1840s–1860s
Trails & Trials
How did people draw on religion to imagine their
communities?
A flurry of western settlement
followed the war with Mexico. Hundreds of thousands of people set off on
westward trails—some by choice, others by force. Their long-distance routes
were built largely on well-worn Indigenous trails. Today, they are known as the
Oregon, California, Mormon, and Santa Fe
Trails, and the Trail of Tears.
Religion figured into these
migrations in multiple ways. Sometimes, religious aims motivated the journeys.
Oftentimes, religious and cultural beliefs provided a means to contend with the
trials and upheavals involved.
Religion also helped voluntary
and involuntary migrants imagine and build their communities. The West may be
mythologized as an incubator for individualists, but it was community that
people sought.
