Westward Expansion
1783 – 1853
Overview for “Ordeal by Fire”
(Causes of the Civil War)
1783-1853: Continental U.S. Obtained
The Two (or three) Biggest Acquisitions:
Louisiana Purchase (1803) and Mexican Cession (1848)
Texas Annexed in 1845
Other Acquisitions
• 1783: Treaty of Paris grants U.S. territory
westward to Mississippi River
• 1803: Louisiana Purchase
• 1810-1820: From Spain we obtain . . .
– Florida
– Parts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana
• 1820s and 1840s: From Great Britain border with
p.d. Canada is fixed (affecting Maine, Minnesota,
and Dakotas)
Other Acquisitions (cont’d)
• 1845: Annexation of Texas
• 1846: Treaty establishes p.d. Washington
and Oregon as U.S. Territory
• 1848: Mexican Cession
• 1853: Gadsden Purchase brings in southern
portions of Arizona and New Mexico
Persistent Theme #1:
Expansion Accomplished through
Diplomacy
• Most American acquisition of land came through
negotiated treaties, not through warfare (or threat
thereof)
• Often land was purchased: for example, from
France, from Spain, from Mexico
• Notable exception: Mexican War (1848)
• Another exception: failed conquest of Canada in
War of 1812
• One of the most pressing issues facing Articles of
Confederation Congress
Persistent Theme #2:
America’s Population Expands
Westward Relentlessly
• Issue of expansion a cause for rebellion
(remember, Quebec Act)
• Facts speaking to the rapidity. By 1840 . . .
– All land east of Miss. River occupied and
organized
– Nine states west of Appalachians admitted
– Majority of population lived west of original 13
states
Persistent Theme #3:
West’s Economic Value
Often Overestimated
• Fur trade the original draw to the West
(French, then British, then Americans)
• By mid-19th century: “Great American
Desert”
• Mechanization and Homestead boom –
trying to farm the marginally farmable
• 100th degree longitude heuristic
Persistent Theme #4:
Federal Government Guides Exploration
and Development of West
• Organization and territory-statehood process
determined early (1780s)
– Precedent: federal gov’t and cheap(?) sale of land
• Several government-financed, quasi-military
expeditions
–
–
–
–
Lewis and Clark (1803-06)
Zebulon Pike (1806-07)
Stephen Long (1819-20)
John C. Fremont (1843-44)
• Transcontinental railroad: first difficulties federal
government encounters in development of West
Figuring Out
What’s Out
There
Persistent Theme #5:
Policies toward Native Americans
Narrow Scope of Indians’ Domain
• Treaties and military conflict squeezes Indians
from original 13 states, old northwest, and old
southwest
• Lands west of Miss. R. intended to be Indians’
domain, but . . .
• Settlement pressures force government to
renegotiate: Indians forced to cede claims in p.d.
KS and NB in 1854 (civilized tribes)
• Nomadic tribes on Great Plains and further west
pose a dilemma for middle decades of 19th century
By 1835
The Westward Expansion Dilemma for
the Mid Nineteenth Century
• Relentless Surge of
Settlers continues
• Slavery’s destiny and west
linked in American
consciousness and in
politics
• South frightened by
expansion westward