Conflict between native populations and settlers was not the only thing that affected early settlement patterns. The Appalachian Mountains formed both a natural and artificial barrier to westward development in our country’s early history. The Appalachians are largely continuous with only a few passes, the most famous being the Cumberland Gap at the western tip of Virginia.
These mountains also served as the template for a human boundary. Following acquisition of French territories after the French and Indian War, the British crown issued the Proclamation of 1763, intended to safeguard the territories of Native Americans as a reward for their aid during the French and Indian War, as well as help to regulate trade, settlement, and land speculation on the western frontier. Defending the Proclamation Line was to be financed by taxing the colonists, many who felt that they were paying to uphold a boundary that favored Native Americans at their expense. Many colonists ignored the Line and began to travel through the mountains beyond it, setting the stage for future conflicts (Proclamation, n.d., par. 6).
In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States and its territories, encompassing lands from the Mississippi River to the Rockies and from Canada to New Orleans. By 1840, almost 40 percent of the nation’s population had settled west of the Appalachians (Westward Expansion, n.d., par. 3).
Fought for many reasons, among them Great Britain’s attempts to restrict U.S. trade, the War of 1812 was a turning point in expansion east of the Mississippi. Up till this time, Great Britain often supported Indian tribes in their fight against settlers coming into their territories. After the British defeat, the United States negotiated treaties with eastern Indian tribes that forced them to cede their land and, in a pattern of forced migration, remove across the Mississippi to reservations that had been created by these treaties (Fixico, n.d., par. 8).
At the link below, C-SPAN Classroom's lesson plan on the War of 1812 centers on 10 video clips, beginning with "Reasons for the War of 1812" and ending with "The Legacy of the War of 1812."
