Life In The Westward Expansion

After the Civil War ended many people were in hope of finding land since population was increasing. Since the West was underdeveloped and uncivilized, many decided to expand the land. First the Louisiana Purchase increased the opportunity of expansion. Then industrialization and the Homestead Act also caused many companies encouraged to move West due to the low cost of land and that the transportation was provided through the railroads. In order to complete such goals, something had to be done with the Natives since it conflicted with their home area.

The rapid industrialization of the United States brought many changes to its people. New technologies, inventions, and the railroad brought better fuels, stronger steels, changed the way people lit their homes, and even changed the way people did their shopping. The integrated railroad was especially exciting, because it would allow people to move from the west coast to the east coast as they pleased. Economic development was also on the rise, especially in the west. Americans were excited to discover and tame the “wild west”, eager to claim a piece of land that they could call their own.

In the time during Westward Expansion was the time of new beginnings in America and it was time to move forward in land. America wanted to be superior to the rest of the countries around them. They went through many challegements to buy Louisiana Territory and explore its land around it as well. The country even almost went into bankruptcy and was almost sold to the French, but hopefully that did not happened. They even with success of land came trouble with greedy with expansion.

Ava Jones Even though Native Americans largely did not have writing, the wheel, or domesticated animals, (dogs being an exception) they did possess complex social structures and vast trade networks that spanned both Americas. There were many thriving cultures full of diversity, history, and culture, completely contrasting Turner’s interpretation of history. He does not recognize the genocide of these people or the pain that they continued to go through. Turner also snubs slavery as a necessary economic tool for building the country.

Discuss the reasons why Americans were drawn to expansion in the late nineteenth century? America’s was drawn into continual westward expansion in the late nineteenth century because it wanted to expand trade amongst other reasons. There was that small-group of Americans who warned that the country must not let itself be shut out of the scramble for empire. American was beginning to a overflowing population of America, which according to, a census, which stated by census that there was no longer a clear line separating settled the land from unsettled land.

After the Mexican cession many settlers came to California. Some were looking for gold or freedom. They were white Americans, slaves from the south, Chinese, and the Mexicans and Indians that were already on the land. The white Americans were looking for gold. Slaves from the south were looking for freedom.

The Incorporation of America by Alan Trachtenberg discusses historical trends and events that led to the rise of America as an industrialized nation. The expansion of the West led to booming corporations that helped grow particular industries. Due to the industrial expansion it led to a growth in a variety of industries and the country itself. The Incorporation of America is an argument that the rise of corporatization in the Gilded Age restructured the idea of American culture.

The largest mass execution in United States history took place in Mankato, Minnesota in 1862. Thirty- eight Dakota “warriors” were hung simultaneously. The hangings were to take place on Christmas Day. It was considered unchristian to hang people on Christmas so the hanging was postponed until the next day. The conflict that was taking place was called the Dakota Conflict.

The land that our feet bear upon was not at first in our grasp. Natives patrolled the land far before pioneers became an existence on the so-called American soil. What was once seen as a way of life for the Natives has been refaced into to the “American dream” of Manifest Destiny. In context, Manifest Destiny is the view of moving forth in the planting of one’s cultural reckless footprints into the metaphorical soil that embodies economic opportunity instead of what was portrayed on the Hollywood screen. On the contrary, the “Old West” also known as the “Wild West,” was not only portrayed inaccurately by Hollywood in the representation of the actual events that occurred in the West, but also the ill-advised actions the pioneers had once brought over in an attempt for individuals to improve one’s own condition in life.

“You are one thing only. You are a Divine Being. An all-powerful Creator. You are a Deity in jeans and a t-shirt, and within you dwells the infinite wisdom of the ages and the sacred creative force of All that is, will be and ever was.” Anthon St. Maarten, Divine Living: