The settlement of uninhabited lands comes in waves, one after another, like in the ocean. These pioneers rely mostly on farming and hunting in order to sustain their families. Survival is on their minds more often then money is. They use the land that they settle on without ever owning it or paying rent. When the conditions become unfavorable, a pioneer will most likely pack up and move to another area. After the pioneers, come the purchasers of the land. They construct small villages and exhibit plain, civilized life. Finally there come the men of capital and enterprise. Their goal is to make a profit off of the land. They buy the land from its current owner and turn the small villages into large, spacious cities or towns. (Turner, pg. 19-20) After several of these cities are established, a territory may have enough free, white men to apply for statehood. This process takes place in the development of almost every settlement in the pre and post revolutionary era.
Pioneers were settling west of the Appalachian Mountains as early as the first quarter of the sixteenth century. They did this despite British influences telling them to remain near the coast and not disturb the native Americans on the frontier. Most of the pioneers migrating into the North Western territory were poor Germans and Scot-Irish from the Pennsylvania area. They could not afford to purchase land in the colonies so they decided to take their chances out on the dangerous frontier where they were likely to die from the harsh elements if not from an Indian attack. The British allowed it's colonies to claim land as far as the Pacific Ocean, and many did so. In total, seven states took advantage of this privilege. The other six jealous states that were unable to extend their claims, found this unfair (Weinstein, pg. 115). This called for intervention from the newly formed government.
The United States government tried desperately for years to find an effective way of controlling the lands in the west.
