Five Reasons For America's Interest In Westward Expansion

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Land lust - that is how I can describe the conquest and development of the West. Our text points out many different reasons/motivations for western expansion, but they all seem to land in the equation in some form or fashion. Schultz (2013) points out five reasons for America’s interest in westward expansion: A) Route to China – trade - and in order to get ports and establish trade, land was needed; B) Governmental interest – the government had its eye on land it wanted; C) Politically popular – the expansion and benefits that came with it were popular with voters, despite issues with slavery and the expansion; D) A new beginning – after the Panic of 1837 westward expansion offered the hope of a new beginning for those affected by the crash; E) National ambition or “manifest destiny” as it was called - to be as big or bigger than other nations and it was fated that America have North America (Schultz, 2013 p. 227 & 230). By 1820, America was one of the largest countries in the world in terms of land mass. …show more content…

During President Polk’s presidency, America grew by two-thirds, the term “Manifest Destiny” was coined, and America went to war for land in 1846 with the Mexican-America War (U.S. History.org, 2017). In February 1846, Texas became a state (a slave state) then Oregon became a state in June. Later that month, Polk declared war against Mexico and the Mexican-American War would be fought until 1848 and ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (Schultz, 2013). The treaty not only ended the war, but allowed America to acquire a large amount of land in exchange for $15 million and set the boundaries between Mexico and America (Schultz,

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