Term Project - Chapter 14 Summary - Essay Example

Pioneers led a very harsh life. By 1840, the American population had extended across the Alleghenies (Kennedy and Cohen 288). The western landscape was shaped by the individuals who conquered it. The shapers included the farmers of tobacco who would use land to exhaustion then find new fertile places for their tobacco farming. In Kentucky, tall canes were burnt down to provide access to farm lands for tobacco after which “settlers soon discovered that when the cane was burned off, European bluegrass thrived in the charred cane fields” (Kennedy and Cohen 288).

Trapping emerged as a lucrative business for fur trappers, which negatively impacted on the beaver population. Even though the invaders of the western lands cherished using the lands for production, it is also clear that aericans beheld the beauty of the land occupied by the natives. This is evident in the move of George Catlin, an artist, who painted a picture of the western landscape inhabited by the Native Americans (Agnew 9). Catlin’s proposal for national parks would see the creation of Yellowstone, the pioneer national park, in 1872 (Kennedy and Cohen 290).

Also, buffalo were also hunted for their valuable hides, which threatened their existence as their population fell through the eighteenth century. This event depicts rapid growth in population by mid-1800s. During 1840s and 50s, the Europeans were immigrating to Americas because Europe’s population was rapidly increasing creating pressure on land. The Europeans immigrants were in search of land to settle and also to evade the autocratic leadership that had impoverished them in the past. They were seeking a new start in their lives.

Thirty three states had been formed by 1860, with the United States ranked third based on population. This population explosion led to increased outbreak of diseases and waning standards of living in the west. Many Irish, who were mostly Roman-Catholic, moved to America in 1840s following a significant