Essay Westward Expansion

northeast- they were still the leading in the second industrial revolution and New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania were the leading states and they produced more than 85% of the united states products during that time period(1890)

Ever since Jamestown, America has come a long way. In the middle of the nineteenth century American’s were eager to move west. They wanted to see the span of the United States from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. Jefferson was able to double the size of the United States by negotiating with France, which ended up being known as the Louisiana Purchase. Americans saw empty land waiting to be filled. They thought the open land meant opportunity and potential wealth. By moving west, they could share their unique way of government and the freedom it represented. They believed that America would be a great nation.

The Europeans changed the land of the home of the Indians, which they renamed New England. In Changes in the Land, Cronon explains all the different aspects in how the Europeans changed the land. Changing by the culture and organization of the Indians lives, the land itself, including the region’s plants and animals. Cronon states, “The shift from Indian to European dominance in New England entailed important changes well known to historians in the ways these peoples organized their lives, but it also involved fundamental reorganizations less well known to historians in the region’s plant and animal communities,” (Cronon, xv). New England went through human development, environmental and ecological change from the Europeans.

The United States immigration and emigration is directly linked with the railroads construction history of the 19th century. The construction of the railroads that facilitated western expansion Immigrants were not only integral to part of the expansion, but they also used the railroad to migrate west and form new immigrant States in the territory. In the early 19 century, United States expanded westward, across the Mississippi River and later to the Pacific Ocean. These western lands, either was purchased, won in battles, or seized outright from Indian tribes and other nations.

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.

This new abundance of land gave many poor white males the opportunity to obtain land. Many of the

Most eighteenth century Americans lived in self-maintaining rural areas. The Industrial Revolution saw the advancement of large urban hubs, such as Boston and New York City, and impelled an enormous migration of workers. “From the beginning, cities formed part of the western frontier. Western cities like Cincinnati and St. Louis that stood at the crossroads of inter-regional trade experienced

In the early to mid 1800s, Americans began to want to expand the country again. Some Americans did not agree with the idea of expansion, and wanted to remain complacent with the amount of territory that they currently owned. The nation was torn. There were supporters and opponents of the idea of expansion. Each side presented their points but we eventually ended up expanding.

Following the ratification of the treaty, some politicians felt the manifest destiny of the United States was to annex all of Mexico. The territory gains between 1845 and 1848 were enough to satisfy all but the most zealous advocates of manifest destiny. John O'Sullivan criticized the opponents of Texas annexation. He went beyond the immediate issue of Texas to argue that it is the fate of America to grow to encompass much, if not all of the North American continent. O'Sullivan is credited with inventing the term "manifest destiny" to describe his expansionist views for America. This phrase was coined in a New York Morning News editorial. (Wexler,153).

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.

Answer: The United States began expanding westward during the 1800s. During the early 1800s, America turned its attention towards the exploration and settlement of its Western territory. The amount of land had been greatly increased by the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, which almost doubled the size of the nation. Later on, the size of the United States increased yet again with the Mexican Cession and the Gadsden Purchase. From these, the United States gained California, Nevada, Utah, Texas, and parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. Settlers swept westward, encouraged by the federal government. The government created the Homestead Act, which offered 160 acres of cheap land in the West under the condition that the settlers had to work the land for 5 years. As the Western territories became more and more developed, Native Americans and their culture were slowly destroyed through laws such as the Indian Removal Act and the Dawes Act. Native Americans were forced onto small reservations and their children were then forcibly assimilated into white American culture in order to make room for the white settlers.

During this time period the need for natural resources were in high demand. As the transcontinental railroad spread west to California, towns became popping up around the railroad, called boom towns. The people living in these towns discovered the natural resources, such as mining for gold, silver, iron ore, copper, and timber. People would come and mine for the resources and once the resource was gone, the miners would leave, and these boom towns would then become “ghost” towns. Also in the west, there was a large supply of land. In 1862, farmers and ranchers moved out to the west. The land in the west was very cheap, and farmers were able to buy large amount of land, for a low price. The Homestead Act of 1862, said that farmers would receive

The westward expansion dates back from 1800’s to 1900’s. Westward began with the Lousianna purchase, at the time the president who was Thomas Jefferson doubled the size of the nation with france to buy more than 1800 square miles for 15 million dollars. All this includes 14 states. A year later in 1804 jeffersson sent an expedition. The expedition was led by Lewis and Clark to explore the region. The expansion of the united states into the territory west of the Mississippi riven began with the Louisiana purchase in 1803. It took the American colonist a century and one half to expand far west Appalachian mountains. Manfist destiny was begening to take shape it promoted further territorial expansion. During the war, gold and silver discoveries drew propectors and brought in settlers into Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Vevada. The most rapid migration occur after the civil war. The Homested act passed in 1862 encourage settlers to move West. It allowed settlers to claim 160 acres for free.

Rapid population growth and overuse of the land east of the Mississippi River, coupled with the knowledge that there was an abundance of land for new settlement west of the river, led to the ideology of expansionism; the ideology became simply known as Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny and American Territorial Expansion, written by Amy S. Greenburg, deeply explains the motivation of the individuals looking to expand their settlements westward. Since the time of publication, we have realized that we could have handled the situation, in which we removed the inhabitants of the west from their homeland, in a better way. Americans believed that it was their God-given right to expand westward by destroying anything in their path. “…courageous pioneers believed that America had a divine obligation to stretch the boundaries of their noble republic to the Pacific Ocean.” (“29. Manifest Destiny.”)

During the mid-nineteenth century, the rise of new territories increased the desire of Americans to expand into new territories in the western region. The term “Manifest Destiny” was first introduced by a magazine editor, John O’Sullivan, written in the United States Magazine and Democratic Review in 1845 to express the idea that the United States had a unique role in expanding the nation (OpenStax College 316,483). Manifest Destiny is widely defined as a justification of continental expansion as a calling to the American citizens to unify the land into the Union. I view Manifest Destiny as white males expressing their ideals of white supremacy unavoidably expanding new territories not yet defined by others (). With the new western land came the revival of the issue of slavery, should new territories become free or slave states? In several cases, the white settlers inflicted their morals about their policies and views of slavery in new territories acquired and bypassed all other principles of different races. They saw that their morals were above all and that they received a message from God to colonize the new land for themselves. Although Manifest Destiny posed conflict against Native Americans and slaves, new land and trade routes steered the United States to enter a realm of economic prosperity.