Westward Expansion In The 19th Century

In 19th century America is in the process of building; the country’s population was growing and the land the country owns with it. This time held a lot of different things for Americans from the Missouri Compromise to James Monroe becoming president in 1820. Not all of the things that happened during westward expansion were good one of the most tragic times in Native American history happened during this period, the trail of tears played a big part in westward expansion. These changes that were made through the 19th century were, for the most part, positive for American society.
In the early start of the 19th century the developing nation had a presidential election that would change American forever. With the upcoming election the country …show more content…
With James Monroe becoming president the countries in the eastern hemisphere were in trouble. Different counties all across the Americans started wanting independence and started fighting for freedom of their own. “Monroe’s two terms in office was sometimes known as the era of good feeling” (Foner, Give me Liberty), with what he did in office. With James Monroe being in office he enacted the Monroe Doctrine in 1823. With this Doctrine in effect it outlawed all countries in the eastern hemisphere from owning territory in the western hemisphere. With eastern countries being kept out of the west for the fear of war this opened the doorway for the U.S. because they now had more territory to claim. Not all of what is now American was giving to them from this act. One of the biggest controversies in the 19th century is the Missouri Compromise. In 1819, a territory in the middle of the country wanted to become a state. When they applied to become a state in the developing nation, wanted to join as a slave state because there were always slaves …show more content…
In a court case in 1823 it was ruled that Native Americans were not landowners but had “right of occupancy.” In Cherokee Nation V. Georgia Native Americans were described as “wards” of the federal government. This court case led to the Removal Act of 1830, which was a legal way of removing the Native Americans. Under the presidency of Andrew Jackson, armed soldiers rounded up around 60,000 men, women, and children and forced them to move west. During the winter of 1838-1839 over 4,000 Native Americans died during this journey, as the removal route to present day Oklahoma (Foner Doc.63). In Cherokee the phrase Trail of Tears means “the trail on which we