Why Did The United States Move Toward The West Essay

With the conclusion of the Revolutionary War and many of the states now united under one government it was time to expand toward the west. By this time, in the late 1700’s, the majority of the Indian population had been cleared out and their lands were now occupied by white towns and cities on the east coast of America. This move toward the west was for many different reasons such as land and a search for gold. Through the early years of this expansion the United States political leaders had certain expectation on how the natives were going to be treated this time around. Despite their good intentions in the beginning the leaders went from the idea of fair treatment to trickery and force as the years progressed.
Land became scarcer on the east coast so

people turned toward the west for opportunities to find gold, land to farm, and to increase the size of America. The leaders and people of the United States additionally had other reasons for moving west. There was the consideration to the health of the American people. Thomas Jefferson thought the expansion west would preserve “the cities of America from the scourge of the yellow fever”. He had made the observation that “in the open air of the country the yellow fever is not only not generated, but ceases to be infectious”. The reasons to go west riches, land, or health did not chang but the interactions with the native Indians did.
The United States leaders did have intentions of treating the Indians better than their ancestors did.

Some of the leaders had grown to think kindly of the North American Indians. While Thomas Jefferson held the position of Minister to France, he wrote a letter, to Chastellux, stating that he believed “the Indian then to be in body and mind equal to the whiteman”. The leaders knew that expansion toward the west was inevitable and that compromising and promises would need be made in regards to the Indians. In 1788 the United States Congress even tried to protect Indian lands by proclaiming that the “unwarrantable intrusions” of around five hundred families be made to vacate the Indian’s property. President Washington, two years later, asks the Senate to compensate “the amount of dollars annually of dollars in gross be made to the Cherokees for the land they shall relinquish”. The President also points out the importance of keeping to the treaties already signed would result in aiding the relations with other tribes. These favorable intentions were present in the beginning of the westward expansion, but as the years progressed the Indians became less accommodating and the United States became more

demanding.
The dealings with the Indians soon became full of deception and aggregation. In the span of fifty years most Indian tribes were pushed further west of the Mississippi river as the United States encroached more and more. In the early 19th century President Thomas Jefferson writes to Willian Henry Harrison “to cultivate an affectionate attachment from them”. This was not out of friendship but a way to manipulate the Indians into giving up their land. He continues his letter stating to the “decrease of game rendering their subsistence by hunting insufficient, we wish to draw them to agriculture, to spinning and weaving”. President Jefferson’s plan was so would “withdraw themselves to the culture of a small piece of land” and they “will be willing to pare them off from time to time”. Just as before the Indians became wise to these tricks and decided that it was enough. Indian leaders, such as Tecumseh, rose against the American settlements. They would raid the settlements and even side with pro-British forces against the United States. This caused an increase in aggression and hatred on both sides putting an end to the good intentions of the United States government.