There were many territorial gains made by the United States between 1800 and 1860; some of those include; Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Florida, Missouri Compromise, and the Westward Expansion which included Texas and Oregon, and California Gold Rush. The pressure of fast population increase between 1800 and 1860 greatly; “just from 1800 to 1820 it increased from 5.3 million to 9.6 million” due to births and immigration rates (Brinkley, 2012, p.218). Each and every one of these purchases brought their own battles with them on figuring out whether they would be a slave state, what was going to happen to the current occupants, especially the Indians, and the boundaries that would be set. Finally, although all of these had their own effect on the country not just in expansion but in many other ways as well.
The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 not only gained territorial boundaries it also expanded white settlement deeper in the continent therefore causing more disagreements between races. The reason behind the start of the Louisiana Purchase is due to trade conflicts. “American ships that normally sail the Mississippi River and drop of their supplies or goods in New Orleans to wait for a transfer into oceangoing vessels were abruptly stopped” (Brinkley, 2012, p.198). This purchase was successful because two events were happening at the same time. First, Jefferson was trying to persuade Congress to allocate the funds to expand the army in case there would be conflict in New Orleans that they would need while trying to compromise on getting their fleets back in. Secondly, Robert Livingston went to Paris to negotiate the purchase of New Orleans with Napoleon. However, before everything was settled at home, Napoleon had agreed not only to Livingston’s proposal but had negotiated for the entire Louisiana Purchase due to yellow fever and the freezing of the Dutch Harbor putting a huge burden on his army (Brinkley, 2012). There were two more territorial gains, not so as great as the Louisiana Purchase but any territorial gain is important; they were the Florida gain in 1819 by Spain and the Missouri Compromise. The Florida gain started because Andrew Jackson hung two British after he seized St. Marks and Pensacola accusing them of supplying the Indians (Brinkley, 2012). The government backed Jackson saying that he “had the right to defend himself under international law” (Brinkley, 2012, p.222). Consequently, Onis gave Florida away since he knew they could ultimately take it anyways. The Missouri Compromise was after eleven states were already entered into the Union as free states and eleven states were entered as slave states, Missouri would have put it off balance. Therefore there needed to be a decision made on whether it was free or not, which could ultimately cause war. Senator Jesse B. Thomas of Illinois proposed to “prohibiting slavery in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase territory north of the southern boundary of Missouri” this seemed to be a good compromise following the Purchase (Brinkley, 2012, p.223). The next great wave of expansion since the “Louisiana Purchase came in 1840s when the nation had all the territory except Alaska, Hawaii and a few other smaller ones that were later adjusted due to boundary placement” (Brinkley, 2012, p. …show more content…
340). A westward expansion caused the Manifest Destiny which as everything had two different sides. John L. Sullivan preached that God had sent the white race to expand and gain as much territory as they could under any form whether it be; peace, compromise or ultimately force. However, Henry Clay preached that by doing this by force instead of peace it would only cause more political harm to the stability of the union and intensify slavery, therefore, if expansion westward was to take place it should be done under peace or not at all (Brinkley, 2012). Furthermore, Sullivan won and expansion took place westward killing many and caused hardships with the union and disagreements about slavery amongst the way. Another great expansion was the Texas and Oregon movements, which took hundreds of Americans west. However, once the territory was gained the California gold rush took place in the 1850s. They would travel in groups along the Oregon Trail,
The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 not only gained territorial boundaries it also expanded white settlement deeper in the continent therefore causing more disagreements between races. The reason behind the start of the Louisiana Purchase is due to trade conflicts. “American ships that normally sail the Mississippi River and drop of their supplies or goods in New Orleans to wait for a transfer into oceangoing vessels were abruptly stopped” (Brinkley, 2012, p.198). This purchase was successful because two events were happening at the same time. First, Jefferson was trying to persuade Congress to allocate the funds to expand the army in case there would be conflict in New Orleans that they would need while trying to compromise on getting their fleets back in. Secondly, Robert Livingston went to Paris to negotiate the purchase of New Orleans with Napoleon. However, before everything was settled at home, Napoleon had agreed not only to Livingston’s proposal but had negotiated for the entire Louisiana Purchase due to yellow fever and the freezing of the Dutch Harbor putting a huge burden on his army (Brinkley, 2012). There were two more territorial gains, not so as great as the Louisiana Purchase but any territorial gain is important; they were the Florida gain in 1819 by Spain and the Missouri Compromise. The Florida gain started because Andrew Jackson hung two British after he seized St. Marks and Pensacola accusing them of supplying the Indians (Brinkley, 2012). The government backed Jackson saying that he “had the right to defend himself under international law” (Brinkley, 2012, p.222). Consequently, Onis gave Florida away since he knew they could ultimately take it anyways. The Missouri Compromise was after eleven states were already entered into the Union as free states and eleven states were entered as slave states, Missouri would have put it off balance. Therefore there needed to be a decision made on whether it was free or not, which could ultimately cause war. Senator Jesse B. Thomas of Illinois proposed to “prohibiting slavery in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase territory north of the southern boundary of Missouri” this seemed to be a good compromise following the Purchase (Brinkley, 2012, p.223). The next great wave of expansion since the “Louisiana Purchase came in 1840s when the nation had all the territory except Alaska, Hawaii and a few other smaller ones that were later adjusted due to boundary placement” (Brinkley, 2012, p. …show more content…
340). A westward expansion caused the Manifest Destiny which as everything had two different sides. John L. Sullivan preached that God had sent the white race to expand and gain as much territory as they could under any form whether it be; peace, compromise or ultimately force. However, Henry Clay preached that by doing this by force instead of peace it would only cause more political harm to the stability of the union and intensify slavery, therefore, if expansion westward was to take place it should be done under peace or not at all (Brinkley, 2012). Furthermore, Sullivan won and expansion took place westward killing many and caused hardships with the union and disagreements about slavery amongst the way. Another great expansion was the Texas and Oregon movements, which took hundreds of Americans west. However, once the territory was gained the California gold rush took place in the 1850s. They would travel in groups along the Oregon Trail,