Building America, 1789 The end of the American Revolution
unleashed a westward migration that lasted for over a hundred
years. The western regions of former colonies such as New York
were now the new frontier. It was here that America's newly
minted citizens looked to acquire land upon which they could
exercise their rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness
that they had just fought a revolution to obtain. The land was
untamed wilderness. There were no roads, no pastures, no fields
and no homes. Everything that the settlers needed to survive and
thrive had to be carved out of the backwoods through Undeterred
by the daunting task, would-be settlers enthusiastically bought
up homestead plots from land speculators eager to cash in on the
passion to move west. William Cooper typifies these land
speculators. A resident of New Jersey, Cooper was able to
purchase forty thousand acres of land near Albany, New York in
1785. The extraordinary demand for land was underscored by the
fact that Cooper was able to sel