The United States federal government encouraged westward expansion, which socially and economically impacted the nation. The nation’s population was rapidly growing and so was the demand for land. Due to Manifest Destiny, Americans believed that the country should span from sea to sea, Pacific to the Atlantic. The government gained more land by buying land and forcibly obtaining land by winning it and forcing the Natives to relocate. The government also implemented the Homestead Act to encourage people to settle in the west by promising them free land if they reach all requirements and fulfill the process. The westward expansion socially impacted the country by further increasing tensions between the slave states and free states, by implementing
