[00:00.00] People On the Move

[00:03.79]The history of the American people is,in part,

[00:09.74]the history fo the movement fo the American people.

[00:15.31]They moved from the colonies fo the East Coast

[00:20.35]to the open space of the West.

[00:25.00]They moved from the country and the farm to the city.

[00:31.16]More recently,American have been moving from the cities to the suburbs.

[00:38.71]Pioneer Americans began moving from the East Coast

[00:45.06]to the West 250 years ago.

[00:50.42]They moved west of many reasons.

[00:55.56]One reason was that they could obtain unlimited open space

[01:02.62]and land for rarming.

[01:06.59]Americans liked large open spaces,and they liked the freedom

[01:13.53]and independence to develop the land in their own way.

[01:19.60]Some of the land became farms.

[01:24.53]Important minerals were discovered in some areas,

[01:30.59]so some fo the land became mimes.

[01:35.74]Other large areas became cattle ranches.

[01:42.01]There seemed to be enough land for everybody.

[01:48.25]But it was a difficult life -a life of endless work and hardship.

[01:56.01]After 1860,the Industrial Revolution changed the United States.

[02:04.26]Americans learned how to manufacture steel.

[02:10.72]They began to produce petroleum.The automobile was invented.

[02:19.08]Factories of all kinds began to apper,

[02:24.93]and cities began go grow up around the factories.

[02:31.67]Farmers and other country people moved to the growing cities

[02:38.82]in order to find jobs and an easier life.

[02:44.68]In the early 1900s,the cities were busy,exciting places.

[02:52.43]However,there was also a lot of poverty and hardshiip.

[02:59.10]The cities grew up -the buildings got taller

[03:05.16]-and the cities grew out-they spread out from the center.

[03:11.69]Private houses with yards and porches disappeared.

[03:18.22]Apartment buildings,each one taller than the next,took their place.

[03:25.87]More and more people moved to cities,

[03:31.23]and the cities got bigger and bigger.

[03:36.29]Some cities could not spread out because there was no room to do so.

[03:44.13]These cities,of which New York is the best example,

[03:50.77]became more and more crowded.

[03:55.83]More people meant more cars,trucks,and buses,

[04:02.57]more noise,more pollution,and more crime.

[04:08.92]Many cities became ugly and dirty.

[04:14.88]Some people and some businesses began to leave the cities

[04:21.43]and mvoe to the subrubs outside the cities.

[04:27.28]The move to the suburbs is still happening.

[04:33.55]Americans are looking for a small piece of land

[04:39.59]that they can call their own.

[04:44.16]They want a house with a yard.

[04:48.99]However,they do not want to give up the good jobs they have in the city.

[04:57.04]In many cases,companies in the suburbs give them jobs.

[05:04.48]In other cases,Americans need to commute

[05:10.44]to and from the cities where their jobs are.

[05:16.29]In recent years,more and more businesses are moving to the suburbs.

[05:24.55]They are attracting many people and the suburbs are becoming crowded.

[05:32.20]Americans have watched their big cities fall slowly into disrepair and die.

[05:41.66]Many middle-class people leave the cities,

[05:46.70]and the very rich and the very poor stay behind.

[05:53.12]Concerned Americans are trying to solve the problems of noise,

[06:00.18]dirt,crime,and pollution in the big cities.

[06:06.42]They are trying to rebuild bad sections of the cities.

[06:13.16]They are trying to attract and keep business people.

[06:19.01]They are trying to make their cities beautiful.

[06:25.36]Many Americans are ready to move back to the cities.

[06:32.52]Other Americans are finding that even suburbs have become too crowded.

[06:41.06]They are looking for unpolluted open spaces

[06:47.41]and for an independent way of life.

[06:52.66]They are ready to move from the suburbs to the country.

[06:59.00]Perhaps Americans will always be on the move.