Historic Replicas

Yesterday I wrote a little about the Louisiana Purchase.  For most people, this marks the beginning of the Wild West era.  Historians, however, use the term  “Old West” to refer to a different time and place.  The “Old West” describes the original spreading out from the Atlantic colonies in New England to the Alleghenies in Pennsylvania.  That happened in the Early American/colonial period between 1676 and 1763, and included western New England, New York State, and part of Ohio. These early pioneers were every bit as daring and courageous as their covered-wagon cousins a century later.  They had to work for it every step of the way; in fact, expanding one hundred miles from the coast took nearly one hundred years of fighting and chopping down trees!  When we think of colonial America, the picture in our heads looks pretty different from the Wild West.  The people in these times were actually pretty similar, though.  Pioneers throughout history have been searching for a better life.  The New England frontier was dangerous, but settlers on its edge were always the people least satisfied with life in more established areas.  Governors sold vast tracts of territory to eager settlers, and while New England had begun as a religious settlement with a strict moral code, its values began to change.  Settlers began to think about more than home, hearth, and heaven; in time, the men and women they most respected were the ones who took risks and got rich.  This overlooked period of American history did a lot to shape the Wild West spirit of adventure we all know and love.