HY 103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Personal Liberty Laws, Fugitive Slave Laws, Donner Party
Document Summary
4/13/17- california and bust: western migration and the fragmenting political scene, 1849- Taking the western trails: manifest destiny was still a popular idea, the end of the mexican war rapidly spread the idea that moving west was a good idea and something many wanted to pursue, oregon/santa fe trails. The main trails that many of the migrants took. More than 20,000 people died on the journey. It was a very dangerous and long journey, and cost a lot of money to pursue: the migration caused very big ecological impacts and surprisingly was little conflict between indians and western migrants. The terrain and weather were the real threats: donner party. Took a shortcut in wyoming which ultimately led them trapped in the sierra. Ended up eating each other as they were trapped in the winter. In the end, only 47 of them survived.
