Westward Expansion• Following the

Revolutionary War America won the right to expand.– Claimed the land

between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River (formerly off-limits through the Proclamation of 1763).

– Doubled the original size of the colonies.

• The Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803 again doubled the size of the United States.

Manifest Destiny

• The belief that Americans possessed a God given right to conquer and possess all of the land west to the Pacific, north to Canada, and south to Mexico.

• American settlers poured westward from the coastal states into the Midwest, Southwest, and Texas, seeking economic opportunity in the form of land to own and farm.

• The growth of railroads and canals helped the growth of an industrial economy and supported the westward movement of settlers.

Manifest Destiny (cont.)

Examples:• Revolutionary

War• Louisiana

Purchase• Spanish Cession• Texas Annexation• Oregon Territory• Mexican Cession

Florida• By 1819, the Spanish

were too weak to control its territories in America.

• The Adams-Onis Treaty (1819):– Gave the United States

Florida. – Gave the Spanish land

west of Louisiana from Texas to California.

• The treaty was negotiated by Secretary of State and future sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams.

Texas• Mexican government

allowed American settlers in Texas.

• Overpopulation led the Mexican government to tighten laws on American settlers.

• Texas declared independence as the Lone Star Republic in 1835.

• The United States added Texas as a state ten years after its independence from Mexico.

Oregon Territory• After the War of 1812, the

United States had a legitimate claim to the Oregon territory.

• United States, Russia, Britain, and Spain all had claims.

• In 1818, the United States and Great Britain agreed to joint-occupation (shared ownership) of this area.

• The United States signed a treaty with Great Britain after 28 years of joint-occupation:– Territory was divided along

the 49th Parallel with United States taking the Southern portion and Britain the Northern.

The Mexican War

• James K. Polk (11th president of the United States) wanted to annex California to have access to the Pacific Coast.

• Offered to buy California from Mexico, but was turned down-Mexico still angry over the annexation of Texas.

The Mexican War (cont.)

• Polk looks for another way and finds it in Texas-dispute over where the border was:– Mexico said it was the

Nueces River– United States said it

was the Rio Grande– Sent troops to defend

the Rio Grande, causing a war between the United States and Mexico.

The MexicanWar (cont.)

• The United States and Mexico fought from 1846 to 1848 when the United States captured Mexico City and forced the surrender of Mexico.

• Treaty of Guadelupe-Hidalgo:– The United States received all rights to Texas with

the Rio Grande as the southern border.– The United States received California and all of

Northern Mexico for $18 million-Mexican Cession.

The Mexican War (cont.)• Results:

– The United States acquired a large amount of land (present-day California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and parts of Colorado and New Mexico).• The United States now stretched

from sea to sea but fuels the argument over whether these states will be free or slave.

– Soldiers and officers gained valuable experience for the American Civil War.

Impact of Westward Expansion

• Intensified the conflict between Northern free labor and Southern slave labor. – Each wanted to control all

of the new western territories.

• American Indians were repeatedly defeated in violent conflicts with settlers and soldiers and forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands.– They were either forced to

march far away from their homes or confined to reservations.