Westward Expansion

During the American Revolution, the colonist revolted against the British and eventually gained independence. The American Revolution instigated the change of American policies and expanded the entire nation. Westward expansion of the American colonies was a developmental time period for the United States. From the American Revolution, Americans established their own laws instead of following British rule, and women pushed abolitionist movements and pushed against the expansion of slavery. Many of these new policies were purely made to expand westward and take over Indian land, which was necessary for the expansion of the growing colonial and slave populations. The era of westward expansion finally came to an end with the United States overcoming Mexico and justifying their actions by claiming they were superior to the Mexicans in every way.

Upon the United States’ inception as an independent country, the concept of expansion began to slowly root itself as a desirable vision among government officials and common citizens alike. As early as the beginning of the nineteenth century, these initial thoughts and visions of expansion began to cultivate into an achievable reality. With boundless territory to conquer and a growing sense of nationalism, many citizens of the United States felt that it was their duty and obligation to expand from coast to coast. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the United States continued to expand westward across the continent while also shifting focus on expanding its international power and presence by conquering foreign countries

The Native American people as a whole suffered tremendously during colonialism. When European settler acquisitioned the

In the mid-1800s, many Americans began to move westward, with a variety of motivations. Farmers were drawn west by all of the fertile, open land in the west, offered to them cheap by the Homestead Act. The California Gold Rush was another reason many moved west. Gold was discovered in California, and miners flocked there, hoping to strike it rich. Additionally, cattle ranchers were attracted to the west because their beef cattle thrived on the abundant grasses and open range of the Great Plains. Later on, newly built railroads, including the first transcontinental railroad, made transportation of people and goods west much more feasible, and opened the West to rapid settlement (History Alive). Although Westward Expansion was a time of full

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

Army and the forceful action used to confine the natives, the construction on Indian land, and the massive slaughter of the buffalo which the Indians relied on in every aspect of life. The mistreatment of the Native Americans has been going on for hundreds of years, way before the Gold Rush began. The American government has taken land that they are unable to return to this day. They have deprived the plains Indians of their culture and freedom. Immigration from other countries was at its peak, but America still wasn’t able to call people, that had resided in the United States for many years, citizens. Even the Native American’s, that had lived on the continent before it was even discovered, were denied citizenship unless they were Anglo-Saxon Protestant. To this day, many look at the Indians as a joke; The Seminoles as “The Tribe that Purchased A Billion Dollar Business.” Children are being taught about friendship between the American Settlers and the Natives, they are being lied to. The upcoming generations won’t understand the horrors of unnecessary warfare against innocent people, and they will only know to take what they want, even if it isn’t rightfully theirs. America as a nation has to be stopped from draping curtains over the defeat of the plains Indians: their wiping out of an entire people, just as they did to the

When the Europeans and Spaniards first “discovered” North America all was well. The Indians at first were truly intrigued with the white man as the brought all sorts of new stuff to trade. Matter a fact the first set of settlers would not been able to survive without the help of the Indians. Unfortunately, the settlers had very little respect for the land and resources. The Europeans then starting using violence to get what they wanted and as the number of settlers increased the Indians new that they were in over their heads. With all the new settlers came diseases such as small pox and measles. These diseases hurt the Indian tribes severely, and with the ignorance the settler’s wars began; the Indian Wars, the Indian Removal Act, Wounded knee, and the trail of tears are only a few of the many. The U.S. Government took it upon themselves to start relocation programs, with these programs the Indians were ripped from their homes, required to speak only the language of the settlers and robbed of their customs. The children of the tribes were taken away and sent to special schools to Americanize them and forget about their heritage. Then in the late 1800’s the government started

It is appalling that over the next two hundred years the United States was determined to keep expanding its borders, without concern to the Native Americans. When I think about how Tecumseh, the Shawnee, and many Native Americans were forced to move from one area to another because the United States Government. The U.S. fundamentally professed war on the Native Americans by forcing them out of the areas they occupied for countless years in order to advance the U.S.’s monetary gain and affluence. The fact that these folks were dying off in large masses because of illness and disease, while our Government leaders

From the years 1800-1850 the nation was filled with battles and affluence. Westward Expansion was America's inclination to possess western territories that have yet to be claimed or negotiate claims with other countries. Expansion of the U.S. was a cause for most battles fought during this time; however, our nation was continuing to prosper. Under, the idea of Manifest Destiny which was the belief that the United States was divinely made to expand from coast to coast, the country began to use any means necessary to expand. Among these were battles, purchases from other countries, and treaties. Conflicts during this period included, but not limited to, The Oregon Territory, Louisiana Purchase, and the Mexican-American war. I believe Westward expansion was an

“The U.S. government’s policies towards Native Americans in the second half of the nineteenth century were influenced by the desire to expand westward into territories occupied by these Native American tribes”(Victoria magazine). The U.S. Government just wanted land and they didn't realize that they are hurting the Native Americans. In fact, by the 1850’s nearly all Native American tribes, roughly 360,000 in number, lived to the west of the Mississippi River. In other words, the U.S. government was so hungery for land they didn't realize what they have done. They basically took away the land of where 360,000 Native Americans lived. The settlement of lands west of the Mississppi from Native Americans was not justified at all because after this

After the Civil War, the West was painted as a place of opportunity and improved lives. Millions of people began a western migration which dramatically changed the economic, political, and social dynamics of the area. The prospect of finding gold or silver, and making it rich, brought many people to California, Nevada, and Colorado. Other mining towns saw an influx of settlers in Alaska, Idaho, and the Dakotas.

Westward Expansion was a touchy topic at the start of the 1800s. The north and south lived quite different lifestyles at this time. The north pushed for a more industrial approach to life, while the south found farming to be their choice. The real tension was rooted in the question of whether or not slavery was to exist in these new areas of The United States. With new land to settle and different ideas coming from all directions, relations between the north and south were soon to shift.

I argue that the factors most responsible for the U.S.’s westward expansion until 1885 are the push to find greater sources of wealth along with simultaneous technological advances. Since the founding of the U.S., the central theme of foreign relations was to expand in order to gain access to economic resources. The primary driver of the early U.S. economy was commerce, which led to expansion across the North American continent in search for more land to produce agricultural exports. In the early 19th century, cotton became the paramount export of the U.S. economy, further accelerating territorial acquisition across North America. The importance of the cotton industry was bolstered by the technological developments of the railroad, steamship, and telegraph, which served to closely integrate the nation’s economy. Thus U.S. policy makers engaged in continental expansion primarily in order to foster American commerce at home and abroad.

The United States perspective on the Native people has drastically changed from President to President. “George Washington originally started the ‘Indian Civilization Campaign’, which encouraged the Native people to adopt Western-European culture along with Christianity.” (Sturgis, pg 5) The United States was to recognize the Native groups as the owners of the land they inhabit, with the rights to sell or retain them. This ideology was later adopted and implemented by Thomas Jefferson who believed that it was, “established by Jus gentium for America, that a white nation settling down and declaring that such and such are their limits, makes an invasion of those limits by any other white nation an act of war, but gives no right of soil against the native possessors.” (Sturgis, pg 5)

The westward expansion can be marked by a tremendous expansion of industry and agriculture as well as the spread of settlements across the continent. The population of the United states was said that it doubled during this period. Most of the growth was concentrated in the plain states across the continent as well as the Northeast and Midwest. The Northeast became the front runner in the industrial aspect of the land while the south remained mostly agricultural.