1. Westward Expansion: Geographic and Economic Factors
8 – U4.2.3 Westward Expansion – Explain the expansion, conquest, and settlement of the West through the Louisiana Purchase, the removal of American Indians (Trail of Tears) from their native lands, the growth of a system of commercial agriculture, the Mexican-American War, and the idea of
Manifest Destiny. (E2.1) (National Geography Standard 6, p. 154)

2. Reasons for Migration
1. Westward migration was influenced by GEOGRAPHY and ECONOMIC opportunity.

3. What Were Some of the Reasons for Westward Migration?
1. Population growth in the EASTERN states
2. Availability of CHEAP, FERTILE LAND.

4. What Were Some of the Reasons for Westward Migration?
3. Economic Opportunity: examples include gold (CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH) , logging, farming, and freedom (for runaway slaves and Mormons)

5. The San Francisco Gold Rush

6. What Were Some of the Reasons for Westward Migration?
4. Cheaper and faster transportation, e.g., rivers and canals (ERIE CANAL), steamboats

7. What Were Some of the Reasons for Westward Migration?
5. Knowledge of overland trails (OREGON and SANTA FE)
6. Belief in the right of “MANIFEST DESTINY”

8. What was the “Manifest Destiny”?
THE IDEA THAT EXPANISION WAS GOOD FOR THE COUNTRY AND WAS THE RIGHT OF THE UNITED STATES
“American Progress” by John Gast (1872)