Kit Carson and Manifest Destiny

Kit Carson

I. Background

1. Early years

A. Born December 24, 1809 in Boone’s Lick, Missouri

B. He worked as a young teenager and never had the opportunity to get a formal education

C. He apprenticed a saddle-maker at age fourteen

D. By age seventeen he left to Santa Fe, New Mexico

2. Adult Life

A. From 1828 to 1831 he went on a series of trapping expeditions based in New Mexico

B. His expeditions took him far west like the Rocky Mountains and California

C. He was employed as a hunter at Bent’s fort for several years

D. He became very familiar with Indian culture and eventually married two Native American women

E. In 1842 he gained popularity when he guided John C. Fremont around the west

F. These expeditions were chronicled in Fremont’s widely-read reports and Carson became regarded as a national hero

G. Later he fought to preserve American territory in California when it was threatened

H. He was a key organizer in the Civil War for New Mexico, his actions mostly aimed against the Navajo

I. He was recognized for his work against the Navajos, who were against the idea of living on a reservation

I. Events that shaped views on Manifest Destiny

1. Work for United States

A. He was pressed into service to take the region of California for the United States

B. He continued to work for the United States government

C. When Indians fought for their rights to land, he was an advocate for putting them on reservations

D. Fighting for the American government, his stance was that the...