Westward Expansion In The 1800s

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.

The U.S. government encouraged westward expansion through the Louisiana Purchase and the Homestead Act. President Thomas Jefferson acted on the Louisiana Purchase, after buying the land from France for millions of dollars, he also believed in the idea of moving west and thought of it as a

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 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).

Westward expansions of the united states molded and affected the nations advancement socially, politically and economically holding quick to its connections to agriculture, its relations with and through slavery with the westward expansion therefore there would not be an abolishment movement and the women would not have been there to find against it. Although the Indian removal has helped shape the westward expansion politically and economically because it has given America more land and cotton. The Mexican war shaped the western expansion culturally and politically because the Mexican were racially religiously superior.

At the commencement of the 17th century, successions of westward expansion had already begun to take place. In 1803, Thomas Jefferson, who was president at the time, purchased the Louisiana territory from France. Several citizens did support Jefferson’s purchase in virtue of the many

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.

The opponents of territorial expansion attempted to keep the movement contained and support the land that the United States already owned. While fighting was raging over the southern portion of North American, John C. Calhoun addressed to Congress attempts to expand territory. Unlike Andrew Jackson's Letter to Moses Dawson, Calhoun attacked it all as a big mistake (Document 6). Keep in mind though, Calhoun was once a warhawk, yet now he is citing anti-expansional views; ironic regardless. Calhoun wasn’t the first example of expansion containment. In fact, John Quincy Adam’s work on the Convention of 1818 established a northern edge of the Louisiana territory and supported joint occupation of Oregon, both halting any efforts to expand U.S. boundaries. Although the latter of the two failed in 1846, pursuit at the Oregon territory, while heavily supported, wasn’t influenced by expansionists in policy, as the U.S. only sought half of the Oregon territory. Polk’s threat to take it all was simply a bluff and did not reflect his true vision for the area. Containing the fires of territorial expansion was complemented by working with the land that the United States already owned, rather than pushing borders. One such quest to do so, although vetoed by James Madison, was the Bonus Bill of 1817 found in Henry Clay’s American System. It proposed a focus on internal improvements such as roads, canals, and bridges within existing states. Clay intended on bringing people together, rather than separating people by advancement toward the western

There were many country-splitting issues that characterized the United States in the 19th century. A major one of these issues was Manifest Destiny, the belief that the United States was destined to extend its territory west to the Pacific Ocean. There were both positive and negative aspects to expansion in the era of Manifest Destiny. Expansionism was not a good idea in the 1840's in the event that it only benefitted the Americans. There were many Native American populations in the Midwest that were uprooted and forced to leave their homes. Problems in the Mexican government arose as well. Although the Americans thought that Manifest Destiny was a successful movement, in actuality, it was an aggressive imperialism at the expense of others.

The issue of territorial expansion sparked considerable debate in the period 1800-1855 between supporters and opponents due to Native American rights, the fear of decreasing the power of the New England federalists, and by presenting the benefits of the west and beyond. The issue of territorial expansion sparked debates due to the issue of Native American rights. They were forced from their homes onto western reservations, so Americans could expand their territory gradually and safely, without worrying about an attack. They were never really

Western Expansion in the United States was one of the most important historical events of our nation. Western expansion in the United states was one of the historical events that most impacted the future of America.The United States expansion had many motives behind it and had different outcomes which either benefited the United States or negatively affected the nation. The United States wanted to expand west because they desired more land, wished to prevent conflicts with France, and to build a stronger economy. The United States expanded west because they desired to own more land, wished to prevent conflicts with France, and they wanted to build a stronger economy. According to Document A, it says “but France was a much stronger power. Jefferson

During the 19th century, the United States was rapidly expanding its territories. In 1803, Thomas Jefferson bought the territory known as Louisiana from the French for $15 million dollars. Later in 1845, the United States took control over the Republic of Texas making it an official state. Closely following, the Oregon territory was handed over from the English because of the Oregon Treaty in 1846; soon after Mexico was won in 1848. With all the newly acquired land, immigrants came pouring into the West looking for new opportunities and to change their lives by the promise of the undiscovered land. Three main groups of people moved west to lead new lives; cattlemen, miners, and western farmers made up a majority

Westward expansion was a new thing and time in our country and had many impacts on the American people and ways of life. The government made it available to buy a lot more of land in the West. Our government gave opportunities for people to move west for a better life or more land in the west. The government gave opportunities like the homestead act where the government would give families 160 acres of land if they moved west at the time this deal was going on. This act was signed into law by President Lincoln in 1862. People moved west for any opportunity they could. People moved for a new life, more land, and more opportunities in

We gained land to grow our population and economy, we grew stronger, we proved our strength and intelligence, and we overall became a stronger and more powerful nation. Although expansion gave us many problems, we as a nation were able to find solutions. Expanding westward was a good decision, and if we could go back and redo everything, we should do it