The story of the United States has always been one of westward expansion, beginning along the East Coast and continuing, often by leaps and bounds, until it reached the Pacific, what Theodore Roosevelt described as "the great leap westward." The acquisition of Hawaii and Alaska, though not usually included in discussions of Americans expanding their nation westward, continued the practices established under the principle of Manifest Destiny. Even before the American colonies won their independence from Britain in the Revolutionary War, settlers were migrating westward into what are now the states of Kentucky and Tennessee, as well as parts of the Ohio Valley and the Deep South. Westward expansion was greatly aided in the early 19th century in the year of 1803 by the Louisiana Purchase , which was followed by the Corps of Discovery Expedition that is generally called the Lewis and Clark Expedition; the War of 1812, which secured existing U.S. boundaries and defeated native tribes of the Old Northwest, the region of the Ohio and Upper Mississippi valleys, and the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which forcibly moved virtually all Indians from the Southeast to the present states of Arkansas and Oklahoma, a journey known as the Trail of Tears. In 1845, a journalist by the name of John O’Sullivan created the term "Manifest Destiny," a belief that Americans and American institutions are morally superior and therefore Americans are morally obligated to spread those institutions in order to free people in the Western Hemisphere from European monarchies and to uplift "less civilized" societies, such as the Native American tribes and the people of Mexico. The Monroe Doctrine, adopted in 1823, was the closest America ever came to making Manifest Destiny official policy; it put European nations on notice that the U.S. would defend other nations of the Western Hemisphere from further colonization. The debate over whether the U.S. would continue slavery and expand the area in which it existed or abolish it altogether became increasingly contentious throughout the first half of the 19th century. When the Dred Scott case prevented Congress from passing laws prohibiting slavery and the Kansas-Nebraska act gave citizens of new
The Westward expansion began for the United States with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. For $15 million dollars, President Thomas Jefferson purchased from France 828,000 square miles, including most of 14 current states, thus doubling the size of America. Jefferson now had the land, but how to populate it was another story. On a three year expedition, Lewis and Clark were sent by Jefferson to explore the lands to get a better understanding of the geography and resources of the West. During the 1830s to 1840s, to promote further territory expansion, the “manifest destiny” came into play – which was the idea that America was destined to expand across the entire country westward. Quickly, the nation expanded.
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.
The westward expansion saw the emergence of major cities, railway networks, more interactions and improved agriculture which kept on improving in the 1800s. In the interactive map helped me realized a few important things. For instance. there are several ways through which the United States experienced a huge growth during the 1860–1890 westward expansion. Increased population, development of railroads, as well as large-scale agriculture are amongst the decades' major achievements as indicated on the decade base maps. Furthermore, the map showed as some of the natural barriers that prevented growth as well as the indigenous populations which existed prior the expansion (Billington, Allen, and Martin 2001, 201).
The United States began its life as a small nation consisting of only thirteen states. Over time the leaders of this county recognized that in order to prosper the nation would need to expand beyond the current set borders. Westward Expansion was the only solution, to adopt such a large endeavor meant that the population had to have a reason to migrate west. Expansion had appeal to the Southern land owners for the fact that the Missouri Compromise did not affect territories that were not part of the Louisiana Purchase, while those who did not have land moved west with the promises of land of their own to farm and own, yet congress continued to battle over “slave states” and “free states” to keep the balance. Westward expansion had many contributions to make to the Unites States.
I mostly agree with this statement because westward expansion caused the most tension politically, economically and territorially between the northern and southern states due to the balance of power. However, it could be argued that the north and south's views on slavery was a more significant cause the civil war.
The main purpose of the settlers going to the conlines is because they had religious freedom there without persecution . This is what everyone was looking for because in England there was a power struggle against the puritans and King . Another reason settlers settled in the middle colonies was because there was a good government , so they could vote for who they wanted in the house. It was the people who wanted to start over who went to the middle colonies because they wanted to get away from the monarchy in England and if that meant that they went to the southern colonies . so they wanted to go to the middle colonies because of those certain things. Then they settled in the southern colonies because they would plant lots of crops there
The Westward Expansion had a really big impact and very much antagonized the relationship between the Northern and the Southern states. Both states had very different lifestyles. The North was very industrial based while the South was very agricultural based and farmed a lot. Over time they each side developed their own identity and felt that their life was way better than the others. The Southern states were a very big fan of slavery while the Northern states were not. As the expansion were to happen, this would result in the stopping of expansion of slavery as well. This is why the southern states peeved about westward expansion because the knew that the balance of slave to non slave states was at risk. With their lifestyles
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.
Didn't the traveling time from coast to coast use to take months? Aren't you glad you don't have to take hazardous and slow wagons currently? During the Industrial Revolution, many factors contributed to the rapid expansion of the West. Before the transcontinental railroad was fully completed, the travel time from coast to coast was costly and took months through very troublesome terrain. Even though there were several constructive results from inventions, there were also dire consequences. The improvements made were great but, they came with substantial economic and political costs. One of these great improvements was the construction of the railroad. This helped many Americans to travel west in a week instead months. Towns sprung up all along the railways, increasing the population of the west dramatically.
Westward expansion during the 19th century had several far reaching effects on many people. During the period of Manifest Destiny Indians were forced onto reservations, deprived many of their resources,and most of their land, and of course, their culture. At the start of the twentieth century, there were approximately 250,000 Native Americans in the USA – just 0.3 per cent of the total population. The United States’ Indian removal policies, laws, and acts changed many Indians’ lives for the worse. During the 19th century, the removal of Indian tribes had many negative environmental, social, and cultural effects on Native Americans.
Before becoming the Unite States of America, one of a massive country in the world. There were many stories behind its successful. Controversies, violences, tragedies, rebellions, and wars were the combination of expansion of the United States. In U.S. history, a story began from the east coast where the game players from. The competition between the north and the south was intense, and to occupy a piece of land was a prize that worth to fight for.
In Robert Morgan’s article “There is No True History of the Westward Expansion,” he talks about how there are famous people, yet some of those people are unknown while all the famous figures, such as Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, are known because of the victories they have made. He also talks about how westward expansion is the greatest folk movement of modern times. However, many have lost their lives upon this movement. The westward expansion has made more trouble in the country than people realize.
There are many forces the drove different groups westward. One example of a group is Native Americans, they were forced to leave their homes, and move west of the Mississippi River. Native Americans had to move, because Americans wanted their land in the south. Moving west, caused Native Americans to have little time to gather their materials to leave, as the Americans drove into their land very quickly. Including the long journey to the land, the resulted in many losing their lives, this journey was known as the trail of tears. They did not want to leave their homelands, but were forced in fear of their lives. Another example of a group of Americans moving westward, is Mexicans. The war between America and Mexico was taking place, as a fight
The United States gained its independence from its colonial power, Great Britain, with the promise of creating a utopian democratic country. Abraham Lincoln noted that this new government would be a “Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth”. However, as history has demonstrated, the United States simply established an illusion of democracy with an agenda to address fake ideal in which everybody will be equal, but in reality, is was never accomplished. The United States government had never follow the premise set by the founding father in the Constitution or in the Declaration of Independence. Actions as slavery, National laws applied by the government, and even actions done by the presidents,
The westward expansion can be marked by a tremendous expansion of industry and agriculture as well as the spread of settlements across the continent. The population of the United states was said that it doubled during this period. Most of the growth was concentrated in the plain states across the continent as well as the Northeast and Midwest. The Northeast became the front runner in the industrial aspect of the land while the south remained mostly agricultural.