Final answer:
Two 'push' factors for people heading west were land shortages and poverty, driven by growing population pressures and declining soil fertility in the East, along with searching for economic opportunities such as the California gold rush.
Step-by-step explanation:
Two significant 'push' factors that prompted people to head west were land shortages and economic difficulties such as poverty. As the population grew rapidly in the United States from 1800 to 1850, many Eastern farms suffered from declining soil fertility, making the promise of plentiful, fertile land in the West highly attractive. This demographic pressure, along with the economic aspiration to find new opportunities, like the gold rush in California, engineered a westward migration in search of better living conditions and economic advantage.