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Migrations to the West
西进移民的幸福生活
沿着印第安人踏出的荒原小径，一队队马车载着渴望土地的人们缓缓行进，汇成美国西部开发的洪流。粗犷的拓殖生活与大胆创新扩大了美国的疆域，带来了农业与工商业的繁荣。来自世界各地的移民在广阔的天地里自由畅想并大有作为，使西部成为美国最富传奇色彩的地方。因此，西部拓荒生活为美国文学创作与影视作品提供了鲜活生动、经久不衰的题材。
In mid-18th century pioneers began to move across the Appalachian Mountains1, and by 1790 the trickle of westward movement had become a stream. As the population expanded and pushed westward, the nation's frontier2 was pressed outward.
During the first quarter of the 19th century, people from New England and Middle Atlantic states were pouring into the northern Ohio and Indiana and later into southern Michigan. By 1850, lower Michigan was fairly well settled, and the best lands in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin had been claimed3. On the eve of the Civil War, pioneers were pushing the northwestern tip of the frontier into central Minnesota, most of Iowa was behind the frontier line, and the handsome country of eastern Kansas was being settled.
Throughout this early period of westward expansion was an ever-increasing influx of land-hungry people from abroad. From 1789 to the close of the War of 18124, not more than 250,000 people emigrated from Europe. With the final defeat of Napoleon5 and the coming of peace abroad, immigration resumed. From 500,000 people in the 1830s, the flow increased to 1.5 million in the 1840s and to 2.5 million in the 1850s. For the most part, the newcomers were from northern Europe;6 Germans and Irish predominated, but there were many immigrants from England, Scotland, Switzerland, and the Scandinavian countries. Of these peoples, the Germans tended more than any others to go directly to the lands of the West.
The resulting surges in production in the Northwest7 did not immediately dislocate agriculture in the older states8. Over the decades, however, the leading producers of hogs, corn, and wheat became western states.
Early in the 1800s, western hog production was greatly limited by high transportation costs9; hogs were driven overland from Ohio to the urban centers of the East or were sent south by boat for sale to the plantations. Cattle, too, were driven in great herds to the East, where they were sold for immediate slaughter or for further fattening. Slaughtering and meat-packing centers arose in the early West, and by 1830s, Cincinnati, nicknamed Porkopolis, was the most important pork-processing city in the country.
Commercial hog raising required corn growing.10 Corn had been cultivated in all the original colonies and throughout the South. As late as 1840, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia led the nation in corn production. But within 20 years it was apparent that the states to the northwest would be the corn leaders.
The attraction of new lands for wheat was also tremendous. Western wheat could not come into its own11 until facilities were available for transporting it in quantity to the urban centers of the East; During 1840s, the shift of wheat production to the West was remarkable. By 1860, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin were the leading producers, and the five states carved12 from the Northwest Territory produced roughly half the nation's output.
Ultimately, the northern migration forced changes on the agriculture of the northeastern states. For a quarter of a century after the ratification of the Constitution13, agriculture in New England, except in a few localities, remained relatively primitive;14 the individual farm unit produced practically everything needed for the household. The arrival of the steamboat15 in the West in 1811, the opening of the Erie Canal in the 1820s, and the extension of the railroads beyond the Alleghenies16 in the 1840s meant that products of the rich western land would flow in ever-increasing amounts to the East. Western competition caused the northeastern farmer to reduce grain cultivation, and only dairy cattle remained important in animal production.
After independence, the hope of the South was in cotton.17 And the application of gin18 made fiber production almost limitless. With the end of the War of 1812, the really important shift in cotton production to the west began. The settlers first planted the loamy, fertile soils that extended in an arc from Georgia through Alabama into northeastern Mississippi. A second major cotton-growing area lay in the rich bottom land of the lower Mississippi River and its tributaries. In this extremely fertile soil, the cotton even tended to grow a longer fiber. The culture spread into western Tennessee and eastern Arkansas. A jump into Texas then foretold the trend of cotton production.19
By 1840, the early cotton-producing states had been left behind. In 1860, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana were far in the lead. With Mississippi alone producing more cotton than Georgia and South Carolina combined. This shift in the realm of King Cotton was to have the most far-reaching consequences on the economy of South.
As with the surges in the Northwest, the 1810s, the 1830s, and the 1850s were the boom decades for the new southwestern areas. It was, of course, the favorable returns expected on cotton cultivation that brought the great, irregular surges of movement toward the southwest.
18世纪中叶，拓居者们开始越过阿巴拉契亚山脉向西行进。到了1790年，西进队伍已由涓涓细流变成淙淙小溪。随着人口的增加与西进的深入，美国的疆界向外扩展了。
在19世纪最初的二十五年中，新英格兰与大西洋沿岸中部各州的人们涌入俄亥俄与印地安那北部，后来又进入密歇根南部。到了1850年，密歇根南部已经人丁兴旺，伊利诺斯北部和威斯康星南部的上好地带也有人定居。南北战争前夕，开拓先锋们把边疆的西北端推进到了明尼苏达中部，爱荷华的大部分地区已在疆界之内，堪萨斯东部的大片乡土也已被拓居。
在西进扩张的初期不断有很多渴望土地的人们从国外迁居至此。从1789至1812年战争结束时，从欧洲移民而来的不到25万人。随着拿破仑的最终覆灭及各国趋于和平，移民潮再度兴起。 移民人数从19世纪30年代的50万增至40年代的150万，到了50年代跃为250万。这批移民大部分来自欧洲北部，德国人与爱尔兰人占多数，但也有许多人来自英格兰、苏格兰、瑞士以及斯堪的纳维亚半岛国家。这些不同人群中，德国人更倾向于直奔西部地区定居。 由此带来的西北部生产的高涨并未即刻对原有各州的农业造成冲击，但在此后的几十年中，西部各州上升为生猪、玉米与小麦的主要产地。
19世纪初，西部的养猪业因运费昂贵而大受限制；从俄亥俄州把猪群赶到东部城市中心地带，或用船运到南部卖给种植园。牛也被成群地赶到东部卖掉，立即屠宰或继续饲养。屠宰与肉类加工中心在早期的西部出现了。19世纪30年代，辛辛那提（别称"猪肉城"）已成为美国最重要的肉类加工中心。 饲养商品猪要求种植玉米。最初的殖民地以及整个南方地区都种过玉米。直到1840年，肯塔基州、田纳西州和弗吉尼亚州在玉米生产上仍然领先全国。而在此后的20年中，西北部各州显然将成为玉米主要产区。
用新土地种植小麦也具有很大的吸引力。直到有了便利的交通，西部的小麦才得以大批量地运到东部城市。19世纪40年代，小麦生产向西部的转移令人瞩目。到了1860年，伊利诺斯州、印地安那州和威斯康星州成为主要的小麦产区，在西北地区开辟的五个州的小麦产量大约占了全国的一半。
最终，北方的移民活动促使东北部各州农业发生了变化。在宪法生效后的25年中，新英格兰地区的农业除了几个地方外，仍然比较原始；家庭所需的几乎所有物产都是由各个农场自行生产的。1811年西部出现汽船，19世纪20年代伊利运河开通以及40年代铁路延伸到阿勒格尼山脉以外地区意味着丰饶的西部土地的物产也可以源源不断地流入东部。西部的竞争迫使东北部农民削减粮食种植，而畜类中只有奶牛仍保持重要地位。
独立后，南方的希望在于棉花种植。而轧棉机的应用使棉花线纱产量大得出奇。1812年随着战争的结束，棉花生产向西部的重要转移开始了。最初定居者们在佐治亚州经过阿拉巴马州到密西西比州东北部的弧形地带肥沃的土地上种植棉花。第二个主要的棉花种植区是沿着密西西比河下游及其支流的富饶的河滩地。在这些极为优质的土壤上种植的棉花纤绒会更长。棉花种植扩展到田纳西州西部与阿肯色州东部，而进入得克萨斯州则预示着棉花种植的新动向。 到了1840年，最早的产棉州落伍了。1860年，阿拉巴马、密西西比和路易斯安那州遥遥领先，其中密西西比一州的棉花产量超过佐治亚与南卡罗莱纳两个州的产量之和。棉花王国的转移将对南方经济产生最为深远的影响。
在西北部兴起的同时，19世纪最初的10年、30年代以及50年代对于新兴的西南地区来说是繁荣兴旺的几十年。当然，正是对棉花种植可观回报的预期引发了大规模的断续的西南部开发运动。
1. 阿巴拉契亚山脉，位于美国东部，纵贯2,300千米，海拔1,000-1,500米。18世纪人们越过阿巴拉契亚山脉向西部迁移的路线有两条：较重要的一条是穿过坎伯兰山峡进入肯塔基或田纳西；另一条是从宾夕法尼亚南部经匹兹堡沿着俄亥俄河行进。
2. 按照人口普查报告的专门定义，边疆指的是每平方英里有2-6人居住的地区。"西进"和"边疆"是两个密不可分的概念。西进是指濒临大西洋沿岸各州的美国人向西部边疆迁移，而西部边疆的界限随着美国的发展越来越往西扩张。美国建国以前的边疆笼统地说是以阿勒格尼山脉和阿巴拉契亚山脉为界划分东西部的界限。
3. 独立后的美国新政府面对的一件大事就是对西部土地的分配。1841年《优先购买权法》允许定居者以每英亩1.25美元的价格购买160英亩土地。1862年的《宅地法》允许每个移民免费领取160英亩的公共土地，5年后即可获得所有权。
4. 英美第二次战争，即美国为伸张宪政的自由权利同英国进行的斗争，美国取得胜利。此战意义深远：它维护了美国的团结和统一；战后签定的"卢-巴协定"把英国的势力推到五大湖以北；清除了英国在西部的势力，为西部的开发创造了有利条件。
5. 1803年拿破仑一世建立了拿破仑帝国，但1814年被英俄奥普联军击败，最终被流放。
6. 大多数历史学家把1850-1880年间涌入美国的西北欧移民称为"旧移民"，而把1890-1910年（即美国镀金时代）的东南欧移民叫做"新移民"。
7. 最早的西部移民区被称为"老西北"，即密西西比河与俄亥俄河之间的广大地带，也就是今天美国的中西部，位于最初13个州的西北。
8. the older states：老州，即美国成立之初的13个州，包括新英格兰的Massachusetts (马萨诸塞州), Rhode Island (罗得岛州), Connecticut (康涅狄格州), New Hampshire (新罕布什尔州), New York (纽约州), Delaware（特拉华州），与大西洋沿岸中部的New Jersey (新泽西州), Pennsylvania (宾夕法尼亚州）, Virginia (弗吉尼亚州）， Maryland (马里兰州), North Carolina (北卡罗莱纳州), South Carolina (南卡罗莱纳州), Georgia (佐治亚州)。
9. 19世纪初美国的运输主要靠运河和天然水道的船只，运费很高，尤其在使用汽船以前。
10. 猪群可以到森林里吃树上掉落的野果，但是定时喂养有助于生产出高质量的猪肉，而玉米是最理想的饲料作物。
11. come into one's own: 盛行起来。
12. carve: 切割，开辟。
13. 1777年大陆会议通过了《邦联和永久联合条例》，成为美国第一部宪法。1787年修宪会议通过了被称为联邦宪法的《合众国宪法》。1788年这部新宪法得到各州通过。
14. 贫瘠的土壤、崎岖的地表以及恶劣的气候使新英格兰地区在殖民地时期只有生存性农业，即仅能种植维持农场家庭生存所必需的作物如印地安玉米和小麦。到独立战争以前，新英格兰成为食物与纤维产品的净进口地区。
15. 1807年，美国人罗伯特·富尔顿建造了一艘名为"Clemont"的汽船，沿着哈得逊河逆流从纽约到阿尔巴尼，完成了32小时的航行，从而迎来美国河流运输的新纪元。1819年，西部河流上运行的汽船载重量已经超过10,000吨，到1860年增加了一倍。
16. Alleghenies: 阿勒格尼山脉，位于宾夕法尼亚州。
17. 独立战争后，英美传统贸易受到打击，南方的奴隶主放弃了过去有利可图的烟草种植。18世纪60年代棉纺织业革命使棉花的需求量迅速增加，加上1793年惠特尼发明的"轧棉机"大大提高了生产率，使棉花取代烟草成为美国南部的主要经济作物。由于高地棉的大规模种植，到1800年南部的植棉业便从沿海扩展到彼特蒙地区。1835年之后的10年，南部开拓了三个新的棉花产区，密西西比州成为棉花王国。
18. 轧棉机用一组安装在旋转筒上的钢绞齿，使棉绒通过铸铁分离器将棉籽清除，比手工生产效率提高了50倍以上。
19. 南部"棉花王国"形成的最后阶段，是得克萨斯的开发与发展，这就使整个棉产区跨过了密西西比河，直抵格兰特河一线。
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submitted at 2003-12-3 14:47:00
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