The westward expansion which took place between 1840-1890, involved several groups of people migrating from one region to another in search of better opportunities and this involved the Americans. Most of the locations in which they settled had been acquired forcefully from other countries in order to gain more power in the nation and boost the economy. The then president of the U.S, Abraham Lincoln, strongly believed that the future of the nation mainly depended on the Western expansion and therefore he took the initial step by buying Louisiana so that the size of the state could be double. After several years, most Americans had migrated westward with very high hopes of securing greener pastures in order to be successful in life. The westward movement positively impacted the American settlers who were willing to migrate to the west, as they got settlements and the economy improved through their activities such as farming on their new settlement.
Regarding the settlement of the settlers, there was a belief that the settlers had intentions of expanding the territory to the West and this was referred to as the Manifest Destiny. This was used to rationalize the war between U.S and Mexico which the end results were America acquiring more land which even increased its size. The president strongly held that a republic depended on land ownership for its survival. U.S had to continue to expand so as to provide enough land for settlement of the large population. The Westward expansion was defined by several sequences of events such as removal of Native Americans from their lands and relocating them to the reserves. There was a Homestead Act which provided free land to plenty of individuals who were willing to move westward. The Act later became a law whereby there was provision of 160 acres of land to settlers so long as they lived at the place for five years and improved its conditions. There were occasions when land rushes occurred for instance if land was open for settlement. During the expansion, the population of America increased from 5 million to approximately 76 million 1 . With the emomous migration to the west as advocated by the president, the people who migrated found new homes and were later able to own the lands which were made possible by the homestead law that was signed by the president. For that reason, in 1890, the Westward migration was declared a success with the whole region having been occupied and the lands being developed by the settlers. However, the issue concerning slavery raised confusion as to whether it could continue being conducted or not. The continuous battle on slavery led to civil war since there was fear that plantation owners would end up acquiring more land and dominate the North just like they did in the South by having so much control and power. It had been stated earlier that it would be eradicated following the Missouri compromise. This was not applicable to the newly acquired territories. Slavery rose more as the nation took its course to expand. For instance, the Southern economy rose gradually and they mainly depended on growing cotton which relied upon forced labour for sustenance. The Missouri compromise considered Maine as a Free State and Missouri as the slave state. In 1849 the Mexican war was ended by a treaty and two years later the senator from Kentucky came up with another compromise 2 . This was composed of four parts which stated that California would get involved into the union only as a free state, the level of slavery faced by the Mexicans could be decided by the people who lived in that particular area. Furthermore, in Washington D.C, slave trade could come to an end and in the long run a new fugitive slave act was to be formulated with the purpose of enabling the Southerners to claim the slaves who had freed to the Northern states where slavery was prohibited.
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On the other hand, the westward migration resulted to an improvement in the economy of the U.S due to the development of the lands that were acquired and owned by the settlers in the west. The individuals who settled at the place became cash crop farmers for products which were highly marketable. Infrastructure was improved as the means of communication that was relied upon during that time was telegraph due to its reliability on the conveying a message. However, transport mainly depended upon was railroad in transportation of products from one location to another. The expansion led to progress in technology, education and transportation. The individuals who agreed to move could access educational opportunities to add value to themselves. Some of them could send letters to their beloved ones at home making invitations to them meaning that communication was reliable at the moment. New minerals were discovered as the Americans moved to different locations and this created employment as well as boosting the nation’s economy greatly. The nation’s boundaries were expanded leading to more opportunities in the market and trading with diverse countries could now be made easier. The cities became less crowded sine individuals moved to new places leaving some areas being sparsely populated. Agricultural activities were promoted with land being readily available to the farmers 3 . New crops were discovered through exploration and new medicine too from the plants. New food could be prepared and the whole situation was adventurous to some extent. In addition, the gross domestic product of the state increased gradually due to the benefits realised from trading with other countries. However, not all that glitters is gold. The expansion led to continuous spread of slavery and the people affected by this were striving just to gain freedom therefore viewing the whole activity as being null and void. Deforestation took place in order to clear areas for more individuals to settle at which is a major threat to the environment. The issue of spreading slavery to the West led to war since it caused the nation to be divided. Moreover, culture was interfered with since the individuals had to adopt with the living styles which were common in the new places of migration. Many individuals died during the war besides those who died while travelling. Subsequently, migration led to intermarriage and socialization of different people therefore many individuals had to be assimilated into different cultural activities different from the normal routines.
Bibliography
G, Stelter. 2015. The City and Westward Expansion : A Western Case Study.
Miller, Wexler. 2012. Westward Expansion.: An Eye Witness History .
M, Eisenstein. 2005. Westward Expansion.
1 Eisenstein. 2005. Westward Expansion.
2 Miller, Wexler. 2012. Westward Expansion.: An Eye Witness History.
3 Stelter. 2015. The City and Westward Expansion: A Western Case Study.
