Expansion Of Westward Expansion

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.

America into an "empire for liberty". He made that happen by expanding westward, to create "room enough for our descendants to the thousandth and thousandth generation”. This westward expansion is also known as the "manifests destiny", where many Americans was our God-given right to expand to the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican Territory.

Westward expansion from 1860 to 1890 represented a time for significant change within America. During this time period the U.S would experience rapid growth within cities, agricultural land, and the railroad network. With everything beginning to fall into place and technology booming, America would soon become one of the world’s greatest superpowers. Without Westward expansion, America would not have developed as fast as it did.

The American Westward Expansion has been the main factor in shaping American history. During the 19th century period of American expansion, many Americans felt that the United States should expand their territories from the Appalachian Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. The Manifest Destiny, which is a term for the attitude prevalent during westward expansion in the early 1800’s and the thought that the United States should control all of North America, spread out the country, and many Americans believed that God himself blessed the growth of the America. Even though the American Westward Expansion is the basis of American history, how did the westward expansion change and impact American nation?

The transcontinental railroad was built by two major companies, the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific. The Central Pacific company worked eastbound. They faced the treacherous terrain of the Rocky Mountains, landslides, and winter snowdrifts. Central Pacific would hire Chinese immigrants. These Chinese immigrants, “... made up 85 percent of the Central Pacific workforce.” (Holt McDougal,

The influence of the westward expansion in the West is still evident today. Influences such as land, and the individualist mindset remain the same today. Also, a lot of ways the frontier land today is isolated compared to the West we live in today, too. The frontier emphasized the spirit of nationalism and individualism in the United States.

Throughout his piece, Henry David Thoreau addresses the idea of “the West” in “Walking.” While some may argue that these mentions serve to reference Westward Expansion in the United States during the mid-nineteenth century, I personally feel that “the West” Thoreau discusses is a metaphor for the unfamiliar and unrealized opportunity for humankind to flourish in the future. As he writes, “…we go westward as into the future, with a spirit of enterprise and adventure,” Thoreau truly expresses his fascination with the “undiscovered world” that the West has to offer. Furthermore, Thoreau conveys his desire for freedom in the following quote: “…Hope and the future for me are not in lawns and cultivated fields, not in towns and cities, but in the

In the book, “There is No True History of the Westward Expansion,” Robert Morgan claims that history is not just made up of a few heroes and villains, and that average citizens are to be responsible for Westward Expansion. He gives his reasonings and beliefs as to why he claims what he believes.

The philosophy of Manifest Destiny, which led to westward expansion, caused hardships, several wars, and hostilities between the US government and between people who were the first to occupy the American land. It also led to new lives, comradery, development, and an expanded economy. This led to achieving the ultimate goal of possession and the United States which spread from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean.

         Before and after the Civil War, people were exploring and settling into the West, discovering better sources of income, freedom, and adventure. These were the times of westward expansion. The belief in westward expansion inspired Americans to be obligated to settle and exploit new opportunities in the newly opened lands, since they "would extend the domain of free government and free enterprise.” As more Americans settled the West, the lands they inhabited were established into territories.

In the second half of the nineteenth century America advanced, not only technologically, but also governmentally. As new forms of transportation, such as railroads, changed the economy forever, more accurate and lethal weapons were being created, the building factories increased productivity, and the settling of land created a new social era, one could say life was improving in America, but what about those who never asked to be American? Those who already had their own technology, weapons, and government: the Native Americans. More specifically those of the Great Plains region of central america, as tribes east were already dislocated and close to extinct. Westward expansion into native land brought the tribes there more advanced technology and a very dissimilar political views that would lead them to their demise.

In the 1800’s the federal government was furthering their quest for the fulfillment of their “manifest destiny”; trying to inhabit the United States from coast to coast. The federal government took several actions that led to westward expansion. These steps impacted the country and those living in it in both positive and negative ways. Federal government actions such as the homestead act, transcontinental railroad, and movement of native Americans to reservations were just some of the many ways that the actions of the federal government affected U.S. citizens, native Americans, the economy and many other things.

As more Americans began traveling west in the mid 1800s, it soon became not a matter of if but when we would effectively connect the two coasts. Current methods of traveling were extremely slow and costly, and many were pushing to advance into the west. Fortunately, on July 1, 1862, President Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act, which authorized the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad companies to build a railroad that started from Omaha, Nebraska and ended in Sacremento, California. The government offered money and land, about 6400 acres, for every mile of track laid. The two companies raced to build as much track as possible and eventually met at Promontory Point, Utah on May 10, 1869. They had built 1775 miles of track through the Sierra Nevada mountains, across the Great Plains, and endured a great number of difficulties along the way. It was a joyous event when the final spike was driven into the ground, finally completing the transcontinental railroad that connected the east and the west.

Late in the nineteenth century the Western Expansion had an impact on the growth on American society and the economy but what benefits and challenges were associated with this development? The Westward Expansion had numerous reimbursements but it also came with a number of challenges to be faced, with the burst in technological advances, wealth, transportation, monopolies, the decline of family owned farms and removing Native Americans from their sacred lands. Wealth and power drove Americans to go westward and take part in the American dream. The Gold Rush in California increased the population in the West drastically; the Gold Rush was the discovery of gold in California, specifically Sacramento in the year 1848. The Homestead Act also encouraged folks to travel west but it had its limitations, the Homestead Act supplied terrain to colonists as long as they would enhance the land in some sort of way and this interested a lot of family owned farm businesses to venture out West and rebuild on a new-fangled landscape; what eventually ended up happening to these farmers was devastating, most fell victim to a lifetime of debt that would never be paid off. The limitations set on the Homestead Act was that you had to be over the age of twenty one and planned on becoming a resident, other than that all you had to do was come and claim your land. Traveling west was risky due to the diseases, weather conditions, sickness, and geological changes, a bunch people died due to the harsh

The United States encouraged settlement in the West during and after the Civil War. The Homestead Act of 1862 gave families up to 160 acres of land if they agreed to live on it for five years. The completion of the railroads to the West following the Civil War opened vast areas of the region to settlement and economic development. White settlers from the East poured across the Mississippi to mine, farm, and ranch. African-American settlers also came West from the Deep South, convinced by promoters of all-black Western towns that prosperity could be found there. Chinese railroad workers further added to the diversity of the region's population.