| Manifest Destiny and Westward Expansion (1803-1893) |
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Sections:- Map of American Acquisitions
- Early Exploration: The Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806
- Manifest Destiny: The Ideology of Expansionism
- President Polk and Westward Expansion
- The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
- The Annexation of Texas
- Gadsden Purchase Treaty
- The Overland Trails
- Oregon Country
- California: The Golden State
- Chinese Immigraion During the Gold Rush
- The Alaska Purchase
- Territorial Expansion, 1830-1860
- Fredrick Jackson Turner's "Frontier Thesis"
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| Historical Context
Westward expansion defined the middle of 19th Century America. The desire for more land drove nearly every aspect of United States politics, from domestic to foreign policy. The American people were likewise seduced by the adventure that seemed synonymous with the West.
Attached Documents
The following map outlines the territorial acquisitions the United States underwent in order to further her reach.
Questions to Consider
1) Consider circumstances that may have arisen that would have changed the look of a contemporary map of the United States.
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| Historical Context
In 1803, President Jefferson asked Congress in a secret address to commission an exploratory expedition across the uncharted western United States. The Corps of Discovery, led by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Second Lieutenant William Clark
of the United States Army, was the first overland expedition to the Pacific coast and back. Lewis was an expert in botany and zoology and Clark was a cartographer and a student of native cultures. Jefferson's vision of expanding the "empire of liberty" and populating it with self-sufficent families and farmers was to guide the thinking of American presidents and pioneers throughout the early nineteenth century. After Lewis and Clark, a number of other government-sponsored expeditions were initiated to ascertain the wild territories of the American West.
Attached Documents
The detailed instructions to Lewis and Clark from President Thomas Jefferson define the priorities of the mission and illustrate the degree to which the west was unknown.
The map below shows Lewis and Clark's route.
Questions to Consider
1. What does the President define as the primary objective of the expedition? What kinds of observations should be carefully recorded to enhance the future fulfillment of this objective?
2. What instructions does the President give regarding the Native Americans? What kind of relationship does he want the United States to have with them?
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| Historical Context
The rapid territorial expansion of the United States in the early nineteenth century sparked the westward migration and frontier lifestyle that many mythologize as the embodiment of the nation's independent spirit. The politics of expansionism, however, were far from romantic. Americans grappled with the question of what to do with the Mexican and Native American people to be displaced by migration. The nation risked conflict with other nations that had claim to land in North America. While some desired the capacity for expanded trade with Asia, others were compelled to spread the blessings of "civilization" and Christianity to native peoples. The Democrats of the South supported the addition of agarian territories, while the Whigs of the industrialized North feared the expansion of slavery into newly settled lands. Amidst this conflict, the expansionist ideology was encompassed in the slogan, "Manifest Destiny."
Attached Documents
In the following excerpts, newspaperman John O'Sullivan voices the prevailing rationale for American expansionism, arguing that it was the nation's God-given right to grow into North America as its population increased and its economic needs and capabilities developed. He offers the somewhat jingoistic presumption that presence of white people in territories belonging to Mexico will justly and inevitably draw the territories into the sphere of the United States. It is here that O'Sullivan famously coined the phrase "manifest destiny," which inspired and emboldened Americans strike out and cultivate the continent.
Questions to Consider
1. What criticisms of the potential annexation of Texas does O'Sullivan address? How does he answer them?
2. Why does O'Sullivan claim that annexation of Texas will ease the resolution of the slavery question?
3. Why does O'Sullvian think that the territorial expansion of the United States is necessary and inevitable? How does this relate to the concept of "manifest destiny"? |
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| Historical Context
During the presidential campaign of 1844, Democratic nominee James K. Polk called for American expansion westward. He interpreted his election, though he only won by a narrow margin, as an endorsement of his expansionist position.
Attached Documents
Polk’s inaugural address (1845) includes a comprehensive discussion of the annexation of Texas. The address spends considerable time defending, through historical reference, philosophical argument, and constitutional principles, U.S. expansion as a way of creating and preserving a more powerful Union.
Questions to Consider
1. According to Polk, how should Mexico view the annexation of Texas?
2. Why might Mexico have different views on the topic of annexation?
3. What points does Polk give as justification for the territorial expansion of the United States, in general?
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The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was a written agreement between Mexico and the United States ending the Mexican-American War. Attached Documents
The treaty required Mexican cession of territory (present-day Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, and parts of Colorado, Nevada, and Utah) in exchange for fifteen million dollars, an amount the Mexican government turned down before the war, in U.S. compensation for property damages incurred during the conflict.
Questions to Consider
1. What is the new established southern boundary of Texas that will be recognized by both countries?
2. Why do you think the description of the boundary has to be so detailed in the treaty?
3. What provisions are in the treaty for Mexicans living in the ceded territory?
4. In your opinion, is this a fair treaty? Explain your answer.
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| Historical Context
Victorious in its war with Mexico, Texas began proposing annexation to the United States in the late 1830's. Initially, the U.S. was hesitant to admit Texas, yet changed course in 1845, welcoming Texas as the 28th state.
Attached Documents
The annexation of Texas was seen as extremely beneficial to the Union, considering the vast southern lands the growing country was to acquire. Issues of slavery, which had existed formally in Texas for some time, continued to be areas of contention in its admittance as a state, although ultimately the land was deemed valuable enough to compromise on the issue of slavery.
Questions to Consider
1) Why would slavery have been an issue in the admittance of Texas as a state?
2) Consider the implications of admitting Texas as a state so soon after the War with Mexico? Do you think this was a dangerous decision?
Why or why not? |
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| Historical Context
The end of the American war with Mexico in 1848 did not end debates over the borders of Mexico and America. The U.S. desired the lands that are known today as Arizona and New Mexico in order to begin construction on a railroad that could stretch from the East Coast of the U.S. to the West Coast. The issue of admitting states into the U.S. that may upset the balance of slave states versus non-slave states was contentious. Attached Documents
Ultimately, the purchase of the lands from Mexico was accomplished, although the Gadsden Purchase, as it was came to be known, encompassed far less land than originally intended.
Provided below are excerpts from the Gadsden Purchase Treaty, as well as a map depicting the area after the Treaty.
Questions to Consider
1) Why did the Gadsden Purchase end up being so much smaller than originally intended?
2) In what ways did the Gadsden Purchase reflect the growing influence of the railroad industry? |
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| Historical Context
The seven month, 2,000 milies journey from Missouri to the coast was expensive and hazardous. Though many travelers were anxious about the possibility of confict with Native Americans, the most deadly hazards to travelers were accidents and disease. Life on the trail was tedious, with each wagon moving at a pace of about 15 miles per day. Oregon was the major destination of migrants until 1848, when the discovery of gold in California diverted the stream of settlers southward.
Attached Documents
The map below show the rapid expansion of the U.S. in the nineteenth century.
The excerpts from the diary of James Abbey, who emigrated from Indiana to California in 1850, reveal some common aspects of life on the wagon trails. Here, Abbey mentions the troubles brought on by disease, bad weather, and inadequate grass for cattle. Note that Abbey mentions the other families in his traveling party. Few families traveled alone, instead forming wagon trains that were often governed in a democratic fashion.
The photo of wagon ruts carved in the Idaho prairie show the Oregon Trail as it appears in some places today. The depth of the grooves illustrate both the weight of the wagons and the number of them that crossed the plains in the height of "Oregon fever."
Questions to Consider
1. What does Abbey's account suggest about the primary concerns of the overland traveler? |
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| Historical Context
Beginning in 1818, Britain and the United States agreed to jointly occupy Oregon Country. The area, however, was dominated by the British, who established preeminent fur-trading posts like Fort Vancouver. As a trade destination, Oregon's population of British, French, Native American, and Hawaiian trappers and entreprenuers frequently formed mixed-race families until the 1840's, when "Oregon fever" swept thousand of white Americans into the lush Willamette Valley. These new settlers quickly adopted polices that excluded non-white emigrants from settling on the land.
Attached Documents
The Oregon Treaty of 1846 establised the border between the British possession of Canada and the United States at the forty-nineth parallel, despite President Polk's quarrelsome 1844 campaign slogan, "Fifty-four Forty, or Fight!" Oregon became a state in 1859.
In 1847, an Illinois newspaper published varying accounts of life in Oregon Country from former Illinois residents. The excerpts below provide alternative perspectives of pioneer life.
The Willamette Valley was a favorite destination for European and American settlers. The area was home to the Kalapuya tribe, who maintained the prairies by annual burning, for over 10,000 years before being displaced and decimated by foreign diseases brought by settlers. The 1847 painting by Canadian artist Paul Kane below conveys the beauty and isolation of life in Oregon Country.
Questions to Consider
1. What public sentiment was James K. Polk capitalizing on when he used a campaign slogan that implied the potentiality of war with Britain over the establishment of the border?
2. What do the language and provisions of the Oregon Treaty suggest about the nature of US-Britain relations regarding Oregon territory? Does it seem tense or genial?
3. If you were an Illinois resident considering striking out for Oregon, how would the newpaper account affect your decision? Would you change your mind? What advice offered in the letter would you be careful to heed? |
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| Historical Context
When the United States acquired California from Mexico in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, only a few American settlers had ventured to this remote frontier. California began to attract people from all over the United States and the world, however, when news of the discovery of gold began to circulate later that year. The allure of striking it rich attracted not only prospectors, but entreprenuers to outfit, house, feed and entertain the exploding population. In truth, these merchants had a much better chance of profitting from "gold fever" than those who came to pan the streams and rivers. The motto, "Eureka!" has appeared on California's state seal since it became a state in 1850.
Attached Documents
The 1848 newspaper article below demonstrates some the defining features of the mining frontier, including the mobility of the population. Most miners were young men who were single or left their families while they pursued their fortunes. The transitory mining camps and settlements were often rife with crime.
The "Percent Population Change" graph below emphasizes the exponential population growth experienced by San Fransico as a result of the gold rush.
Questions to Consider
1. What does the article reveal about the hopes and expectations Californians and "forty-niners" during the gold rush?
2. What lasting affects do you think the gold rush had on California history?
3. What groups do you think benefitted most from the gold rush?
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| Historical Context
Thousands of Chinese workers immigrated to California during the gold rush. Though it was one of the most ethnically diverse regions of the country, the Chinese were subject to discrimination in the gold fields. They were often relegated to doing only the most menial labor and, in 1852, they became subject to a tax on foreign miners. Anti-Chinese sentiment continued in the following decades culminating in 1882, when Chinese immigration was outlawed by Congress with the adoption of the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Attached Documents
In the excerpts below, author Hinton Rowan Helper offers a strikingly xenophobic charicature of Chinese immigrants in California, employing sweeping stereotypes of the laborors that were shared by many during this period. He concludes that no "inferior race of men can exist in these United States without becoming subordinate to the will of the Anglo-Americans," expressing a common conception of the determinism of race in the social and economic order.
Questions to Consider
1. What similarities and differences can you identify in the attitudes of some Americans toward the Chinese and the criticisms levied against other minority groups at different times? Do any of the accusations made by Helper allude to a specific threat caused by the presence of Chinese immigrants?
2. How did ideas about race relate to the politics of Manifest Destiny? |
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| Historical Context
The purchase of Alaska in 1868 can be considered an beneficial maneuver by both the Russians and the Americans, although it was not deemed so at the time. In the late 1860's, Russia was faced with severe economic hardships.
Attached Documents
In an attempt to relieve some of their financial burdens, as well as the desire to secure the safety of their lands from what they considered to be a threatening Great Britain, Russia entered into agreements with the U.S. to sell the lands known as Alaska. Secretary of State William Seward, pictured below, brokered the agreement. Seen as foolish by many in Washington, and, most notably, the press, the purchase began to be referred to as Seward's Folly.
Provided below is a document reflecting the purchase of the Alaskan lands by the U.S. from Russia, as well as a picture depicting the purchase.
Questions to Consider
1) Why was the Alaskan Purchase known as Seward's Folly? Why was it ultimately considered beneficial?
2) Why did Russia wish to keep its lands from the British? Why did they choose to sell the Alaskan lands to the U.S.? |
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The Powerpoint presentation below includes information related to American expansion from the colonial period to the immediate aftermath of the Civil War and the acquisition of Alaska. Quite a few good maps and links to primary sources are included.
The following maps illustrate the rapid development of the territory of the United States before the Civil War.
Questions to Consider
1. In what year was the territory of the continental United States, as it appears today, solidified? What treaty accomplished this?
2. How might the issues of slavery and race affect the politics of Manifest Destiny? |
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Reflecting on the impact of the expansion of the United States during the nineteeth century, historian Fredrick Jackson Turner developed his "frontier thesis" in his influential 1893 work The Significance of the Frontier in American History. Turner argued that the existance of a frontier beyond which lay vast tracts of unsettled wilderness throughout much of United States history was the defining factor in the development of Western democracy and the American character. Though this thesis has guided the thinking of many historians, its many critics complain that its assertions ignore other facets of the American experience such as the Civil War, the subjugation of minorities, and the importance of cooperation in frontier life, to name only a few.
Questions to Consider
1. According to Turner, what specific effects did the frontier have on shaping the American indentity and institutions?
2. Do you agree that the frontier experience is the defining factor in the American character and the development of Western democracy? Why or why not?
3. Which aspects of the thesis could provoke controversy? Explain your answer.
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