TERRITORIAL EXPANSION WESTWARD EXPANSION

From 1803 to 1853, the United States expanded to its present continental boundaries.

MANIFEST DESTINY WESTWARD EXPANSION

Many Americans believed in Manifest Destiny, the conviction that the United States had a divine mission to expand in order to spread the ideals of freedom and democracy.

People Moving West WESTWARD EXPANSION

The first Americans to move westward were explorers, naturalists, trappers, traders, and missionaries. These were followed by trailblazers and settlers who traveled westward along routes such as the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails.

Mormons, led by Brigham Young, settled at the Great Salt Lake, Utah in 1846. In order to escape religious persecution, they selected a spot which placed them far from others. Most settlers chose more prosperous lands in the far West, leaving the Great Plains to be settled after the 1860’s.

Lands Acquired Between 1783-1853 WESTWARD EXPANSION

Northwest Ordinance In the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, Congress provided a procedure for dividing the territory north of the Ohio River into three to five different territories.

More importantly, the Northwest Ordinance established a clear, orderly process by which new territories in the West would become states.

There were 3 basic requirements for becoming a state. Congress would appoint a territorial governor. Once a territory had 5,000 voting residents, the settlers could write a temporary constitution & elect their own government. After the territory had a population of 60,000 they could write a state constitution, which once approved by Congress statehood was granted.

LOUISIANA PURCHASE

In 1800 Napoleon Bonaparte persuaded Spain to return the Louisiana Territory. When the French colony of Haiti was overthrown by African slaves Napoleon saw no reason to keep the Louisiana Territory.

In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson purchased the territory for 15 million dollars. The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States. In addition to adding new lands, the purchase also gave the U.S. control of the vital Mississippi River.

Lewis & Clark After the Louisiana Purchase President Thomas Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore this land in 1803.

During the expedition from St During the expedition from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean Lewis and Clark were instructed by Jefferson to carry out scientific studies and to document the native cultures they found. Sacagawea, who later joined the expedition, served as a interpreter and guide.

From St. Louis to the Pacific

The Lewis and Clark expedition took 2 years and 4 months and was a great success. It opened the way for settlement of the West and strengthened American claims to the Oregon Territory on the North West coast.

Other Lands Acquired Between 1783-1853 Florida (1819)-this territory was acquired by Spain through the Adams-Onis Treaty. Texas (1845)-and what is now California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming became part of the United States by annexation. Oregon Country (1846)-what is now Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming was gained from Great Britain in a compromise. Mexican Cession (1848)- what is now California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming became part of the United States by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican War. Gadsden Purchase (1853)-this piece of land in southern Arizona and New Mexico was purchased from Mexico as a possible railroad route.

Territorial Expansion by the Mid-Nineteenth Century

Expansion of Slavery WESTWARD EXPANSION

Missouri Compromise In 1819, when settlers in Missouri requested admission into the Union, the conflict of slavery arose. Southerners claimed that Northerners were trying to end slavery. Northerners accused Southerners of plotting to extend the institution of slavery into the new territories.

Congress managed to temporarily resolve the crisis with a series of agreements known as the Missouri Compromise. Maine was admitted as a free state and Missouri was admitted as a slave state in order to maintain balance within the Union. Slavery was banned in the lands of the Louisiana Purchase north of 36’ 30’ N latitude and allowed in the lands south of this line. FREE SLAVE

The Missouri Compromise

Compromise of 1850 The issue of slavery came up again in 1850 with the admission of California into the Union as a free state. This issue was settled once more by the Compromise of 1850, which included 3 key provisions…

1.California entered the Union as a free state. 2.The Fugitive Slave Act required that escaped slaves be returned to their owners. 3.Popular Sovereignty, or vote of the people living within a territory, would determine whether a territory in the Mexican cession would be slave or free.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 overturned the Missouri Compromise by allowing those territories to decide the question of slavery by popular sovereignty. Violence erupted as both supporters and non-supporters of slavery rushed into Kansas to vote.

The Republican Party Reactions to the Kansas-Nebraska Act led to changes in the political party system. The Democrats were seriously weakened in the North. The Republican Party was founded to oppose the spread of slavery.

Bleeding Kansas The race for the possession of Kansas became increasingly violent. As pro- and antislavery people rushed into Kansas to vote on the issue, violence erupted, known as Bleeding Kansas.

The Dred Scott Case

Dred Scott vs Sandford In 1857 the Supreme Court gave its ruling on the question of slavery in the territories in Dred Scott vs Sandford. The ruling held that no African Americans, slave or free, were citizens, and therefore, they were not entitled to constitutional protection in any territory.