Short And Long Term Effects Of Westward Expansion

America has come a long way and one thing we will never forget is the history. Two major events in developing America and the British North American colonies between 1607 and 1877 is westward expansion and he North-South division. The North-South division was the split between the Union States and the Confederate states because of their very opposite beliefs. The most well-known event of this division was the American Civil War between these two sides of early America. Westward expansion was the period when millions of people continued to migrate into the western parts of America. A very memorable topic in this event was Manifest Destiny. This was the thought that the United States was destined to stretch from coast to coast. Out of these two major events in the history of early America, westward expansion was the stronger factor in shaping the British North American colonies and the United States. Westward expansion was more impactful in that the Unites States juristically grew, and new

To the president at the time, Thomas Jefferson, expanding westward was a major key for the nation to be successful. Many of the United States citizens believed in Manifest Destiny. Because of the Manifest Destiny, citizens truly believed it was destined for the United States to expand far west. Although some federalists opposed it, the Louisiana Purchase was essential in the growing of the size of the United States. The Louisiana purchase was the purchase of 820,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River. The United States payed fifteen million dollars to France for this land. Authority of this large region of land was transferred to the United States by France in December 1803. The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States and made westward expansion much more possible. The purchase included modern day states such as Kansas, Oklahoma, and New