West. Many also joined the movement inspired by Manifest Destiny, the idea that the land between the Atlantic and Pacific was American therefore should be established by settlers. A group traveling westward as part of the movement in 1846 suffered sorrow at every turn consequently ending in the 34 casualties of 87 original settlers. This group was led by Jacob and George Donner, later the pioneers inherited the name the Donner Party. In the Spring of 1846 the settlers left Springfield, Illinois and pursued a route that was supposedly a shorter course for California. After multiple delays the Donner Party became caught in many snowstorms high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. As a result the group reduced to cannibalism to survive the harsh winters. Despite the dangerous trek ahead, the Donner Party traveled westward in hopes of creating new lives in California, they also traveled in aspirations of finding jobs
The Donner party was like a group of people in wagons that headed west. They thought that by doing that they would get better life's. Baisicly what the meant was to start a new life. The leader of the Donner party was George Donner.
on April 16,1846 nine covered wagons left Springfield, Illinois on the journey to California.the originator of the donner party was a man named James Frasier reed,an Illinois businessman eager to build a fortune in the rich land of California.reed also hoped that his wife, Margaret,who suffered from headaches,might improve by the coastal climate.reed had read the book the emigrants guide to Oregon and California, by landsford w. Hastings found a new shortcut across the great bastin.the route enticed travelers by advertising that it would save them 350-450 miles.
Then they ran into a man by the last name of Kleiman. He warned the group that the road ahead was very tough and that Hastings had trouble on the route himself. Kleiman told Mr. Donner NOT to take Hastings route, but the Donner party continued despite their warning. Mr. Hastings promised the party that he would wait for them at a fort along the way to California. When the party reached the fort, Hastings had already gone ahead a week earlier with another group. He left simple instructions for the Donner party to follow telling them it would not take long to get to Salt Lake. Then they turned off track into the wilderness. It took 6 days to chop through to Big Mountain and one month to reach Salt Lake rather than the week they had been promised. After 3 days they ran out of water and Reed’s oxen ran away and could not be found. Thirty-six oxen were lost and wagons had to be left behind in order to get over the mountain. Then Reed killed Schneider because he was whipping the oxen. Everyone was going mad. Indians killed 21 more oxen and then the Donner axle broke on the first wagon. To make things worse, they encountered blizzard like snow and sleet. If they had rested 4 days instead of 5 they would have made it through to California safely without having to deal with any of the conditions mentioned above. It turns out that Hastings “shortcut” was actually
In 1790, the United States had just recently broke free from the British crown and united under the cause of liberty. But in spite of this, Americans saw political rifts brought about by the rise of political parties. The rise of political parties in 1790 was caused by general distrust, disagreements on policies, and constitutional disagreements between the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties, which were led by Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, respectively.
All across the world there are major political parties fighting in each country in order to take control of their government. The United States of America is not an exception, as the Democratic and Republican parties compete against each other in every election in order to gain control of the US Government. These two political parties are the most popular and powerful in the US, there are very popular that other political parties have no chance on competing against these two in an election race. In order to win elections the parties need the vote of the people, the parties need for every gender to vote for them in order to have a chance in winning the election. Both parties need the vote of the men and woman, but these genders tend to vote
The Republican Party commonly referred to as the GOP (abbreviation for Grand Old Party) is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States. The other one being the Democratic Party, founded by anti-slavery activists in 1854. The GOP dominated politics nationally and in most of the North for most of the period from 1860 to 1932. There has been 18 Republican presidents. The first being Abraham Lincoln, who served from 1861 until his assassination in 1865, and the most recent being George W. Bush, who served two full four-year terms 2001 to 2009. The Republican Party's conservatism involves supporting free markets and limited government, opposing regulation and labor unions, and supporting socially conservative policies.
Numerous factors during the 1840s to the early 1850s influenced many significant political, social, and economic changes. The Republican party emerged as a result of inflexible sectional tensions over the issue of slavery, which simultaneously caused the whig party to die and the know-nothing party to fall apart. Politically, the Kansas- Nebraska act triggered sectional tensions and caused the downfall of some parties and the formation of others; Socially, the question of slavery led to the success of the Republicans; Economically, by guaranteeing a high tariff to protect industry, republicans earned the support from the businesses.
In the book The Stolen Party by Liliana Heker Imagine this, you are invited by your best friend Luciana to her house every day to play and do your homework. Then, she invites you to the party of the year with a magician and a giant cake and all the popular kids will be there! You tell your mom and she says “I do not like you going.” You beg and cry. The day of the party you see your mom with a beautiful dress that she is starching. You realize that you are going. You are so excited. Later that day, you walk into the party with a firm step when you ask Luciana where's the monkey Luciana replies in the kitchen. Luciana's mom, Senora Ines, walks up to you and asks you to help her pass out the food. When you’re done, you can go to the kitchen
Carey Voeller’s article, “a man is a fool who prefers poor California beef to human flesh: (re)definitions of masculinity in nineteenth-century US Donner party literature” focuses on the analysis of Thornton’s cannibalism narrative. Barton Beebe’s essay on “Shanzhai, Sumptuary Law, and Intellectual Property Law in Contemporary China”, apparently has a different subject with Voeller’s. However, the two articles share a connection under the obvious difference that moral boundaries can be challenged or even denied under certain circumstance.
We pulled out of the motel parking lot before dawn and drove straight down Interstate 15 without stopping except to buy fuel or to answer nature 's call. Although we had eschewed Interstate highways in prior day 's travels, we really had no choice now. Besides, we had no reason to suspect Alex would be looking for us here.
Hastings’ route had cost them 18 valuable days. Unfortunately, their difficulties were only beginning. The “shortcut” to California had cost them many wasted days, and the Donner party crossed the Sierra Nevada Mountains late in the season. On October 28, a heavy snowfall blocked the high mountain passes, trapping the