Emergence of the Northwest

The area west of the Appalachians, north of the Ohio, and east of the Mississippi- the "Northwest" The immigration in the North bore considerable similarities to its southern counterpart. First of all, many of the settlers to the Northwest came from the states of the Upper South. Some southern migrants to the North professed themselves eager to move out of the states with slavery, while others merely followed the easiest routes to good land. As in the Southwest, settlers to the Northwest did not move in a simple westward wave, but rather flowed up the rivers and spread from there, sometimes back to the east. Those who remained in a community became its leading citizens, consolidating land into larger farms, setting up grist mills and sawmills, running for office, establishing the small towns that serves as county seats and trading centers. In many cases storekeepers were among the first to arrive and among those whose fortunes flourished best. Courthouses were built early on to formalize land sales and taxation.

Migration to the Southwest

The Demand for cotton in England took off in 1815, when cotton became, for the first time, the clothing of choice for large number of the world's people. The south was the WORLD'S most ready place to start this transition. Small farmers as well as planters from the older states of the southern seaboard saw Opportunity in the new states of Alabama and Mississippi, especially now that Andrew Jackson had opened Mobile as a port for southern Alabama. Slave owners in the older states of the Atlantic seaboard face with what they considered a surplus of labor, eagerly sold slaves to planters moving to "New" lands. Many planters to the east took advantage of the opportunity to sell slaves "down south", especially as the price of slaves- stagnant or declining before 1815- began to rise. Because of this migration east, the population of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana more than tripled between 1810 and 1820.

Some ambitious young men from northern states moved to the new cotton land, the place in the United States, it seemed where the greatest fortunes could be made in the shortest amount of time. the lure of the sotuthwest overrode concerns husbands may have felt for their wives' opinions, however, for the new states offered a chance at the independence they considered synonymous with manliness.