Westward Expansion 19th Century

The foundation of the United States was based upon expansion of territory on several ideological bases. Post revolutionary and establishment period expansion came to the budding nation of America as it formed a conceptual necessity to move westward. Westward expansion in the United states took several motivating purposes after crossing the Appalachian mountains in the late eighteenth century. Broad purposes for expansion from the early nineteenth century to the civil war include the idea of manifest destiny, national economic profit through settling and homesteading, and the expansion of land mass and resource for political power and influence. Manifest destiny is the ideology that the United states was destined to expand from coast to coast …show more content…
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 by President Jefferson was an early example of the rapidity with which territory could expand and be colonized. Fifteen million acres were purchased from the french and became a viable economic resource for the timber, fur, farming, and ranching trades. In addition, the Mississippi River was gained through the transaction, and trade was vastly expanded, creating another motive for further westward expansion. Gaining again the State of Texas in the Mexican American war came as a great benefit economically to the United states as industries, such as agriculture, were capable of expanding. As discussed in lecture, cotton was a specific example of this growth which heavily led to westward expansion and expansion of slavery. With expansion through diverse climactic zones in a short time period specialization and diversity within the United States economy flourished. These differences, such as the establishment of an industrial based northeastern factory zone and agrarian south and southwest, created great ideological differences. These economic differences aid in the secessionist ideology of the Confederate States from the time period shortly after the annexation of Texas and ultimately to the Civil War. With economic and manpower resources devoted directly to the Civil War, expansion comes to a halt, and hence the …show more content…
Political power in the early nineteenth century was largely based on land mass with the existence still of large empires; such as, at that time, the waning land mass of the British empire still controlling India among other colonies. This is due to the technological standpoint of the early to mid nineteenth century; at which a majority of factories still ran on power generated from rivers in the North, and a majority of exports being crude resources like timber. Henceforth the greater land mass a nation maintained allowed for a far grander likelihood of long term sustainability, profitability, and general prosperity for the population of a nation. The United States proved from an expansion standpoint partially through the War of 1812. It maintained the tenacity and enthusiasm to hold it’s independence and position. From Alan Taylor’s lecture, Americans gained lots of land from the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812. The relatively expedient defeat of British forces acted as a show of power, essentially establishing the United States as a political player in a larger scene than just the Western Hemisphere. Westward expansion would solidify this perception through the gaining of resources and territory size, and the United States government would recognize