“The term Western Expansion encompasses the acquisition of territories by the United States across the whole area of the North American continent from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west.” (www.american-historama.org/1841-1850-westwardexpansion/westwardexpansion.htm). There were many factors that lead up to the Westward Expansion. For example, an overflowing population, the government opens new land (i.e. Louisiana Purchase), Pacific expansion, and finally seeking expansion beyond borders all lead up to the Westward expansion. Also, there is a vase amount of impacts that the Western Expansion had on America and its people.
Overflowing Population Many people think major increase in population is good …show more content…
“Manifest Destiny is a term for the attitude prevalent during the 19th century period of American expansion that the United States not only could, but was destined, to stretch from coast to coast.” “Some American citizens and government officials believed in the notion of “manifest destiny,” a term coined by journalist John L. O’Sullivan in 1845, which meant Americans were destined to control all the continental lands west to the Pacific, south to the Rio Grande, and north to Canada. But manifest destiny could also be a guise for opportunism. America’s expansion west was an expansion for merchants as well as farmers. California was known for its fertile land and, later, its rich gold fields, but American merchants wanted to acquire it for its Pacific ports. These allowed for American expansion into the Pacific Ocean for trade with China and Japan; eventually, the U.S. established a powerful American naval base in Hawaii. Factors that contributed to America’s westward expansion in the later half of the 19th century included the quelling of Native American resistance and relocation of tribes to reservations, gold rushes (in Colorado, California, and the Black Hills of South Dakota) and the building of the Intercontinental Railroad. By the Spanish-American War of 1898, having reached its borders, America was now ready to turn its expansionist ambitions abroad.”