Role of American Women

Paper Summary:

This paper explores the topic of women in the American West during the westward movement. Specifically, it offers historic evidence to support the position that the westward movement did indeed transform the traditional roles of American women, just as it transformed the American West. Women traveling west during the westward movement created opportunities for themselves, became active in business and politics, and created new and exciting lives for themselves. These women transformed how America looked at women and how women looked at themselves, which was probably the most important transformation of all.

From the Paper:

"Initially, the only inhabitants of the Western United States were Native American tribes scattered throughout the region, and the occasional trapper or mountain man there to trap furs for his livelihood. The West was empty, untapped, and waiting for westward expansion, and there were plenty of Easterners ready to travel west for new opportunities. However, after gold was discovered in California in 1848, the trip west took on new meaning. Now, going west could mean riches beyond the wildest dreams, and thousands of immigrants headed west to seek their fortunes in the gold mines of California. This was the time when women began to head west in much larger numbers, and this was the time when women's roles truly began to transform themselves."

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