Westward Expansion In The Late 1800s

In the early 1800’s, the Americans had a fascination for expanding westward. The government was very susceptible to expanding, because they knew that more land, meant more recourses and power. By having more land, the government would have greater access to resources. One example of this is, how the government specifically told the explorers to examine the soil and vegetation so that they could grow more food and other plant-based goods. Also, being a larger country gave them more control over the world and therefore had more power over the other smaller governments in the world. This is described by the author when he says,” And considering the interest which every nation has in extending & strengthening the authority of reason & justice among …show more content…
Being farther from the government, that is based in Washington, the people had more freedom to make their own laws and shape their communities how they wanted to, without much regulation from Washington. Although they were so far from the government, they still had a voice and opinion in how they government operated. This led to the formation of the local governments which are still being used today. This was a step in the right direction for the American people because they no longer lived in a country governed like the one that that they came to America to leave behind. Also, by having more land, the government gained more influence in how the rest of the world functioned. The extra land gave them more farmland to grow recourses for consumer goods, and more mineral deposits to use for military and other industrial needs. It also gave America the appearance of being a larger than country they actually were. Therefore, it would appear to outsiders that America is a large military force due to the amount of land that they own. With all these newly found resources, the government had a lot more money than they had before the expansion. They used this money to end the fued with the United Mexican States over the territories that are now known as New Mexico, Arizona, California, Utah, Nevada, and Colorado. They paid the Mexican government fifteen million dollars for these territories, money that they would not have had without the expansion. This agreement was defined when the author said, “The United States of America and the United Mexican States, animated by a sincere desire to put an end to the calamities of the war which unhappily exists between the two Republics, and to establish upon a solid basis relations of peace and friendship, which shall confer reciprocal benefits upon the citizens of both, and assure the concord, harmony, and