Life in America in the 1800s essays

Life in America in the 1800's essays In America, the country was beginning to grow. People came from all sides. Ships came from Sweden, England, and other countries. People already there, slowly began to travel west. Some traveled by wagon, some boarded steamboats, some traveled by foot, and if there were railroads where they were going, they sometimes took a train. And when they got there, no houses were sitting already made, waiting for them to buy. They had to build them. Some made their houses out of sod, and some cut down trees and built houses. And those who choose to live in the woods usually had to clear a space. Some big stumps took a day or more to root up. In the spring the settlers would plant there crops and tap maple trees. When the settlers planted corn, they put six corn kernels in each hole, because they knew some would not sprout. After the tapped the maple trees, they would boil it down into syrup. Sometimes they would take spoonfuls of hot syrup and drop it onto the snow, and it hardened into candy. In the summer settlers tended their crops, and watched their livestock grow. Families couldnt spare much time away from the fields, so picnics and/or barn raisings were a rare treat. Near the end of the summer, they would harvest hay. The whole family bring in the hay would feed their livestock till summer came again. Harvesting hay was done in the hottest weather so the hay was dry for storing. During the fall, Crops were harvested. Apples and beechnuts were also harvested. When the apples were harvested, women carefully packed and stored the best apples to eat in the winter. The rest were made into cider, vinegar, applesauce or apple butter. Or they were cut into apple rings and dried. The settlers also butchered hogs and/or a head or two of cattle. They cleaned out the carcasses, then salted or smoked the meat to preserve it. As the year rolled on into winter, the settlers were able to ...