America The Story of Us
Episode 3: Westward
Wagons head west
As the American nation is born, a vast continent lies to the west of the mountains, waiting to be explored and exploited. Yet this land is not empty--Native American Indians are spread across the land mass, as are Spanish colonists and French explorers. For the pioneers who set out to confront these lands, following trailblazers like Daniel Boone, the conquest of the West is a story of courage and hardship that forges the character of America. Armed with knowledge from hardened mountain men like Jedediah Smith, millions of Americans keep heading ever westward. Their journeys by wagon train are fraught with danger, across distances never imagined possible. But the allure of adventure, opportunity and economic gain is too strong. While some struggle to create new lives on the Frontier, others are rewarded with riches on a scale never seen before, as the world rushes in to mine California's gold. America now stretches from "sea to shining sea." And when American pioneers master the waters of the Mississippi basin with a radical invention, the steamboat, a new era opens.
Related Topics
- Donner Party
- Conestoga Wagon
- Mormonism
- Daniel Boone
- Cumberland Gap
- Shawnee
- Westward Expansion
- Louisiana Purchase
- Meriwether Lewis
- William Clark
- Sacagawea
- Jedediah Smith
- The Wilderness Road
- Abraham Lincoln
- Mary Todd Lincoln
- History of New Orleans
- Mississippi River
- Steamboats
- The Alamo
- Susannah Dickinson
- Davy Crockett
- Texas
- Andrew Jackson
- Trail of Tears
- San Francisco
- Gold Rush of 1849
Upcoming Episodes
Show Schedule
Episodes in the next 2 weeks
- Wednesday, Feb 15, 10/9c Rebels: TVPG
- Wednesday, Feb 15, 12/11c Westward: TVPG
- Wednesday, Feb 15, 2/1c Civil War: TVPG
- Wednesday, Feb 15, 4/3c Metropolis: TVPG
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