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US Expansion

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Have you ever been too cramped and need more space? The U.S. was once in that position until the great expansion began. During the US expansionism process, The US has become closer to having better opportunity, liberty, and more rights because of the start of American democracy, Mexican war, and the Mormons. These are the three ways that the US has expanded. The first step of the US expansion started with the birth of American democracy.

The start of American democracy began with a famous person known as Alexis de Tocqueville. Alexis arrived in the United States in 1831, after being gone for several years studying prison systems. While he was studying the prisons, he realized that society was becoming more and more involved with the government …show more content…

The Mexican war was one of the major events in our US expansion. The Mexican war started when James K Polk became president and wanted to take steps to gain Oregon. Polk wanted to have this battle because it would give the US a chance to expand all the way from east to west coast, have borders on both the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, and it would give us a better fighting advantage over the British. Citizens would also get more opportunity to move in and begin raising crops. In this war we have gained New Mexico, California, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Texas. We won this war because Polk decided to go straight for Mexico City and surround the capital. New Mexico eventually surrendered when they realized they could not escape the unfortunate predicament that they were in. thus, completing the east to west coast expansion. The last and final step of the US expansion was when the Mormons moved in to claim new land in …show more content…

Some people may argue that the Mormons took a step back in our expansion because their neighbors did not like them due to their religion and this could create another war for us, but the neighboring villages attacking the Mormons were violating our rights to freedom of religion and the Mormons had every right to settle there. Joseph Smith was the leader of the Mormons group and he worked hard to move the Mormons from Ohio, to Missouri, to Illinois, and finally to Utah. This was a hard task, but somehow Smith managed to move 15,000 men, women, children and all of their supplies, while only losing about 100 people. The people were also determined to get to the Promised Land, (Utah) that when the wheels on the cart broke or oxen died volunteers took up the carts and pulled them the rest of the way. This was the final way that the Mormons have helped in our US

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