American pioneers were European American and

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

settler A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settle ...

s who migrated westward from the

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th centu ...

and later

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

to settle in and develop areas of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

that had previously been inhabited or used by Native Americans. The pioneer concept and ethos greatly predate the migration to the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the We ...

, with which they are commonly associated, and many places now considered "East" were settled by pioneers from even further east. For example, Daniel Boone, a key figure in American history, settled in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

, when that "Dark and Bloody Ground" was still undeveloped. One important development in the Western settlement was the Homestead Act, which provided formal legislation for the settlers which regulated the settlement process.

Etymology

The word "pioneer" originates with the Middle French ''pionnier'' (originally, a foot soldier, or soldier involved in digging trenches), from the same root as

peon Peon (English , from the Spanish ''peón'' ) usually refers to a person subject to peonage: any form of wage labor, financial exploitation, coercive economic practice, or policy in which the victim or a laborer (peon) has little control over em ...

or pawn.Philip Durkin, "Lexical borrowing, 5.1 Basic concepts and terminology" in ''The Oxford Guide to Etymology'' (2011), ch. 5, p. 134, 138. In the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

, the term independently evolved a sense of being an innovator or

trailblazer A trailblazer is a person who is paving the way in their particular field for future generations. Trailblazer may refer to: Sports * Derby Trailblazers, a British semi-professional basketball team * North Carolina Trailblazers, a US women's rec ...

. As early as 1664, Englishman

John Evelyn John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society. John Evelyn's diary, or m ...

used the term with a self-effacing "workman" meaning when he wrote in his treatise on planting, '' Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-Trees'': "I speak now in relation to the Royal Society, not my self, who am but a Servant of it only and a Pioneer in the Works".

Pioneers

Various figures in American folklore and literature typify the pioneer. James Fenimore Cooper's '' The Deerslayer'' (1841) became the most successful of his early series, the Leatherstocking Tales, about pioneer life in the

Province of New York The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the U ...

Laura Ingalls Wilder Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder (February 7, 1867 – February 10, 1957) was an American writer, mostly known for the '' Little House on the Prairie'' series of children's books, published between 1932 and 1943, which were based on her childhood ...

's '' Little House on the Prairie'' series, published a century later in 1932–1943 but set in the 1870s and 1880s, typified later depictions of pioneer families. Daniel Boone (1734–1820) and

Davy Crockett David Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was an American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, and politician. He is often referred to in popular culture as the "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of ...

(1786–1836) became two real-life icons of pioneer history.

Historic details and episodes

History of settlement efforts

The first

westward migration Westward may refer to: * The cardinal direction West * Westward, Cumbria, a settlement in north-west England * ''Westward'' (series), a series of games video created by Sandlot Games * Westward Islet of Ducie Island * Westward Television, a forme ...

s occurred as representatives of the

sought to open up new lands for their respective colonies westward. Those whose original royal charters did not specify a western limit simply extended their lands directly and indefinitely westward. United States 1789-03-1789-08

After the

was formed upon the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, federal coordination and legislation began to give settlement a more unified approach. The Land Ordinance of 1785 was the first official action by the federal government in deciding how political organization of new territories would be handled. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was a major step, declaring that states could not individually claim new lands, but exploration would be handled by the national U.S. government. In the

Land Act of 1804 The Land Act of 1804 was U.S. legislation that refined provisions for the purchase of U.S. public land north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi river. At the time, the region was divided into the Indiana Territory and the State of Oh ...

, the federal government took its first steps towards legislating the manner in which pioneer lands would be individually claimed and distributed. Further evidence of the government's involvement in encouraging western settlement was the publication of The Prairie Traveler, published in 1859, three years before the Homestead Act's passage. Randolph B. Marcy, Captain of the U.S. Army was commissioned by War Department to provide a guide for those moving west. It provided not only mileage and stopping points during travel but also gave advice about what to take on the journey, how to interact with Native Americans and also how to respond to threatening situations such as encounters with bears.The Prairie Traveler, Randolph B. Macy There were many other forms of this process, such as land runs including the Land Run of 1889, in Oklahoma, which occurred when parts of the territory of Oklahoma were first opened, allowing anyone to claim land on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Details of pioneer efforts and actions

As western settlement grew, certain common details began to emerge. Most pioneers traveled in

wagon trains ''Wagon Train'' is an American Western series that aired 8 seasons: first on the NBC television network (1957–1962), and then on ABC (1962–1965). ''Wagon Train'' debuted on September 18, 1957, and became number one in the Nielsen ratings. ...

, groups of wagons containing settlers and their families. They banded together for common defense and to combine their efforts. Pioneers in the East often had to clear the land, owing to lush forests there. In the Midwest, the task was to bring agricultural fertility to the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, a ...

. Some pioneers were drawn with the original intent of claiming lands and settling their families. Others were trappers, or others who went west for commercial reasons, and remained there as residents when their businesses proved to be profitable.

Popular culture and folklore

The figure of the pioneer has played a large role in American culture,

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...

and

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, rangin ...

. The pioneer is not the only iconic figure which figures in the settlement of the West. Much cultural note is given to other figures of a more transient nature, such as

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaqu ...

trapper Animal trapping, or simply trapping or gin, is the use of a device to remotely catch an animal. Animals may be trapped for a variety of purposes, including food, the fur trade, hunting, pest control, and wildlife management. History Neolithic ...

s, prospectors, miners etc. However, the pioneer alone represents those who went into unexplored territory in search of a new life, looking to establish permanent settlement. Various figures in American folklore and literature typify the pioneer. '' The Deerslayer'' was the most successful of an early series, the Leatherstocking Tales, about pioneer life in New York. '' Little House on the Prairie'', a century later, typified a later series of novels describing a pioneer family. Daniel Boone and

are two real-life icons of pioneer history.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:American Pioneer History of United States expansionism