Learn how the opening of the Louisiana Territory led to mass migrations in the U.S.
The opening of the Louisiana Territory for settlement led to the largest migration of people in U.S. history.
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Transcript
NARRATOR: By the 1820's, there were thriving communities throughout the Northwest Territory . . . and the region had become the main source of grain for all of the United States and for much of Europe as well.
The pressure to find new land mounted steadily as the Northwest Territory became settled, and the stage was set for another giant step westward . . . [music in] a step that witnessed the greatest mass-migration of land-hungry settlers this country has ever seen!
They streamed into the Mississippi Valley by the thousands--into the million square miles that lay waiting.
They came from as far away as New England, Maryland, and Virginia, following the old National Road.
They loaded onto flatboats and traveled down the Ohio River to the Mississippi . . . leaving crowded conditions and worn-out land back East.
What Indians they saw seldom caused trouble. Most of the tribes had already been moved further West by the government.
They said that once folks smelled that rich Mississippi bottom land, wild horses couldn't keep them from it.
[Music out]
The pressure to find new land mounted steadily as the Northwest Territory became settled, and the stage was set for another giant step westward . . . [music in] a step that witnessed the greatest mass-migration of land-hungry settlers this country has ever seen!
They streamed into the Mississippi Valley by the thousands--into the million square miles that lay waiting.
They came from as far away as New England, Maryland, and Virginia, following the old National Road.
They loaded onto flatboats and traveled down the Ohio River to the Mississippi . . . leaving crowded conditions and worn-out land back East.
What Indians they saw seldom caused trouble. Most of the tribes had already been moved further West by the government.
They said that once folks smelled that rich Mississippi bottom land, wild horses couldn't keep them from it.
[Music out]