Westward Expansion

Martina posing in front of a mechanical reaper

With the help of advancing technology, the West really changed after the Civil War. Along with Martina and Terrance, you experienced the hard life of the American cowboy. You also saw how the newly-constructed railroad made it easy to transport cattle from the Great Plains to the East Coast, causing a demand for beef in the United States. Westward migration had negative consequences. For example, American Indians were forced off of their lands, and hunters nearly wiped out the buffalo, the main source of food for American Indians.

Industrialization and immigration fueled American growth in large cities. Cities became hubs for manufacturing and transportation. Many of the workers in large cities lived in poverty. The expansion of the United States continued until all of the states that make up the continental United States were admitted.