Theory Of Westward Expansion

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.

government, thought Westward Expansion would positively impact Native Americans. President Andrew Jackson felt that Indian Removal would protect the Native Americans and give them more freedom. He also thought that, eventually, the influence of European Americans would guide them to become a more “interesting, civilized, and Christian community” (Doc 9). Additionally, government believed that boarding schools would be very beneficial for children, teaching them valuable skills, and helping them become more civilized “ladies and gentlemen” (Doc 8). However, these people were blinded to the impact it had on the lives of Native American by their own desire for land and power. The mass slaughter of buffalo robbed the Native Americans of their most valuable resource and the source of all their daily necessities. Forced assimilation killed Native American culture and identity, and uprooted their lifestyles. By taking away and selling Native Americans’ land, the U.S. government was constantly driving Native Americans of their homes, onto undeveloped, cramped land, making it nearly impossible for them to sustain themselves and their way of life. How is someone positively affected by having their means of survival, identity, and home taken

government has unspecified and unorganized policies, which were unprotected for Native Americans who lived in the west because of all the new coming Americans. During westward expansion, a majority of who moved were whites, who didn’t know the Native Americans who already lived in the west. The Natives felt their land was being conquered, because of the U.S government policies(Louisana Purchase & Homestead Act) and the whites not wanting them to be there, which lead to fighting between the Natives and the whites. These acts and policies such as the Indian Removal Act often resulted in violated treaties and violence. The Indian Removal Act was the removal of Native American homes and tribes. “This also confines the Indians to still narrower limits, destroys that game which in their normal state, and constitutes their principal means of subsistence.” Resulting in westward expansion, Native Americans began rapidly decreasing in the area by wars and new diseases caught by new coming

The Dawes Act of 1887 began the process of allotment. By trying to force Native Americans to become farmers, the federal government cast many groups into poverty. The land which the United States held in trust for Indians was usually not choice farmland. Those trying to make a living off the inhospitable lands of the West found little success. During the interwar period of the early twentieth century, the government made new efforts to alleviate Indians’ position as a marginalized group. Over 10,000 Native Americans volunteered and served with distinction in the armed forces during World War I. In recognition of their efforts, Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924, making all American Indians United States citizens.

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’s westward expansion really affected the lives of the Native Americans in several ways. Since Americans were wanting land for farming, ranching, and mining, it took away the Native Americans land for hunting and gathering. In general, this dramatically changed the face of American history.

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 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).

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.

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.

Indigenous peoples of the United States have been persecuted against since the birth of the nation. As years progressed, the Indians were stripped of their identity and exposed to the realities of the American lifestyle—a lifestyle that failed to coincide with the traditions and culture they possessed years prior to the influx of Americans into western territory. As desire for this territory increased due to economic ventures, and the ultimate desire to expand due to Manifest Destiny, measures needed to be taken to ensure the land was to be in full possession of the government. Thus, the Dawes Act was enacted in 1887, which allotted new lands to Indians in exchange for American citizenship. While its promise could be construed as a generous gesture by the government, the act in reality was nothing but a gesture; it was a burden. Therefore, the Dawes Act of 1887, along with other attempts of Indian assimilation, threatened family ties and culture, stripped them of sacred lands, and proved that citizenship came with a fatal denunciation of their culture.

How do you see progress, as a process that is beneficial or in contrast, that it´s a hurtful process that everyone at one point of their lives has to pass through it? At the time, progress was beneficial for the United States, but those benefits came with a cost, such cost that instead of advancements and developments being advantageous factors for humanity, it also became a harmful process in which numerous people were affected in many facets of life. This all means that progress is awsome to achieve, but when achieved, people have to realize the process they had to do to achieve it, which was stepping on other people to get there.

Westward expansion, although simply a pact to move westward caused conflict and anger to Northern and Southerners. This tension rose due to the fugitive slave act, and the Kansas-Nebraska act. In 1845 the phrase manifest destiny was coined. Many Americans assumed it was their God-given-right to spread westward, bringing American culture with them (285). This phrase empowered Americans to move west, however, conflict arose in the conquest of lands such as the annexation of Texas which led to the Mexican-American War, acquiring California and New Mexico. These newly acquired lands led to pressing questions if they would be free or slave states which was a precursor to the climactic fugitive slave act. In 1850 President Taylor enacted the 1850 Compromise. Taylor agreed for California to become a free state under the Union, for New Mexico and Utah to decide if they were free or slave states through popular sovereignty, and the slave trade to be abolished in the District of Columbia (310). However, the fourth and most controversial portion of the 1850 Compromise was the Fugitive Slave Act. This stated that it was Americans moral duty to return escaped slaves to their masters, there was a $10 reward for individuals who returned a fugitive slave, so the number of kidnappers increased leading to escaped slaves to be returned to their masters (310). This caused anger to accumulate among Northerners, Nash states, “In a few dramatic episodes, notably in Boston, literary and

The United States government is powered by one man to make decisions and multiple men to vote on the decisions of the man in power. This method of government has failed many times to protect the rights and needs of the citizens. America has treated the environment badly several times, including during the time of Westward expansion. They neglected to keep the immigrants coming into America safe from discrimination. The government also did not care about what happened to the soldiers that were brave enough to fight during World War I. The proper role of government is to take hold of the responsibility of the country's rights and needs for the citizens of America, as well as the environment.

Every nation wants to grow and become more populated, and most perform this by expanding. Expansion is key to gain more population and a greater civilization. Expansion allows nations to find more resources, land to sell, and even space for new businesses. The westward expansion is a great example of how a nation goes through its journey for success. The Westward Expansion mostly revolved around the addition of trains that go through the Great Plains. The nation saw the great plains as a dry wasteland, but soon after they realize the opportunity it offers. (Doc 1) The nation quickly began to build railroads through the plains fighting through many obstacles as best as they could. Soon they run into the Natives, the original inhabitants of the plains that were believed to be bare. Railroad workers start to build through Native land and the Natives do not react to this kindly.