Notes 9/27

Hi all! Here are the notes for Thurs 9/27. Lecture was all over the place, so I just decided to provide a list of bullet points that reflect the most important talking points.

What is the Donner party? Group of 87 pioneers who set off in 1846 from Missouri to California. Instead of taking the usual route, however, they decided to take the Hastings Cutoff, which sent them across northern Utah (Wasatch Mountains and Great Lake Lake Desert).

So did it work? Did it get them to California fast? Nope. Trip was a disaster. The pioneers lost wagons and horses, and kept having to clear the path in front of them. This created tensions between the pioneers and as you can imagine, kept slowing them down.

Pioneers didn't reach California until early November, yet their goal was end of September. This put them in the Sierra Nevadas, thus creating a "wrong place, wrong time" scenerio. They found themselves caught in a blizzard and had to seek shelter in some cabins by what was then known as Truckee Lake.

Food ran out and the snow kept building, so 15 of the pioneers set off on foot. Only 7 made it to their destination.

What did the 7 pioneers do to survive? They fed off the remains of the 8 prioneers who died along the way.

Why didn't anyone go looking for the pioneers? The Mexican American War slowed down rescue efforts.

Some class discussion ensued. Did they really need to eat their companions? Was it worth it? Was it as simple as "They died of exposure and we wanted to survive?" or was it a question of murder? Some silly comments and questions ping-ponged back and forth (I'm figuring we don't need to go into that.)

TRANSITION to "The Oregon Question" or Oregon Dispute

There was a period of dispute between American and British claims to land in and around the Oregon area in the first half of the 19th century (Donner party era). This part was a little fuzzy for me, but I think Prof. Block mentioned that a Treaty between the U.S. and the Brits was signed, which stipulated that both nations could claim this land simultaneously.

This land dispute birthed the catchphrase "Manifest Destiny!" which referred to the U.S.'s destiny to keep expanding westward.

TRANSITION to Thomas Hart Benton - know this guy! He was a Missouri Senator who advocated for westward expansion. He adopted a "if the ends justify the means" philosophy re: westward expansion - kill whoever gets in the way of our effort to settle the West. He was one of the authors of the Homestead Act.

TRANSITION to John C. Fremont - know this guy, too! He was an American explorer and officer who eventually ran for President as a member of the anti-slavery Republican party. With Manifest Destiny in mind, know that in the winter of 1849 he led a group of people across the West in search of a potential rail route. He thought rail would be key in developing our westward territories.