Westward Expansion In The 1800's

America was destined for greatness, and westward expansion in the 1800’s helped fulfill that destiny by providing America with the need to expand. This is not destiny in the sense of the inevitable, but instead in the sense that it was beneficial to the white man settled in America. In fact, during this time Irish and German immigrants began travelling to America, which led to overpopulation in the northeast (“United States Population Density”). This overpopulation forced white settlers living in America to move westward to find new lands to settle, but this was made even easier by the new inventions produced during this time. The rates of travel across America improved exponentially thanks to these new inventions that were brought about by the need to travel (Charles O. Paullin and John K. Wright, “Maps of changing rates of travel in the United States”). …show more content…
The Irish and Germans moving into America led to this overpopulation, which ushered people to move west out of the overpopulated region. Another surge of settlers moved west to seek their fortune when gold was found in California (James K. Polk, “Fourth Annual Message”). Everything was abandoned when this gold was discovered, people were racing to get their hands on it and could not stay back in the east and do their jobs or take care of their homes. The discovery of gold had such a large impact on the country that advertisements for ships that would take people to this gold in California were displayed on the opposite side of the country in the northeast (“Clipper Ship advertisement”). The discovery of this gold would not have happened had Americans not moved west, and they would not have needed to move west if it were not for the overpopulation in the northeast. The discovery of this gold was destined to happen, but it would not have happened if not for this