The Donner Party In The 1800's

In 1846 some people, led by George Donner, and James F. Reed moved west to California for a better life. On the way, they took a shorter way across the Great Salt Lake Desert called the “Hasting’s Cutoff”. This being a terrible idea, they were slowed down, and had to spend winter in the Mountains. Once they made it out of the desert, the group began crossing the Sierra Nevada mountains. A huge storm hit and the group decided to split into two camps, one at Donner Lake, and one at Alder Creek Valley. Another big mistake. Food began to run out, and they had already eaten most of their animals. 15 of the emigrants started over the mountains to bring help. They were called the “Forlorn Hope” group. Seven made it to California alive. Along the

The Donners made a lot of poor decisions each one affected their outcome. For example, some of the biggest mistakes made in their journey was choosing poor guides, delaying their trip to stop and rest,and they did not pack enough supplies for their long journey. The Donner Party was a wagon party traveling westward. The Donner Party was a on a journey heading west in the spring of 1846 from Springfield, Illinois. The Party was led by Jacob and George Donner. The brothers decided to take the so called shortcut Hastings passage. The Party was forced to resort to cannibalism while they were trapped in the mountains snow all around them. They were forced to eat the dead bodies of their friends and family. The poor decisions made throughout the journey westward substantially contributed problems that occurred and what eventually led to the failure of the journey to the

The Donner Party was a group of American pioneers that set out for California, on their journey they took a "short cut" that was meant to cut time and distance. Their trip was delayed by a series of mistakes and they were forced to spend the winter trapped in the mountains. Only a portion of the group survived the harsh winter months and they did so by resorting to cannibalism. Nearly two centuries after that event, we can learn that the American dream can only be achieved through sound decision making. While the Donner party made various mistakes on the trail, their biggest mistake was trying to take a short cut through an unknown territory. Thousands of people had achieved their American dream in the Western United

2.Route danger&poorly supplied(mt&river),worst in way toward CA-(Sierra Nevada-Donner party- cannibalism)-wagons endangered by illness&accident-Indian attack-few, but white

The Market Revolution from 1815 to 1840 is the transition of American production for subsistence to commercial sales. Thus, goods were no longer produced for the purpose of feeding families, paying taxes, and providing for other essentials, but they were then produced for monetary profits. Factors Contributing to the Market Revolution and the Industrial Revolution: The extension of a national road from Virginia to Illinois permitted both farmers to settle Westward and to transport their goods more easily to major cities in the East.

People were forced to leave their wagons behind and had to walk the rest of the way to receive water and to head to the land known as California. During the middle of the journey to California party leaders, husbands, and young left their families to go fight against Mexico, in the war between the United States and Mexico. Women, children, and little amounts of men tried their best to make it as far as they could without their husbands and leaders. One of the largest problems the donner party faced was snow stopped many from traveling on. There was no way of getting food because everything was covered in snow. All you could do is kill cattle, but eventually they ran out. People were dying and causing much grief for others. Making it harder for the people to travel on and get more food. It was hard to continue without any help.They fixed this problem of starving by killing more cattle and all different types of animals they could find, after some time there stock ran out as animals moved away for the winter season. People were killed as sacrifices, some murdered. Fellow friends and enemies would eat their meat, desperate for

This gave the Americans more determination to gain the Texas, California and Mexican land because they wanted to prove they are stronger than Europe and can use this territory to increase their empire. Also, this scolding of America also illustrates the European countries not really concerned about America gaining this land because they still view America as a child, but America wants to change their view by gaining more land. The Americans did not just want to gain land to prove to their superiority or equality to their European relations, they also wanted the land for its resources. The Gold Rush of 1844 was one of the many reasons America needed California and many people moved to the state to become

Throughout the 1800’s there were more and more Americans that had moved onto the frontier of the West coast. The people of the United States believed they were destined to have their land stretched from the Pacific Ocean (the west) to the Atlantic Ocean (the east); from sea to shining sea. This settlement came from the fact that the west not only had an abundance of fertile land for farming, but it had such a great abundance of gold and mineral mining available. The Americans also believed that this was a way (and chance) to spread their beliefs! Many people saw the West as a new beginning, so they decided to head West and begin this journey. This is what the Americans believed they were destined to do… The rapid settlement of the West was caused by the great desire of the American

It all started the day my group and I, the Donner party, packed up and headed to California. We began our journey West in the spring of 1846. It would be a very long trip traveling from Illinois to California. We left in search a better life and maybe even striking rich and finding gold. The Donner party was led by me, George Donner; my brother Jacob; and James Reed. Each and every one of us in the Donner Party had longed to begin a new, better chapter of our lives by reaching California.

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

The discovery of rich soil, grass, and minerals in the West led thousands of settlers including farmers, ranchers, and miners to settle there. The livelihood of these people depended entirely on the natural environment of the region, which caused them to adapt their lifestyles. For example, the amount of desert between other rich lands created an unbalanced spread of population throughout the West (Doc. A). There were some areas that people wanted and were favored such as San Antonio or San Francisco.

This new abundance of land gave many poor white males the opportunity to obtain land. Many of the

The Know-Nothing Party started on the east coast in 1854. This party was made up of people who wanted to reserve "political office for native- born Americans" also of those who were anti- Catholic (Foner, 490). When people of this organization were asked about it they had to respond with "I know nothing" that's how it got it's name (Foner 490). Many immigrants were losing their jobs because of this party.

Year by year the farmers who lived on soil, whose returns were diminished by unrotated crops were offered the virgin soil of the frontier at nominal prices. Their growing families demanded more lands, and these were dear. The competition of the unexhausted, cheap, and easily tilled prairie lands compelled the farmer either to go west and continue the exhaustion of the soil on a new frontier, or to adopt intensive culture.

In the mid-1800s, many Americans began to move westward, with a variety of motivations. Farmers were drawn west by all of the fertile, open land in the west, offered to them cheap by the Homestead Act. The California Gold Rush was another reason many moved west. Gold was discovered in California, and miners flocked there, hoping to strike it rich. Additionally, cattle ranchers were attracted to the west because their beef cattle thrived on the abundant grasses and open range of the Great Plains. Later on, newly built railroads, including the first transcontinental railroad, made transportation of people and goods west much more feasible, and opened the West to rapid settlement (History Alive). Although Westward Expansion was a time of full