While living in Cincinnati, one of the centers of the abolition movement, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). This book is credited with expanding abolitionist sentiments in America and leading to the American Civil War. Although the book was a tremendous best-seller, and very influential in American history, it is also blamed for beginning many harmful and inaccurate racial stereotypes. Find the full text HERE.
Concord, Massachusetts, was the home of the Transcendentalist movement in America. One of its lesser known members (at the time, anyway) was Henry David Thoreau. He went on to have quite a lot of influence, however, as his essay entitled "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience" influenced such later historical figures as Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr.. The essay details his objections to the Mexican-American War and its potential to spread slavery to the Southwest. Find the full text of the essay HERE.
Frederick Douglass, born a slave in Hillsboro, Maryland, went on to become one of the leaders of the abolition movement. The story of his life, published as Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845), gave people insight into the reality of slavery in this country. He was a powerful public speaker as well, and traveled the country making influential speeches. Here is a link to the full text.
Horace Greely may not have been a novelist, but his name is very important in the consideration of the phenomenon of westward expansion. He was one of the writers who advised people to, "Go west, young man.". He was a very influential newspaper editor, and he was involved in politics on several occasions, even running for President in 1872. Like many others, he saw westward expansion as a way for the poor and disadvantaged to pursue opportunities and make better lives for themselves. In fact, he receives much of the credit for bringing about the Homestead Act (1862), which offered free land in the West for settlers.
Mark Twain was one of the people who went out west, looking for riches in the boom towns of the mining areas. Virginia City, Nevada, was one of these boom towns, and it was here that Samuel Clemens began using his famous pen name. Twain was noted for his talent for satire, a technique he used to point out American foibles and hypocrisy to Americans and the rest of the world. His novel entitled Roughing It (link to the full text) tells the story of his experiences out west.
Laura Ingalls Wilder lived the life of a homesteader in the West. Her books, especially Little House on the Prairie, give modern readers an idea of what life was like for the early settlers. Even today, it is worthwhile to give some thought to the lives led by the settlers and pioneers crossing the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains in their Conestoga wagons.
Here is a page showing the geographic distribution of some of these authors.