Western Shenanigans

February 6th, 2008

The second half of The American West book showed in great detail the evolution if the west into what it is today.  One of the topics that I found to be very interesting a KEY to the development of the west was on Chapter 9, which talked about the development of the railroad system.  It examined the how it connected the east and west, changed small towns in west, affects on economy, the pony express, as well as how it affected the Native Americans.  There were many questions that arose while reading the last eight chapters, but I will just list a few that I thought would make a half way decent research paper.  One, How much did the Americans prosper due to the development of the railroad? Second, what effects did the railroad have on the isolated cities and towns in the west? Finally, how did the railroad change the western frontier in regards to the open range?

Moving west had many affects on the Natives already living there, but also on the people moving west and their families they left behind.  Chapter 12 was about "Search for Community".  Although we don't really think much about community as the people moving west did, but what they established effects us today in regards to our family, religion, morals, values and all that jazz.  This chapter discussed how the people moving west had many different types of communities, hardships from being away from the big cities, a HUGE focus on religion, as well as race which affected where many people settled.  Not only did the move west affect the Americans, but it greatly affected the Native Americans as well. A few questions to ponder would be one, what affects did the migration to the west have on the Native Americans? And second, where did different races and religions settle and what types of communities did they generally have?

January 30th, 2008

After reading the first half of the American West book, a few topics popped out at me that I thought could potentially be a topic for a research paper down the line.  In Chapter 1 the relationship between the Spaniards and the South American Natives struck me as being something to look more into.  Although this is a very broad subject, there a few questions that could researched more for a better understanding.  First, how were the relationships between the Spaniards and the Tainos Indians differ from the relationship the Spaniards had with the Aztecs? Second, why did the Spaniards treat the different tribes differently? Third, what major affects did the Native South Americans have on the Spaniards and vice versa?

Another topic that I thought was interesting was in Chapter 5.  The main focus was on the "Fur Trade" and the effects that it had on the people around the world.  It went on to talk about the French and Indian War, as well as the struggle between the European powers and the affects and outcomes of those struggles.  A few questions that arose to me were one, how did the different European powers treat the Native North Americans during the French and Indian War?  Second, what type of relationships developed with the "Fur Trade" between the European Empires, Americans, and the Native Americans?