A Brief History of the Western United States

The image of the Wild West has been romanticized over the years in films and in books, and as such the overall view of the history of the West has been slightly skewed. Certainly, there were instances of shootouts between outlaws and sheriffs, and settlers and Native Americans, but this only tells of a small portion of what is known as the western expansion. From the Louisiana Purchase and the subsequent Louis and Clark expedition from St. Louis, Missouri to the Pacific Northwest, the western United States has a rich section of American history.

After the United States won its independence from Great Britain, the government wanted to expand westward. Referred to as "manifest destiny", the American people believed that Americans should own the entire great expanse of land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. After purchasing the Louisiana Territory, which was a large chunk of land that ranged from the Gulf of Mexico northward along the Mississippi River out west to the reaches of the current Idaho/Montana border, the Louis and Clark expedition went underway to fully explore the terrain of the Pacific Northwest and reach the Pacific Ocean (among other goals). In the later years, gold was discovered in the mountains of California, and the fertile soil was said to be so rich that people migrated out west to seek their fortune.

Soon after, the great railways were constructed to permanently connect east and west. The west was still only lightly law enforced, so the people were generally hard-bitten individuals. Some turned to a life of crime, robbing banks and trains, and this is where many of the old stories of the Wild West came from. Gradually over time, the West Coast became much the same as the East Coast, with towns expanding into cities and commerce exploding. However, history will always remember a time in the United States where there was a place way out west to escape the drudgery of civilization, and where a man could find his fortune.