Move West Expansion

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Recommended: Causes of westward expansion and manifest destiny

The conquest of the west came to be for three reasons; 1. Individuals wanted to be free from religious persecution, 2. Moving west would allow individuals to pursue greater social freedoms, and 3. The land was rich and one could work hard and have riches beyond any that could be made in the east (Schultz,n.d.). The move west was broken down into phases. Phase one people moved without any government involvement or consent and was done for mostly personal reasons. The next phase was after the presidential election in which James K. Polk was elected. Polk was a heavy activist for American expansion which was deemed "manifest destiny." Manifest Destiny made further discrimination of Native Americans, helped to continue the expansion of the Market Revolution, on the great frontier a poor man could become rich on his own accord, and the question of slavery was raised if it should happen in the west or not and ultimately ignited the Civil War. The move west included the states of Texas, Oregon, Utah, and California. The development was essentially started by the movement and exploration of Mountain men. Texas was the largest destination for early movement before 1840. Between 1829 and 1834 Santa Anna gained power in Mexico and tried to enforce regulations of slavery on Americans in Texas. This sparked the battle at The Alamo. Everyone was killed in the battle for Alamo, but …show more content…

Movement multiplied tremendously around 1845 from 500 residents to around 5000 (Schultz,n.d.). The movement into Oregon took longer because of the British fur trade and the Native American population that was present in the state. Eventually, the opening of the Oregon Trail made it easier and more and more people poured into Oregon, and by 1850 there were more than 12,000 Americans in the state. Texas and Oregon we settled by Americans because of personal and economic reasons by taking advantage of the Market

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