The Infinite Dream: The Opening of the Great American West

The Infinite Dream told with all the historical detail which made Allan W. Eckert famous explores Americas westward expansion beyond the Mississippi River 1834 - 1848. In this period before the Civil War restless pioneers were casting eager eyes on the lands between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean. In 1821 Missouri had been admitted to the Unionthe second state carved out of the Louisiana Purchase. In the 1820s and 30s pioneers were crossing into the Iowa Territory. To the west lay the Great Plains. While the vast almost treeless expanse of the great American desert held little appeal to early settlers beyond the Rocky Mountains lay the fertile and forested wilderness of the Oregon Territory and California. To the south lay Texas a rich land sparsely settled by Spaniards and Mexicans. As this book opens both California and Texas are part of Mexico. John Sutter is trying to obtain Mexican citizenship so he can become a landowner in the California province. The Mormons are facing harsh persecutions in the East. And America is suffering from the sectional tensions arising from conflicting views of states rights.When the Democratic candidate James K. Polk was elected President in 1844 it became clear that the United States would achieve its Manifest Destiny to spread and inhabit the western lands.Eckerts historical narrative is written as a great human drama. Diary and journal entries of real people who lived the hardships war deprivation and success of this era salt the pages of this edition giving faces and feelings to one of our countrys grandest historical adventuresthe opening of the American west.