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Westward expansion essay
Westward expansion in the 1800s
Westward expansion in the 1800s
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The Westward Expansion was a turning point on United States becoming a continental agricultural and manufacturing power. United States wanted to explore and settle into the West after the Louisiana Purchase as the result of the War of 1812. Many pioneers and families moved west between 1816 and 1821. The land was purchased by the federal government to sell it at a very high price to the farmers. The farmers were willing to purchase land with the increase of American agricultural products. The state bank collapsed and all the farmers that were depending on it had all their land values go down. The Panic of 1819 greatly affected the western settlers who purchased land for crops. Most made it through the Panic and followed the conquest heading West. To continue moving Westward the settlers had to get rid of the Indians who were inhabiting the land. President Andrew Jackson, led the quest of the driving the Indians out of their homes. He put all of the Indians in reservations which is now modern day Oklahoma. The United States Army led the force of clearing up the West. The land was now clear so the settlers were developing new ways of transporting all of their goods into the market. They built canals and railroad systems to speed up the process. With …show more content…
The Midwest was very developed with new transportation. The Spanish controlled the territory of Texas. The Americans made the force of settling after the Texas Rebellion winning the Independence. Texas was still in the debate of a slave state because the English settlers brought slaves into an abolished state. The Mexican American War brought slavery once again which made more slaves in the Senate. A compromise was settled in which made California a free state and Texas into a slave state. Ulysses S. Grant had a feeling the Mexican American War was going to lead into the Civil
Westward Expansion As the preface to the first edition states, Westward Expansion attempts to follow the pattern that Frederick Jackson Turner might have used had he ever compressed his researches on the American frontier within one volume. Dr. Billington makes no pretense of original scholarship except in limited instances. Instead a synthesis of the voluminous writings inspired by Turner's original essays is presented. In that respect, the book is highly successful.
The availability of inexpensive land in the American West provided opportunity for many Americans to fulfill the American dream of individualism, economic opportunity and personal freedom. Immigrants, former slaves and other settlers moved across the country to become western farmers and ranchers to make a new life. One of the reasons why the west was a land of opportunity for the farmers and ranchers was the large quantity of cheap available land. This allowed for many Americans, both rich and poor, to buy land for farming and raising cattle. The Homestead Act of 1862 aided the process. The Homestead Act gave title to 160 acres of federal land to farmers who staked a claim and lived on the land for five years. Alternatively, a farmer could buy the land after six months for $1.25 an acre. Many blacks and immigrants joined the westward expansion, looking for a better life. Immigrants saw the land as opportunity because many could not own land in the countries where they were born. For example, in Nebraska, a fourth of the population was foreign born. These immigrants transformed...
During the western expansion of the US, it impacted the Native Americans. This impacted their culture and land. This changed their way of life. This expansion changed their culture and took their land from them.
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 started the Westward Expansion. There were many benefits from the purchase for the US that the French didn’t realize before they sold it. The purchase gave the US access to the Mississippi river which allowed for expansion of river trade to the North and South from the center of the US. The port city of New Orleans was bought by the US and its prosperity benefited the US greatly. The US sent Louis and Clark west to investigate the purchase. They were secretly told to lay claim on any and all land they come across. It was evident, after days of being lost and unable to communicate with natives, that they need an interpreter. Sacagawea, who spoke 5 tribal languages as well as French, was the answer to a safe and successful journey. Her presence signified that they were not a war party because they had a woman with them. During this time women didn’t travel in war parties. Her bearing a child further signified a peaceful trade party. Historians believe that without Sacagawea, Louis and Clark never would have been able to explore the West in the manor they did.
The Westward Expansion had a really big impact and very much antagonized the relationship between the Northern and the Southern states during the time of 1800s through the 1860s. Both states had very different lifestyles which made them tremendously different from each other. The North was very industrial based, while the South was very agricultural based and farmed a lot. Over time they each side developed their own identity and felt that their life was way better than the others. The Southern states were a very big fan of slavery while the Northern states were not. As the expansion were to happen, this would result in the stopping of expansion of slavery as well. This is why the southern states peeved about westward expansion
All across the country, things were being built in that era. The previously mention railroads, steamboats, and telegraph lines raced to see what could connect cites the fastest. This alone had a major impact on westward expansion. In order to aid the new forms of transportation, thousands of miles of railroad tracks were built, along with the same number of telegraph lines. Going in the opposite direction were canals. Literally, rivers were dug and flooded wide enough and deep enough for large steamships to carry goods across land instead of going around the
Yes I do agree with Morgan’s ideas. Morgan said in “There is No True History of the Westward Expansion”, that their was only partial to the history of the Westward Expansion. He said that we don’t truly know what happened and we don’t have every detail written down so there can’t be an actual history but only part of it. His ideas were that Thomas Jefferson and the citizens were responsible for the Westward Expansion. Morgan got brief biographies from men who were involved in the expansion to know something of the real history.
During the 19th century of the westward expansion, there were several events that happened. I will only tell you about three events, which I feel was positive on the move to the west. The Louisiana Purchase, Manifest Destiny and California Gold Rush, will be the three events. I will give you insist on why I feel those events were a positive thing for people to move to the west and start something new. Also moving to the west was the best for these settle to have a new place to live and to explore the new world.
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
Many things developed during the continuation of the Westward expansion.”Westward expansion had many effects on America. Many things developed such as the Pony Express, and other new forms of transportation such as the Continental Railroad. Although those were positive, some negative effects were how the Americans moving west drove native Americans out of their tribal lands and onto reservations. the wars with native Americans killed many of them.”Not to mention that the Westward expansion happened between 1803 and 1861. The people and institutions of the United States “expanded” into what we now call Oklahoma. These things that happened weren’t just random occurrences.”The era of Reconstruction was also a time of Western expansion and industrial
To begin with, Robert Morgen’s “There is No True History of the Westward Expansion” explains that he wants to expand the United States from ocean to ocean by informing the readers about Andrew Jackson’s, “Johnny Appleseed” Chapmans’, David Crockett’s, Sam Houston, James K. Polk's, Winfield’s Scott’s, Kit Carson’s Nicholas Trist’s, and John Quincy Adams’ contribution to expanding America. He goes into detail about their assistance to expansion, always talking well of the people who helped, even showing respect to the men and women who died settling in the west. Morgan is very accepting of westward expansion and even explains why he agrees with it, such as explaining the ways some of the western expansion heroes helped.
But in the Westward Expansion, President Thomas Jefferson made the “Louisiana Purchase” which doubled the size of the United States. The purchase consisted of the west side of the mississippi river. Families of pioneers Started to go westward and found new communities throughout what is now the Midwest, and between 1816 and 1821, six new states were admitted to the Union. While everyone was making settlements west the east side of the U.S. was starting to go into the Industrial Expansion.
It was our Manifest Destiny to expanded our empire. In the United States, settlers across the board believed there were destined to expand across North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific.Our third president predicted that the nations future depended on it westward expansion. Expansionism is in the power of politics and government. In 1830 the Louisiana Purchase took place basically doubling the size of the country with one land purchase. Americans started migrating towards the new land in hopes of being successful and securing land. The Frontier expansion was the key to success for the nation’s health. Western expansion helped shape the United States we know with transformations in the pioneers to conquer new the culture of life in the
In the mid-late 1800’s, Native americans flourished, but as white settlers began to move west, Native Americans were dismissed and neglected. Their land was continually claimed by the US, and the buffalo, their main resource, were hunted in massive amounts. As you can see, westward expansion greatly impacted Native American land and culture by terminating buffalo to extinction in the great plains, forcing the Native Americans to follow white practices, and breaking treaties by upholding massive amounts of American Indian land.
In the mid 1800’s the United States was rapidly expanding westward. Territory had not been developed in the western half of the continent, and as the population grew, people wanted to move to where they could own land. The growth railroads, including railroads that spanned the entire Continental United States, helped accelerate this movement. However, there multiple Native American tribes had territory out west. As the population expanded westward, the Native Americans were pushed further and further. Eventually the Native American tribes were largely relegated to specific reservations. This was partly due to racism toward Native Americans that was present at the time. As these events occurred, artists created paintings depicting expansion,