WESTWARD EXPANSION

WESTWARD EXPANSION

The United States has extensive history emanating from 1865 to 2000 that led its establishment to become the most powerful states in today’s world. Westward expansion period four is one of the past events attributed to extensive development of US history more so its great power, and it covered from 1800 to 1844.[1] During this period, America grew and diversified its operation, therefore, finding it necessary to expand its territories. In this regard, the US utilized philosophical approaches such as Manifest Destiny, which had a significant impact on achieving its goals. Besides, the US adopted diversified means such as war and making purchases to achieve its objectives. The US also dealt with the Native Americans and further encroached them into their vast lands. In the process, the westward movement was affected by several human factors. These include transportation problems since railways were extensively used, and also industries had adverse effects on westward expansion. The paper extensively analyses the westward expansion scenarios addressing how they were executed, challenges facing it, and its impact on US history.

President Thomas Jefferson Purchased land what was initially known as Louisiana French State, which started From Mississippi to Rocky Mountain. Jefferson believed that buying more land was necessary for the overall growth of the Government. He laid his arguments that for a nation to be an example to other countries, it had to possess some quite amount of property such as land. The same idea was to be applied to its people; they were to be independent through owning land in their Nation. He wrote, “Those who labored on earth are the chosen people of God.” Westward expansion mainly took place during the19^th century.

What Triggered Westward Expansion

Nearly 7 million citizens occupied regions around the Appalachian during the 1840s, living under low economic conditions. Citizens moved out of this region towards the west in such more economic prosperity. These people wanted to copy what was happening in Europe, where workers had the freedom of possessing land and worked on factories without many conditions. Economic prosperity is the main reason why people migrated to the West. People wanted a good life by doing farming, working in gold mines for payment.

Spreading the republican idea of freedom to many parts of the country also leads to Westward expansion. John O’ Sullivan that Americans should move to the west part of the country as an act of trying to test Liberty of its people, to move to many places owning land and expand territorial borders for great America as a whole. This led Gadsden to buy additional land from Mexico land, changed territory lines for it to be part of America. The Purchase of this land portion was about 30,000 square miles. The deal mainly took place in 1853. It was a political ideology and the pace that the people wanted to spread to all parts of the Continent of freedom to liberty and own property. Republicans thrive on the capitalistic form of ruling and the destiny of the country as a whole.

Westward Expansion and Slavery

The original plan of the western states was not to practice. It was later agreed that some parts of the West would practice slavery while others will not, a resolution that took place in 1820, Missouri remained as a state practicing slavery while Maine abolished this practice. They agreed that all activities of forced labor would later be abandon in the whole of the land of Louisiana. Prohibition of slavery was affected to Parts of Louisiana purchase beyond that; slavery was practiced as it was before. Southern parts of the Westward expansion grew cotton on a large scale as a result of abundant labor from slaves. Other citizens from the North did not believe in Slavery, but they were later influenced by those who practice the act, they were not against slavery, but they were not happy with slavery influence on their lands

The westward expansion started a very long time before even America got its independence from Britons. This expansion kicked off from the eastern parts of the country and advanced till reaching the west side at the pacific. 1812 war enabled Americans to confirm the new territories markings after overcoming the original owners of the land, Indians are some of the people affected with the law of evacuation what was known as the Indian Removal Act in the year 1830.

California Gold Rush

Westward expansion activities further the discovery of gold reserves in California. Discovery of Gold leads to other happenings like the end of the War Between America and Mexicans in 1848. People hungry for gold flocked California to secure fortunes; this leads to more increase in land acquisition to the west parts of Mississippi. Westward expansion wasn’t that benefiting to everybody as the native people lost their land through displacement when war erupted. Klondike Gold also facilitated the Westward activities; many prospectuses traveled to that place in Canada and also Alaska. Hundreds of people set for Klondike; most of these people did not reach their destination while those who reached, found little Gold.

Land-hungry individuals used many ways to get land for themselves. One method was through drafting laws like the Indian removal act, which was used to force Indians from their ancestral land to move to other parts of the country. Furthermore, they used force and drawing new boundaries. An example is a war with Mexico that took a very long term. Many Americans supported the Westward expansion at the time. These leaders were keen to secure America with more resources such as ports in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; this ports are still being used to date.  Ports ensured America was at foot front in trading activities, and this vast resource has positioned America to be the superpower economically in Northern America and even globally. Perhaps Westward expansion through wars and legal means is what makes the US maintain its superiority until today.

The 1845 works of the Journalist John O’ Sullivan termed Westward movements of America, showing their ability to resist European colonization. The Journalist emancipated people through institutions that they were great, and they could govern themselves. Most of his believers called themselves individuals from New England, which, according to them, were trying to pass the information that it was a new way of life for them free from Britain colonization. The idea of destiny believers got backings from northerners, the majority of who were democrats. Destined believers championed peaceful ways of possessing land, but the method wasn’t as successful as the process accompanied wars.

The House of Representatives did fully support the idea of westward expansion as the law didn’t support it; however, after much scrutiny of its advantages and its disadvantages, they agreed to support it, as it more benefits. A treaty was signed and ratified in 1803 between America and France, which had been controlling some parts in the west of Northern America.

Homestead Act

This act was developed to create more land for many people who were ready to settle. Only the persons capable of buying land under the Preemption act of 1841. The law was less strict for those settlers who had stayed on those land in more than 14 months, but the suggestions were facing some opposition from the Southerners who thought the land might be declared available without any charges. The congressmen who were against the idea of Preemption act left the congress. The Homestead law was later passed when America engaged in a civil conflict.

Factors that facilitated Westward Expansion

Railways construction by the government promoted the easy movement of goods and people. American government enacted laws that saw the provision of land to enabled railway building. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Act in 1862 that led to the construction of railways that connected the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. Bonds and extra land were given to Railroads Company to convince this company to build railway lines. The extra land to the company was sold cheaply and with many lands being available to be sold. Those who agreed to buy the land the deal was easily agreed upon. Those with families were given a place to settle for a while, as they were still constructing their land.

The government wanted to create states on the west side of the country on the newly acquired land. The Tall Tales, which was a propaganda that the lands on the west were fertile for agriculture. Many People migrated to this side of the country on believes that they will make tremendous success economically. The local government benefited more when people migrated to the West of the country. However, settlers face a lot of challenges while traveling to the West.

Westward Expansion Challenges

It was very expensive to travel to the Western part of the country. Purchasing of oxen and the cost of its maintenance was very expensive. The land terrain was irregular that included rivers, the means of transport broke down many times before destination. Some people died on the journey, which affected people emotionally.

[1] Corbett, P. Scott, Volker Janssen, John M. Lund, Todd J. Pfannestiel, Paul S. Vickery, and Oral Roberts. US history. OpenStax, Rice University, 2017.

Lyons, Larry R., Yukitoshi Nishimura, William A. Bristow, Bea Gallardo-Lacourt, Vassilis Angelopoulos, and Eric Donovan. “Evidence for Flow Channel Control of Eastward and Westward Expansion of the Substorm Expansion Phase.” In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts. 2018.

Vasconcelos, Paulo, André N. Carvalho, David Piló, Fábio Pereira, João Encarnação, Miguel B. Gaspar, and Maria Alexandra Teodósio. “Recent and consecutive records of the Atlantic blue crab (Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 1896): rapid westward expansion and confirmed establishment along the Southern Coast of Portugal.” Thalassas: An International Journal of Marine Sciences 35, no. 2 (2019): 485-494.

[1] Corbett, P. Scott, Volker Janssen, John M. Lund, Todd J. Pfannenstiel, Paul S. Vickery, and Oral Roberts. US history. OpenStax, Rice University, 2017.