Gulf and Western North America (1816–1827 CE): Expansion, Conflict, and Economic Transformation

Economic and Industrial Shifts

The Asian trade significantly impacts the early United States, particularly New England, where the textile industry emerges as a dominant economic force by the early to mid-nineteenth century. As demand for cotton skyrockets, driven by the textile industry's expansion, the plantation economy in the Deep South expands rapidly, reinforcing and intensifying the institution of slavery. This shift leads to substantial capital accumulation and lays the groundwork for rapid industrial and manufacturing growth in America.

Exploration, Trapping, and the Frontier Economy

Trappers and hunters continue moving westward ahead of settlers, exploring and mapping the vast territories of the American West. These "mountain men," including figures such as Jedediah Smith, Hugh Glass, and Davy Crockett, establish important relationships with indigenous groups and gather essential geographic knowledge. Key routes such as South Pass in the central Rocky Mountains, discovered around 1812, become critical pathways for later settlers moving westward. The trapping industry evolves into a "brigade-rendezvous" system, streamlining trade and facilitating exploration, although by 1830 the fashion shift from beaver to silk hats signals the impending decline of the fur trade.

Infrastructure and Transportation Developments

Transportation becomes a pivotal issue as westward expansion continues. The introduction and improvement of steamboats revolutionize travel along major river systems, notably the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Army expeditions, particularly those led by Colonel Henry Atkinson and Major Stephen Harriman Long, help advance river navigation technologies, facilitating westward exploration and trade. Despite these advancements, Major Long's 1823 description of the Great Plains as the "Great American Desert" inadvertently discourages settlement of these regions for several decades.

Seminole Conflict and Territorial Changes in Florida

The First Seminole War, beginning in 1817 with General Andrew Jackson's incursions into Spanish-controlled Florida, marks a significant shift in the control and demographics of the region. Spain, unable to effectively manage its Florida territories amidst internal unrest and external pressures, cedes Florida to the United States in the 1819 Adams–Onís Treaty, finalized in 1821. Subsequently, the Treaty of Moultrie Creek (1823) forces the Seminole people into a reservation in central Florida, enforced by a series of forts and trading posts established along the coasts.

Key Historical Developments

• Rapid expansion and transformation of the textile industry, fueling increased demand for cotton and expansion of slavery.

• Continued exploration and trapping activities shaping geographic knowledge and trade relationships in the West.

• Significant advancements in river-based transportation, facilitating economic expansion and westward migration.

• The Seminole Wars resulting in the United States acquiring control over Florida and initiating significant demographic and territorial changes.

Long-Term Consequences and Historical Significance

From 1816 to 1827, Gulf and Western North America experiences profound economic transformations, territorial expansion, and complex interactions between settlers and indigenous peoples. The rapid industrialization of the Northeast, driven by global trade dynamics, significantly reshapes American society and economy, laying critical groundwork for future expansion and conflict across the American continent.

Trappers and hunters move ahead of settlers as the American frontier moves westward, searching out new supplies of beaver and other skins for shipment to Europe.

The hunters are the first Europeans in much of the Old West and they form the first working relationships with the natives in the West.

They add extensive knowledge of the Northwest terrain, including the important South Pass through the central Rocky Mountains.

Discovered about 1812, it later becomes a major route for settlers to Oregon and Washington.

By 1820, however, a new "brigade-rendezvous" system sends company men in "brigades" cross-country on long expeditions, bypassing many tribes.

It also encourages "free trappers" to explore new regions on their own.

At the end of the gathering season, the trappers  "rendezvous" and turn in their goods for pay at river ports along the Green River, the Upper Missouri, and the Upper Mississippi.

St. Louis is the largest of the rendezvous towns.

By 1830, however, fashions will change and beaver hats will be replaced by silk hats, ending the demand for expensive American furs.

Thus ends the era of the mountain men, trappers and scouts such as Jedediah Smith, Hugh Glass, Davy Crockett, and others.

The trade in beaver fur will virtually cease by 1845.

The Arikara attack a group of seventy trappers led by William Henry Ashley of the Henry/Ashley Company on June 2, 1823.

The trappers are camped near an Arikara village at the mouth of Grand River (north of present-day Mobridge, South Dakota).

Fourteen trappers die and ten are were wounded, including Hugh Glass, memorialized in the 1954 biographical novel "Lord Grizzly" by Frederick Manfred (see also The Revenant, which is loosely based on Hugh Glass).

Arikara warriors assault trappers working for General William Henry Ashley's Rocky Mountain Fur Company on the Missouri River on June 2, 1823, killing about fifteen people.

The surviving trappers retreat  down the river and hide in shelters, where they will stay for more than a month.

A fictionalized representation of the 1823 attack by the Arikara on the Rocky Mountain Fur Company appears in the 2015 film The Revenant from the perspective of trapper Hugh Glass.

Members of the Arikara tribe ambush Hugh Glass, Hilain Menard and Colin Rose in the early spring of 1833, scalping them and leaving part of the scalps of each tied to poles on the grounds of the murder.