United State History Before 1850

UNITED STATES ' WESTWARD EXPANSION (1783-1890

The United States won its independence from Great Britain with the help from France in the American Revolutionary War . The thirteen former colonies established themselves as the United States of America under the Articles of Confederation on July 4 , 1776 , the Second Continental Congress , declared the Independence of the United States which was authored by Thomas Jefferson (Barraclough , 1998

George Washington , a renowned hero of the Revolutionary War and President of the Constitutional Convention became the First president of the United States under their new constitution

p After the American Revolution , the Ordinance of 1787 , called the Northwest Ordinance , forbade slavery in the Northwest . The United States government paid revolutionary war veterans by giving them the right to take land for free in the Northwest . Some took up the offer but many sold their right to land speculators , who in turn did all they could to encourage westward migration

The expansion of the American in the westward movement maybe viewed as domestic imperialism , with the same motives as the imperialist movement in Europe however , yielded different results . The native culture of North America was not merely conquered but destroyed an integrated capital democracy developed in its place

The westward movement resulted with the rapid growth of American territory in the west despite fierce resistance from Native Americans Mexicans , and the British . Eventually , the American government claimed the entire region west of Mississippi

In 1783 the United States had an area of approximately 800 ,000 square miles , much of it are rich arable land . The Louisiana Purchase (827 ,000 square miles ) purchased for 60 million francs or about 15 million dollars of which 11 , 250 , 000 dollars was to be paid directly the balance to be covered by the United States in the assumption of French debts to United States citizens . The purchase came about as a result of concern to secure free navigation of the Mississippi River

West Florida was taken by force during James Madison 's administration and East Florida by purchase with the threat of force , during the presidency of James Monroe . A second set of acquisition in the period 1843-1853 completed the contiguous area of the continental United States . Protracted negotiations for the territory of Oregon ended in a compromise agreement in 1846 . The Texas Republic was annexed in 1845 In 1848 the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ceded California , New Mexico and adjacent areas of the United States . The treaty provided for the Mexican cession , in which Mexico ceded 525 ,000 square miles to the United States in exchange for 15 million U .S dollars . The cession included parts of the modern day United States of Colorado , Arizona , New Mexico , and Wyoming , as well as the whole of California , Nevada , and Utah . The huge Mexican cession was a spoil of war in 1849 . Then the Gadson Purchase in 1853 , bought from Mexico to control a promising railroad system

Manifest Destiny

The most important factor which fuelled the Westward Expansion was the popular belief...