How Did America Get So Big?

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.

During the 1890’s, the United States began building and advancing their economy, as well as focusing more independently on becoming an even more powerful nation. Not only did the Americans begin to create a stronger national military and navy, they also began to look overseas towards the Pacific Ocean for resources and territories; this is when America began to look less like a national power and more like an imperial power. There were many reasons as to why the United States began to expand between 1880-1929, two of which include the military opportunities countries abroad had to offer, such as Pearl Harbor, as well as the domestic and political objectives the U.S. felt obligated to fulfill. Although, there were many important reasons for the United States to began to expand, the most significant reason for the expansionist foreign policy was the economic resources and opportunities other foreign countries had to offer the U.S.

As the United States progressed, it grew in size, reaching to its full continental area by 1850. At first, only a few people came through, trappers, and missionaries. Later came white settlers to see what else the United States had to offer. As this happened, territories began to form. There

The Lewis and Clark expedition was a truth that was to become the crowning accomplishment in the lifetime of the brilliant thinker, inventor, and founding father, Thomas Jefferson . It has become a profounding turning point throughout America’s history. Investigating the recently obtained Louisiana Territory, which nearly doubled the size of the country, arranged Jefferson the opportunity to widen the boundaries of the United States to include both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The threat of the unknown lay ahead for Lewis and Clark’s team. The explorers had no idea what they would e be confronted with on their journey, but still they advanced into the unknown area that could officially be called part of America. Thanks to the addition of Lewis, Clark, their essential guide Sacajawea, and the many men that traveled with them America was able to expose land as well as providing important information about the topography, the biological studies, the ecology, and the studies of the American Indian as they discovered the mysteries of the Louisiana Purchase. Although it was a treacherous and costly journey, the Lewis and Clark expedition was the most important exploration in American history.

Sacagawea was born in 1788 in Lemhi County, Idaho and was part of the Shoshone tribe for which her father was the chief. Her childhood was ruined when her tribe was attacked by the Hidatsa tribe when she was 11 years old. She was captured as a slave and taken to what is not North Dakota. She spent a miserable few years with the hostile tribe before being sold to a French-Canadian trapper and fur trader named Toussaint Charbonneau. They lived among the Hidatsa and Mandan Indians in North Dakota. She was still a young teenager when he forced her to marry him and she became his second wife. One day, the Corps of Discovery were traveling through the Hidasta-Mandan village when they experienced inclement weather.

America doubled in size in 1803 when President Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana Territory from France for 15 million dollars. Jefferson wanted to discover this land and hoped to find a water route that would link the pacific ocean with the mississippi river. Jefferson decided to enlist the help of his personal secretary and soldier, Meriwether Lewis. Lewis knew he couldn’t go on this journey alone and he knew just the man to join him on the journey. William Clark was a draftsman who possessed knowledge of the outdoors. Among Lewis and Clark, young american soldiers and french canadian river men were hand picked to tag along with them on their journey. York, Clark’s personal slave and companion since childhood, tagged along. Another person

Tecumseh was born on March 1768, Scioto River, Ohio. He was a member of the Shawnee tribe. When he was growing up, he was exposed to a lot of war violence.In 1774, his father, Pucksinwah, was killed by whites. His mother left him to accompany the Missouri River. He later was adopted by “Blackfish” the Shawnee chief.

Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656 to an Algonquian mother and Mohawk father. Tekakwitha was the name given by her Mohawk people. It translates to "she who bumps into things." She was born in the Mohawk village of Ossernenon west of present-day Auriesville, New York. She was the daughter of Kenneronkwa, a Mohawk chief, and Tagaskouita, an Algonquin woman. Mohawk warriors recaptured Tagaskouita after she was baptized Roman Catholic and educated by French missionaries east of Montreal, eventually marrying Kenneronkwa. Tekakwitha was the first of their two children.

Sacajawea is one of the most known American-Indian women. Her voyage with explorers Lewis and Clark was legendary. She was born in Tendoy, Idaho around 1788. She was a member of the Lemhi Shoshone tribe. America was only 12 years old at this time and the territory ended at the Mississippi river. One year after the United States doubled its territory with the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark expedition leaves St. Louis, Missouri, on a mission to explore the Northwest from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean (History). Even before the purchase was finished, President Thomas Jefferson sent his private secretary Meriwether Lewis and army captain William Clark on an expedition into what is now the U.S. Northwest.

Sacajawea was born about 1790 in what is now the state of Idaho. She was one of the "Snake People," otherwise known as the Shoshone. Her name in Hidatsa was Tsi-ki-ka-wi-as, "Bird Woman. In Shoshone, her name means "Boat Pusher." She was stolen during a raid by a Hidatsa Contrary to popular opinion, Sacajawea did not serve as a guide for the party. She only influenced the direction taken by the expedition one time, after reaching the area where her people hunted she indicated they should take a tributary of the Beaverhead River to get to the mountains where her people lived and where Lewis and Clark hoped to buy horses.

Without her, Lewis, and Clark wouldn’t be able to communicate with the Shoshone Indians and their trip wouldn’t been as successful as it was. This is because Lewis and Clark needed horses to travel across the mountains and the only way that they could obtain them was from the Shoshone village. Also, Sacagawea helped lead the journey because she knew where the best routes were. So without her, Meriwether, and William could have traveled into another country's territory and there could have been a possibility of being killed by the various Native American tribes. "Sacagawea was a Shoshone interpreter and guide for the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804 to 1806, the first non-Indian U.S. land expedition to the Pacific Coast and back” (Benson 1). She spoke both English and Shoshone, which made it easy for her to talk to Meriwether and William and the various locals that they met on their

The history of America has been present by many explorers who discovered this massive land. All of the early explorers had a significant impact of American development. Two explorers, Lewis and Clark, are high on the list of significant explorers. The Lewis and Clark Expedition, which was also the Corps of Discovery, significantly impacted the economic, political, and social effects on the United States. Their immediate goal was to map the western side of American and set expansion.

For the United States the Lewis and Clark expedition was significant because this was the first journey to cross the western part of the United States all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Lewis and Clark explored the newly attained lands from the Louisiana Purchase and established a U.S. presence. To the Native Americans this expedition was the beginning of an end. Their lives would change forever by their contact with the fur traders, soldiers, and missionaries that follow in the wake of the Lewis and Clark

It funny to think Americans would one day form a mighty nation or even come together in a voluntary union. The colony can’t be an empire, America was formed for happiness and not for an empire. There are Weaknesses that America has in its southern colonies, Climate and large number of slaves makes it unenterprising. There are Indians at the frontier that could declare war on you guys, Britain the only one that could protect you from that. The north is too conflicted amongst one another due to racial and religious diversity .The Americas are too large to be an efficient Empire because of your large land mass. I could write all the reasons on how you can’t succeed. I could work for you and bring peace within Britain and colonies

America started off the help of founding fathers; they were George Washington, John Adam, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin and a couple more. The Geographical size of America constantly grew because of Louisiana Purchase, Spain gave up Florida, the annexation of Texas and the Gadsden Purchase. The first type of government that they used in America was state government but seeing it could not survive, made them sign for a constitutional government. Most of the people at that time were Protestants (many of them were British/English settlers), they also have a small population of Catholics and only some Jews.