Describe The Conquest And Development Of The West Between 1820 To 1850

The U.S. government encouraged westward expansion through the Louisiana Purchase and the Homestead Act. President Thomas Jefferson acted on the Louisiana Purchase, after buying the land from France for millions of dollars, he also believed in the idea of moving west and thought of it as a

Since the turn of the nineteenth century, Western territorial expansion started to increase a sense of sectionalism throughout America. President Jefferson obtained the Louisiana purchase from Napoleon in 1803, gaining unfamiliar territory West of the Mississippi

land of the United States of America. Western expansion was a great part of the growth of the

The Westward Expansion started prior to The Revolutionary War, settlers were migrating westward to what states are now modern day Kentucky and Tennessee in hopes for a fruitful life and larger job opportunity. This Westward Expansion was aided through the Louisiana purchase in 1803, in which the United States purchased territory from France, resulting in doubling in size of the country. This Louisiana purchase was stretched from the Mississippi River to the eastern Rocky Mountains in the west and from the Gulf of Mexico all the way to the south of the Canadian border in the north. In result of the Westward Expansion , families would pick up and walk as far west as

Westward expansion was a time of successes and failures, a time celebrations and grief, a time full of life and death but in the end it shaped how America is the way is today. Westward expansion was put in action because of the belief of Manifest Destiny, the belief that it is America fate to expand from the Atlantic to Pacific ocean. The economical, political and humanitarians impacts were necessary to achieve the goal of manifest Destiny and Westward Expansion.

To others Americas manifest destiny was s looked west for economic gain. The land westward-represented wealth, income, self-sufficiency, and freedom. No one really knew what laid west to them, but many of these people were very adventurerous and took the journey west. By the 1840’s expansion westward was at its’ highest. Many Americans traveled the Santa Fe Trail or the Oregon Trail. Many merchant-traders who took manufactured good from Santa Fe to

Western expansion was the main topic in the Manifest Destiny, but the Manifest Destiny was not the only thing involved with western expansion. One of the other main factors in Western expansion was the louisiana purchase. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson purchased the territory of Louisiana from the French government for $15 million. The land that the bought stretched from the Mississippi river to the Rocky mountains, and from Canada to New Orleans, it was also double the size of the United States.

Prior to the 1800s, US expansion had been accepted by the government in the thirteen colonies. Despite the government's favor for territorial expansion, the controversy was spread throughout the 13 colonies on the idea of expansion. An American who influenced expansion in America, John O’ Sullivan, conjectured that territorial expansion was destined and it was god’s given right to expand America coast to coast, or in this case into westward territories. This thought was defined as Manifest Destiny and aided the fuel of western settlement, Native American Removal and war with Mexico. Many Americans did, however, oppose expansion and war causing, but their inputs didn’t change the idea of expansion. During the period of 1800-1855, America’s idea to expand territory succeeded in events such as the Louisiana Purchase (1803) and the Indian Removal Act. These events certainly satisfied proponents of expansion and influenced America's westward expansion. Despite these achievements, opponents of expansions opposed because of events like the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American war. America’s shape today is indeed based on these beliefs of expanding America.

After the War of 1812 much of America's attention turned to exploration and settlement of its territory to the West, which had been greatly enlarged by the Louisiana Purchase.

The Louisiana Purchase affected the boundaries of the U.S. because when Jefferson bought the land, the boundaries were not clear. Spain claimed the border was about one hundred miles west of the Mississippi River, while Jefferson was under the impression that it was around eight hundred miles further west, which was defined by the crest of the Rocky Mountains. This lead to four different government-funded expeditions. The first was in 1804 when Lewis and Clark led an expedition westward to determine the upper reaches of the Missouri River. Throughout the expedition Lewis and Clark were instructed to study the Indian culture, such as plants and animals. They were able to explore the Indian culture when they stayed their first winter in huts beside the Mandan Indians. Without the help from the Indians they would not have survived the winter. They also had to draw out the geography of the West. After the treacherous journey, they reached the Pacific Ocean on November 7, 1805. They made their journey back to St. Louis and arrived back in September 1806. The other three expeditions that took place between 1804 and 1806 were to determine the southwestern border. The first group went down the Red River to the Ouachita River, ending in current-day Arkansas. The second group went west into eastern Texas along the Red River and the third group ended up going too far into the Spaniard’s Territory, which caused them to get arrested and then released soon after.

Westward expansion was a new thing and time in our country and had many impacts on the American people and ways of life. The government made it available to buy a lot more of land in the West. Our government gave opportunities for people to move west for a better life or more land in the west. The government gave opportunities like the homestead act where the government would give families 160 acres of land if they moved west at the time this deal was going on. This act was signed into law by President Lincoln in 1862. People moved west for any opportunity they could. People moved for a new life, more land, and more opportunities in

The westward expansion of America involves many events that are important to history as a whole. It took place during the Age of Imperialism which began during the nineteenth and twentieth century. Westward expansion was a major event that took place throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the early half of the nineteenth century, the westward movement arose numerous issues involving social class, gender roles, and slavery by both political and social means.

The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of U.S in 1803. But it is not enough for ambitious Americans, we are not satisfied, we wanted more territory. So western expansion did not end, it actually keep moved. Westward Expansion is a very significant part in U.S history. It operated perfectly based on the ideology called manifest destiny. However, the creation of this theory is on purpose. It was used to push U.S territory to further west.

When the treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, the Americans had thought that they had enough land between the Atlantic coast and the Mississippi river. Yet in 1803, by the Louisiana Purchase, the area of the United States doubled and not long after, it was augmented by the half-purchase-half-conquest of Florida. By the end of 1820, as many as 6 states were created, east of Mississippi-Indiana (1816), Mississippi (1817), Alabama (1819), Maine (1820) and Missouri (1821). By the 1830s, the frontier line had been carried to Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas-about one-third of the way across the continent. By the 1840s, the expansionist policy, typified by the Manifest Destiny doctrine, became very strong with many sections willing to go to war to acquire more land. Slavery became a bone of contention between the Northern and southern states with the control of the senate in question. The South wanted expansion to increase slave states, the North to keep the balance with free states and the West wanting expansion to increase their land. The antagonism between the North and the South sees the beginnings of sectionalism leading to the civil war later. The spirit of equality becomes a banner with which the expansionist policy was proclaimed. Phases Of Development Before the 1830s, most sections of the west passed through the same phases of development in a regular order. The first white men to usually enter a new area were the

Westward expansion seemed natural to many Americans in the mid-nineteenth century (29. Manifest Destiny). Pioneers believed America had an obligation to stretch the boundaries to the East Coast. After claiming land to the Mississippi River and the Louisiana Purchase was explored, Americans started going west. The Second Great Awakening also spawned the drive to move west and many people believed God blessed the growth of the nation. Native Americans were considered