America Looks Westward

National Expansion and Reform
Written By Tom Hand

American pioneers had a yearning to move west and discover new lands. Along the way, they had to overcome daunting natural barriers, including the Appalachian Mountains. Immigrants desiring the unclaimed lands to the west traveled from Pennsylvania through the Shenandoah Valley to western North Carolina.

Tom Hand, creator and publisher of Americana Corner, explores how the pioneers were able to find a gap traversable by wagon and make their way west, and why it still matters today.

Images courtesy of Library of Congress, State Archives of North Carolina, National Park Service, National Portrait Gallery – Smithsonian Institution, Digital Library of Appalachia, Wikipedia. 

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Tom Hand
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