Moving West Songbook

This attractively illustrated eighty-seven page companion to Moving West Songs (two CD set) includes forty-eight of the songs Americans sang as their nation expanded westward across the continent during the period between the War of 1812 and the Civil War. The song selections include words, music and chord symbols, plus historical commentary, background information on the songs and a bibliography.

Part One: Territorial Expansion and Abolition

As the United States expanded into the old Northwest Territory, Louisiana Territory and the Pacific Northwest, Americans built canals, cut forests, farmed the land, and trapped beaver. Their songs reflected their pride, fears and hopes, and described the dangers, the boredom, the discomforts and the loneliness of life on these new frontiers.

Songs were effective tools for African-Americans. Slaves spread the word of escape plans through "code" songs. Songs about the hardships of slavery helped recruit white support for abolition and the Underground Railroad.

Part Two: Texas and the Mexican War

The lyric quality and rhythmic patterns of Mexican folk music reflect our Mexican heritage. Americans who settled in Texas sang of Texas Rangers and the struggle to make Texas a republic.

During the Mexican War, soldiers sang of American General Zachary Taylor and Mexican General Santa Anna, of the 2,000 mile march of the Mormon Battalion, and of brutal treatment at the hands of their own officers.

Part Three: Minstrel Shows and the California Gold Rush

Miners carried minstrel tunes to the gold camps in California and wrote parodies which created a vivid picture of life among the forty-niners.

Part Four: Immigrants from China, Ireland and Germany

The songs depict the prejudice against California's Chinese population in the 1850s and the suffering of the Irish, fleeing famine, as they migrated to a new, often hostile, home in America. The songs also reflect the defiance and spirit of the Germans who, after losing the fight for a free Germany, sought freedom in the United States.