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Transcontinental Railroad of 1869

The transcontinental railroad in the latter half of the nineteenth century was typically built with substantial infusions of federal, state, and local government aid. This aid took two forms: loans and land grants. The railroads sold the land to settlers for cash. In...

The Old West: Manifest Destiny, Oregon Trail, Native Americans, Gold Rush

The Old West, also called the Wild West or American West, region, which is mostly west of the Great Plains, is linked in popular imagination with the last frontier of American settlement. How a Rivalry Between Two Cherokee Chiefs Led to the Trail of Tears and the...

American West Timeline

American West Timeline This America West Timeline lists the critical years of the Western American territory’s discovery, colonization, and settlement.   Date Summary Event 6th April 1830 Mormons founded Joseph Smith founded the Mormon religion. Smith...

How a Rivalry Between Two Cherokee Chiefs Led to the Trail of Tears and the Collapse of Their Nation

A century-long blood feud between two Cherokee chiefs shaped the history of the Cherokee tribe far more than anyone, even the reviled President Andrew Jackson. They were John Ross and the Ridge. Today I’m talking with John Sedgwick about the fall of the Cherokee...

Quackery: A Brief History of Quack Medicines & Peddlers

Quackery refers to unproven or fraudulent medical practices, often through the sale or application of “quack medicines”. The word “quack” derives from the archaic Dutch word “quacksalver,” meaning “boaster who applies a...

What is Manifest Destiny?

Manifest Destiny refers to the attitude in America during the 1800’s when pioneers settled the country and believed that the U.S. was destined to stretch across the whole continent, from the one coast to the other. The phrase was used by politicians at the time...

Five Thanksgiving Facts that your History Teacher Left Out

Most Americans are familiar with the magic of Thanksgiving. A holiday associated with family reunions, football, Black Friday sales, turkeys, pumpkin pies, pilgrims, and Indians. However, not many are aware of its somewhat grimmer origins. Typically, what we are...

What was the Oregon Trail?

The Oregon Trail (also known as the Oregon-California trial) was a 2,200 mile route stretching from Missouri to Oregon that was travelled by the early Wild West pioneers in the 1800s. The trail was the only way for settlers to reach the West Coast via land and over...

Reasons for Westward Expansion

What were the reasons for Westward expansion? Ever since the first pioneers settled in the United States at the East , the country has been expanding westward. When President Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana territory from the French government in 1803, it...

Lost Treasures of the American West

The old American West was a wild place. It was an era full of cowboys, gunslingers, outlaws, and wars. The European settlers driving the expansion into the west faced many hardships. They had to force their way to the Pacific Ocean by driving the Native Americans away...