Topic 3 – Expansion, Nationalism, Sectionalism How and why did expansion cause sectionalism and eventually lead to the Civil War?

Topic 3a - Expansion How and why did expansion cause sectionalism and eventually lead to the Civil War?

THE WEST

Expansion America was crowded along the coastline. With newfound freedom the people wanted to move West as explorers & conquerors “U.S. was a free land of opportunity, let’s go take advantage of that by moving out west and forging our own path.”

Louisiana Purchase

Expansion “Go west young man, go west and grow up with the country.” – H. Greeley Lewis & Clark’s travels open the west for settlement. Life was hard on the frontier – Yet it still attracted many Americans or was better where immigrants had come from.

Consequences 1.Native Americans – Already on the frontier – Not willing to give up land – Not used to “owning” land – Tribes like the Shawnee resisted – Tribes like the Cherokee willingly moved west or adopted American values. 2.Expansion – Moving west brings the people’s specific interests with them. North: Industry, wage earners, thriving crowded cities, technology, progress. South: Farming, slavery, tradition. 3.Immigration – America is the place to start a new life, an adventure, or to make it rich.

Consequences

4.War – Mexican-American War Texas teams up with the U.S. to become its own nation – Is annexed by the U.S. and becomes a Southern State U.S. “tricks” Mexico into war, takes its western territory after victory. – The U.S. Civil War Expansion caused sectionalism which lead to the Civil War – loyalty to the interests of one's own region or section of the country, rather than to the country as a whole – The Plains Indians Wars