Westward Expansion
Westward Expansion
The idea that the United States would extend from “sea to shining sea” is known as Manifest Destiny. A newspaperman named John O’Sullivan first used this phrase in 1845, but many Americans had the idea long before O’Sullivan wrote his newspaper article. Many people thought it was God’s plan for the United States to control all the land from the Atlantic to the Pacific, even if it currently belonged to other countries, or if the Native Americans lived there. The United States was established in 1776, and by 1783 it extended to the Mississippi River. But it only took until 1848 for the country to expand from sea to shining sea (the Atlantic to the Pacific). However, there were treaties, purchases, annexations, and removal of Native Americans before this finally happened. Some thought it was a good thing, but for others it caused problems.
In 1803, the United States purchased Louisiana from France, and Lewis and Clark explored the area. The two explorers wrote a journal on their trip and wrote about the possibility of other Americans following their lead and settling in the West. In his journal, Meriwether Lewis wrote, “In the course of ten or twelve years, a tour across the continent by this route will be undertaken with as little concern as a voyage across the Atlantic.”
President Polk was determined to add Texas to the United States. The problem was that Texas was a slave state, was heavily in debt after the Texas Revolution, and there was a threat of war with Mexico if Texas was annexed (joined) to the Union. However, the U.S. Congress finally approved annexation of Texas in 1845.
Lewis was correct, but it took longer than the ten or twelve years he predicted. In 1847 Brigham Young led the first of 15,000 Mormons, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, to the area between the Rocky Mountains and the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The next year, 1848, gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in California and thousands of forty-niners made the journey to California.
People were moving west on many different trails, but one of the most popular ones was called The Oregon Trail. Pioneers left on wagons from Independence, Missouri with the Willamette Valley in Oregon as their destination. As they traveled west, they had to endure violent storms and exposure to the sun, climb mountains, dismantle wagons to cross rivers, and overcome diseases such as measles, cholera, and mountain fever. However, after traveling 2,400 miles, they reached a fertile valley and realized their dream.
The idea that the United States would extend from “sea to shining sea” is known as Manifest Destiny. A newspaperman named John O’Sullivan first used this phrase in 1845, but many Americans had the idea long before O’Sullivan wrote his newspaper article. Many people thought it was God’s plan for the United States to control all the land from the Atlantic to the Pacific, even if it currently belonged to other countries, or if the Native Americans lived there. The United States was established in 1776, and by 1783 it extended to the Mississippi River. But it only took until 1848 for the country to expand from sea to shining sea (the Atlantic to the Pacific). However, there were treaties, purchases, annexations, and removal of Native Americans before this finally happened. Some thought it was a good thing, but for others it caused problems.
In 1803, the United States purchased Louisiana from France, and Lewis and Clark explored the area. The two explorers wrote a journal on their trip and wrote about the possibility of other Americans following their lead and settling in the West. In his journal, Meriwether Lewis wrote, “In the course of ten or twelve years, a tour across the continent by this route will be undertaken with as little concern as a voyage across the Atlantic.”
President Polk was determined to add Texas to the United States. The problem was that Texas was a slave state, was heavily in debt after the Texas Revolution, and there was a threat of war with Mexico if Texas was annexed (joined) to the Union. However, the U.S. Congress finally approved annexation of Texas in 1845.
Lewis was correct, but it took longer than the ten or twelve years he predicted. In 1847 Brigham Young led the first of 15,000 Mormons, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, to the area between the Rocky Mountains and the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The next year, 1848, gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in California and thousands of forty-niners made the journey to California.
People were moving west on many different trails, but one of the most popular ones was called The Oregon Trail. Pioneers left on wagons from Independence, Missouri with the Willamette Valley in Oregon as their destination. As they traveled west, they had to endure violent storms and exposure to the sun, climb mountains, dismantle wagons to cross rivers, and overcome diseases such as measles, cholera, and mountain fever. However, after traveling 2,400 miles, they reached a fertile valley and realized their dream.
Manifest Destiny Map
Label and color your blank copy of the Manifest Destiny map.
- Color West and East Florida the same color.
- Color both British Cessions of 1818 and 1842 the same color.
- You should use a total of 9 different colors.