Expansion – Indians Essay, Research Paper

Going West Essay

It is a beautiful feeling to start an exciting journey like I am. The time is April of 1836 and I am a 32-year-old farmer. Like many of my fellow Americans I’m moving westward with my family and few wagons full of friends. My good friend Gunther tells me that the “Age of Jackson” is over and it’s our destiny as a nation to expand. I must say this change is very exciting. Only I doubt that our group can go on very long without civilization’s control. I predict that come winter, stealing from one another will be inevitable. But that problem is nothing to worry about right now. I am more occupied with thinking about what I’m going to plant when we reach our destination, the Oregan Trail. My son John is eager to help me prepare our new farmland and tame the wilderness. But in the meantime we are busy enough with sustaining our nomadic shelter, limited variety of food, and our insufficient clothing. My family and I have experienced some very intense moments these few months. We even encountered some Caddo Indians. They called us “Texas” which in Caddo means friends. The Caddo Indians seemed to be very friendly but a bunch of farmers seemed to express some hostility towards them. I can’t wait to meet new people and maybe with some help, build a ranch. Indians do have some right to be defensive from us whites moving westward, but our moving is just as natural as a wolf escaping its tracker. Boundaries like the Proclamation of 1763 were even set up by Great Britain, though it could not stop the determined traveling colonists. All we seek is to live free and push our limits as a nation. The saddest part of our expansion, however, was President Monroe’s “treaty.” Which later became President Jackson’s Indian Removal Plan in 1830. I heard that many Indian tribes were moved to land that was not only fertile but virtually unfit to live on. I believe this was a bad governmental strategy considering that Most Indian tribes are formidable warriors. And with tensions growing with Spanish settlers in the south west we are going to have enemies all around us. Although, the government officials in capital hill won’t be falling victim to an Indian raid anytime soon. Also not all authority figures are ignorant we are being led by an “empresario” named Edward Nigma. Edward went through the trouble of obtaining grants for us in Washington.