Westward Expansion

1790,1820,1850,1885,1920

Westward Expansion

Early Growth of the United States

In 1780, 2.7 million people lived in the original 13 statesBy 1830, 12 million people lived in 24 states– The average family had five children !!

1790

What was the most compelling reason for Americans to go west?

A belief in the philosophy of Manifest Destiny, which stated that …..

“…. God, they said, clearly wanted hard–working American republicans to occupy North America. It was inevitable and good that the United States occupy the continent “from sea to shining sea.” It demanded that Americans settle the whole of the continent with the principles of democracy and rooted in the word of God.”

John L. O’Sullivan gave these ideas a name: Manifest Destiny. It is, he wrote, “our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.”

Why Go West?

Besides “Manifest Destiny”, what other reasons could people have had to go into the West?

The Frontier TheoryFrederick Jackson Turner

Thesis stating that the on-going conquering of the frontier provided Americans a continual opportunity to re-assert their will, their perseverance, their pioneering spirit, their independence, their creative nature, their free-will, their strengths, and their domination.

What would happen to America, and the American spirit, if the frontier were to close?

AdventureMining Gold and other precious metalsFarmingNatural ResourcesLand OwnershipNew Religious OpportunitiesEscape and FreedomOverpopulation in the East CoastNew Business OpportunitiesExpanding freedom to new areasSpreading the American ethic of hard work and economic progressPacific ports that could open Asian markets

Or maybe to find love ??

Were there any incentives for specific groups of people to travel west?

Incentives to go west included:

The Pacific Railways Act–granted railroad company’s 10

square miles on either side of each track laid west

Beginning in 1863, the Union Pacific Railroad Company built west from Omaha, NE, while the Central Pacific Railroad Company built eastward from Sacramento, CA. The “transcontinental railroad” was completed on May 10, 1869, in a ceremony at Promontory, UT.

Incentives to go west included:

Morrill Act– land grants from states to educational

facilities with curriculum tied to agriculture and mechanical arts

– ie. University of Nebraska, Washington State, Clemson, Cornell

Incentives to go west included:

Homestead Act – for approximately $10, settlers could have 160 acres of western land, if they met certain criteria:

• American citizens who were 21 years or older, or the head of a household

• Built a home on their lot, and lived in it at least 6 mos. of the year

• Farmed the land for 5 years or more

Before long, many were imagining a North America without what they considered the savagery of Native Americans, the laziness and political instability of Mexicans, or the corrupt and dying monarchism of the British.

What were some of the issues preventing western expansion?

Financially ExpensiveLong JourneyUncharted TerritoryFear of the UnknownClimate and GeographyNative AmericansForeign Claims to the Land

If we wanted the land, how could we acquire it?

WarPurchaseTheftTradeLand Grants

Once we’ve decided to go west, how did we get there?

on steam powered boats along government and

privately built roads on railroads as part of wagon trains horseback walking