Territorial Expansion Dbq Analysis

Toward the end of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, the United States was becoming an increasingly powerful nation and world power. The country was competing with other nations also expanding. Their motives for expanding were to gain land and resources. While there was a slight departure from past expansionism, the United States mostly continued as it had been in the previous years. In order to accomplish expansionism, the United States needed to acquire foreign territories to increase their global presence.

During the 19th century, the people of the United States of America had a belief that they had a justifiable right to expand its territory; otherwise known as manifest destiny. This belief of inevitable conquering land in North America led to conflicts with the indigenous people already occupying the land. One of the conflicts the Americans had with the indigenous people of North America was the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) in which Mexico fought for their territory that the Americans thought was rightfully theirs in the attempt to expand west. There may be several reasons to the cause of the Mexican-American war, however, the two major causes of the war were consequences resulting from the Texas War of Independence and the American’s desire

It was the time when Manifest Destiny concept, an idea in special role and destiny of the United States, was highly popular. The concept that consequently justified the expansionism and nationalism. Therefore, Polk’s expansionist impulse, though strong and quite successful, was a product of dominant thoughts that were circulating among Americans.

1. The border differences between the two maps were the Oregon Territory 1846, Mexican Cession 1848, Gadsden Purchase 1853, Disputed Texas Territory 1848, and the Lonestar Republic 1845. This is because on the second map it highlights the certain states that offer natural resources and it shows no states being divided or excluded from the rest of the United States. Meaning that all the states shown are apart of the U.S. and that there are no territories shared or owned by another country. Whereas, the first map shows the different territories owned and shared by the United States.

In the years following the Revolutionary War the United States would begin to expand, although not popular among all citizens, it helped shape the country into what we know today. The first acquisition of territory would be as a result of the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain ending the Revolutionary War. This treaty marked the boundaries between the British colonies still located in North America and ceded the thirteen American colonies to a newly recognized country known as the United States of America. This would not be the only acquisition of territory that the United States would complete between the years of 1789 and 1815 but it would be the initial acquisition of territory that would develop this newly formed nation.

Between 1800 and 1850, western expansion played a major role in the sectional tensions between the North and South in America. Most of this would stem from whether or not new territory would be free or slave states. Later on, there would be compromises in place to alleviate the tension but disunity between the North and South was very prevalent. In 1803, the Louisiana Purchase from the French got a rise out of the New England Federalist party.

“Manifest Destiny,” written by John L. O’Sullivan, explains how expansion is needed for america and how it could better our nation. The painting “American Progress,”supports expansion by displaying what it looked like when the settlers moved in. The text, “Reporting to the President, September 23-December 31,1806,” by Stephen Ambrose, supports westward expansion by talking about how lewis and Clarke did good things to help westward expansion. What do you think about westward expansion?

“Once we became an independent people it was as much a law of nature that this [control of all of North America] should become our pretension as that the Mississippi should flow to the sea” –John Quincy Adams (Henretta, p. 384). In the 1840s, Americans had a belief that God destined for them to expand their territory all the way westward to the Pacific Ocean. This idea was called Manifest Destiny. In the nineteenth century, Americans were recognized for coming together and building up one another for one cause: westward expansion.

In the next two hundred years, the United States would break away from being a British colony, and instead begin to expand to other areas. America’s belief in expansion was further developed by the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, which declared America to be the protector of the west. Furthermore, the Manifest Destiny in the 1840s demonstrated that the call towards expansion was a crucial part of the national identity; it was instilled into the people that God had blessed them

Before the 20th century the United States was an isolationist nation but around the late 19th century America decided to convert into an imperialist power. They had numerous reasons to shift into being an imperialist nation. America didn’t want to begin imperializing to settle and live in the nations they were taking over, they already had America for that reason, they wanted to adopt these nations for what they had to offer, which was many things. America saw an opportunity to improving their nation and took it. Even if there were many causes for America to imperialize, three of them stood out the most.

And lastly the desire for a new frontier to settle in order to maintain America’s identity and prosperity. All three of the examples: economically, politically/military, and culturally can simply explain why and how America became an imperialist nation in the late

The US wanted to expand its territory for the growth of slavery, which was a dehumanizing and morally wrong practice. Although many Americans wanted slavery to expand, many did not.

The United States became first place in the world in farm output and and in number of factories. For example, the number of American export tripled wile American direct investments increased as well. Generally, new businesses and economic interest motivated expansionism within the United States. However, the book also states that politics, joined profits, patriotism, and piety played a huge role in expansionism. What do you think the biggest role in expansionism in the 1890's was?

How did the United States expand over the years and why? The expansion of the United States was a vital part of America’s history and greatly affects how we live today. America's early days only started in 13 states and then progressively grew to 50 states in total. The time throughout the 1800’s and what happened throughout that time greatly impacted how America expanded land, resources, opportunity, trade, and money. Two of many main causes that evoked American expansion was the amount of opportunity that America could take, the idea of Manifest destiny, and the amount of power that the US had on other countries.

Between 1800 and 1850 there was a dramatic increase in population and territory growth, an ideological change within the national focus, and a fracturing in political unity. The Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican American War creates the coast to coast nation, that correlates with the population and migration increase. This westward nation complements the new national focus of westward expansion and industrialization. However, fracturing in the political landscape forms a non-unified government resulting in partisan politics and little legislation.