Westward Expansion: The Louisiana Purchase Of 1803

Throughout American History, slavery has always posed as a problem in the United States from 1776 to 1852. Slavery grew dramatically when the country acquired new territory as a result of foreign wars, like the Mexican War. Even though there are many reasons why there was a growing opposition to slavery in the United States from 1776 to 1852, the growing opposition of slavery was caused by the country gaining new land as a result of wars and events like the Compromise of 1850 and the Second- Great Awakening which led to the development of new books and newspaper articles.

Manifest Destiny and the Westward Expansion was made so that the Americans could expand as far as the Pacific Ocean. All though this was a benefit for the Americans, it caused the Native Americans and the Mexicans to deal with a lot of hardship. There were many political, economic, and social reasons for Manifest Destiny, but these reasons did not always have positive outcomes.

Dear Editor: I think that Thomas Jefferson and the United States Government should buy the port of New Orleans because they need the get the port so that we can trade and expand the United States.

The westward expansion was a period of ambition for many Americans who wanted to extend US territory for resources, personal reasons, business and etc. The problem they faced was that it was all Mexican territory. In order to settle in the West, people must become citizens of the Mexican government and follow its rules. This fact upset many Americans as it does not benefit their own country and so the idea of Manifest Destiny was born. Texas and America plotted to overthrow the Mexican government through several underhanded ways that pinned the blame on Mexico.

The Civil War was one of the most defining events in American history and the antebellum years of the 1840’s were filled with turmoil and bloodshed due to wars. The expansion of slavery into Western territories caused a great deal of controversy and increased the sectional tensions. Since drafting of the Constitution, the North and the South had grown further apart in terms of economy, ideology, and society. Slavery became even more divisive when it threatened to expand westward because non-slave holding white settlers did not want to compete with slaveholders in the new territories. The south viewed slavery as essential to their traditional ways but the north opposed its spread. Territorial expansion allowed for the extensive spread of the

The main reason why the Framers didn’t succeed in their final compromise is because it was too difficult to make all the delegates (who were basically competing) agree with each other, so numerous issues were ignored and most plans were severely compromised. An example of this is the debate between larger and smaller states over their representation in the newly proposed Senate. Two solutions were significantly favored: the New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan. The smaller states were in favor of the New Jersey Plan, which would enforce each state to send the same number of representatives to Congress. The larger states supported the Virginia Plan, which called for each state to have a different number of representatives based on the state’s population. Eventually, an agreement between the states was made known as the Great Compromise. The Great Compromise combined the New

Manifest destiny was almost like a way of life for the American people. It was the idea that something was destined to happen and that it would be better for the people if they followed this instinct. One of the thoughts that they got was traveling West. They thought that it would help them gain more land and become richer. This movement affected many people and places and tribes. The things and people that were most affected were the Native Americans, Slavery, and the relationship between free states and slaveholding states.

While this was a plus of the purchase, allowing the country to grow so big would also bring along some cons too. As a country grows to be the size America did, this made governing for all of that land difficult. Also, considering that this took place in the very early 1800’s which means that they didn’t have the same technology, transportation, or transmission that we have today. This means as settlers started to move out west, many would start to not completely follow all the laws because there wasn’t as much government power in the west back then. As stated above, another concept that Jefferson and America had to take into thought was this purchase would put America into a huge amount of debt. Having the land come at about four cents an acre wasn’t too bad, but because the vast size of the land that America was acquiring, it was not the best situation for the debt of America. Just this outcome alone will become one of the few reasons why the Louisiana Purchase could be viewed as one of the poor decisions made back in the

STOP! Drop everything you’re doing and think! Why did the Southern states secede from the Union? Was it because of the South’s desire to be their own government or did they just do it for no good reason. The Northern States and the Southern States have always been different. The Northern States were against slavery and the Southern States were not. Slavery was such a big issue back then because for the South that was their way of living and how they made money. For the North, they viewed it as an immoral thing and that there shouldn’t be slavery in the U.S. Other factors beside slavery caused the South to leave which lead to the Civil War. The Southern States seceded from the Union because of slavery, political issues, and economic differences.

When Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821, a string of ruthless dictators and weak presidents made Mexico an easy target for its powerful neighbor, the United States. The US swooped in to expand its territory and its popular institution of slavery. By doing so, the US started a war with Mexico that was justified for illegitimate reasons. The Mexican-American War was not justified because the US took Mexico’s land for the expansion of slavery, and justified their taking advantage of Mexico when it was politically weak by hiding behind Manifest Destiny.

The Westward Expansion all started when America made the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. There were many benefits from the purchase for the US that the French didn’t realize before they sold it. The purchase gave the US access to the Mississippi river which allowed for expansion of river trade to the North and South from the center of the US. The port city of New Orleans was bought by the US and its prosperity benefited the US greatly. The US sent Lewis and Clark west to investigate the land they purchased. After their exploration, many people started to take interest in moving West. There were many different reasons why people moved, including a search for a fresh start at life, a chance at starting an economic success through agriculture and

There were both positive and negative components of westward expansion from 1800 to 1875. By the late of 1800s, the land of the United States was mostly purchased. In seventy five years, the United States continuously expanded westward, which was encouraged by the idea of Manifest Destiny. New land in the United States led to more economic, social, and political opportunities. Gaining more land also led to disputes between the states and wars with other countries. Between 1800 and 1875, America continuously expanded westward through the acquisition of new land; there were both favorable and unfavorable consequences and outcomes of westward expansion.

The Louisiana Purchase was the purchase of the Louisiana territory by the United States from France in 1803. The U.S. paid fifty million dollars and a cancellation of debts worth eighteen million dollars which averages to less than three cents per acre. The Louisiana territory included land from fifteen present U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The territory contained land that forms Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska, portions of Minnesota, large portions of North Dakota; large portions of South Dakota, parts of New Mexico, the northern portion of Texas, the area of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. The Louisiana Purchase was smart move by the United States.

There were many important Compromises between the years of 1820 and 1860, some that worked completely and some that didn’t. In the early nineteenth century, people were good at compromising and making things work for everyone. How long did perfect compromising actually last? Slavery began to split the nation apart, causing compromising to become hard to do. Slavery was one of the biggest problems between 1820 and 1860. Sometimes two states had to be added to the Union at the same time, to make things fair. The North and the South fought almost constantly over the issue of slavery, sometimes things were able to be worked out about it, but as the years passed, the problems with slavery and territory started to become too big to ignore or

Have you ever wondered about what would 've happened if the westward expansion never occurred? We wouldn 't have many things you know today and America would be a lot smaller. The westward expansion happened during the 1800s and helped shape the modern America. The westward expansion started with the Louisiana Purchase and was made even stronger by the Gold Rush. Many people came to strike it rich or just to start a new life out west. Even though it was before computers and phones, the information spread quickly across the country and started what is called Manifest Destiny. This will tell you about some of the important parts of the westward expansion.