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DO WE
GO, OR STAY?
Editorials
saying:"Go to Oregon!"
St. Louis Gazette: The Rocky Mountains can be crossed
by wagons and families. There is no obstruction the whole route that
any person would dare call a mountain. Even delicate missionary women
have crossed the mountains with no ill effects.
In Oregon, there are spacious, fertile valleys where good crops can
be grown, and free land is available. Although there is still land
to be had back east, prices are rising and economic conditions are
poor. No one need starve on the overland journey if they plan carefully.
Provisions can be taken to last for months, and game is plentiful.
In fact, the health of overlanders should improve in the great outdoors.
Missouri Gazette: The Indians are hostile, true, but
overlanders traveling together in large wagon trains are safe. In
all probability they would not meet with an Indian to interrupt their
progress. The army has forts and soldiers to protect travelers and
more will be provided.
New Orleans Daily Picayune: Those bound for Oregon are
Pioneers, like those of Israel that followed Moses through the wilderness.
Going to Oregon is also Patriotic. It is our manifest destiny to settle
the west.
Editorials
saying: "Do not go to Oregon!"
North American Review: Why go to Oregon to get land?
An Illinois farm of the finest land would be far superior.
Daily Missouri Republican: Families with wagons will
never be able to cross the mountains. Men should not subject their
wives and children to all degrees of suffering.
New Orleans Weekly Bulletin: The Indians in the west
are hostile. The wagon trains would be in constant jeopardy.
The New York Aurora: Most of their overlanders and their
animals will die of starvation and exposure in the vast desert areas
of the west. It is madness and a folly to attempt a trip to Oregon.
Liverpool Times: The country is expanding too fast.
Besides, the Oregon Country is claimed by the British. If war comes
it would be impossible to defend it.
A FAMILY
WEIGHS THE PROS AND CONS
Directions:
Read the attached page which has editorials showing the pros and
cons for going to the Oregon Country. Discuss these pros and cons.
Where do you feel your family would stand on going to the Oregon
Country? Would they go? Why or why not? What would your reaction
be to their decision?
I think my family
would have gone to Oregon because:
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My reaction:
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I think my family would not have gone to Oregon because:
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My reaction:
___________________________________________________
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Write an editorial
of your own describing why you should or should not go to the Oregon
Country. Back your editorial up with facts or realistic views.
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Last modified on:
February 1, 2004
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