Westward Expansion
America’s “Manifest Destiny”
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Manifest Destiny
• “Manifest Destiny” was a phrase created in the
1840s by an American journalist.
• It was used to justify American westward expansion
into areas such as Texas, Oregon, and California.
• Manifest destiny refers to the widely held belief that
– the United States system is better than any other
(best government, best economy, etc.)
– Therefore, the United States had both a right and a
duty to spread out across the entire continent.
– American expansion was inevitable, necessary, and
had been ordained by God!
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Manifest Destiny
• Fulfilling this manifest destiny, many argued, would
benefit everyone involved:
– American settlers would gain access to much needed
land (the population of the United States was growing very
quickly at this time)
– Through farming and construction, those settlers
would improve the land, making it more productive –
which would benefit society as a whole
(Many Americans believed that native people who did not build
permanent homes and who might not farm wasted the land)
– Non-Europeans (especially Indians) would have the
opportunity to learn the American way of life
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Manifest Destiny
• Although the phrase was
new, the idea was not.
• Even as British colonists,
settlers pushed their
geographic boundaries
farther and farther west,
always looking for new land
and a better way of life.
• Thousands of Americans
ignored the Proclamation of
1763, which forbid
settlement of the Ohio River
Valley.
Daniel Boone Escorting Settlers
through the Cumberland Gap
Daniel Boone was a famous American
frontiersman. The stories of his adventures
have become legendary. Boone is
considered one of America’s first folk heroes.
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Examples of American Expansion
• Northwest Ordinance (1787) reverses the terms of the
Proclamation of 1763
• Louisiana Purchase (1803) doubles the size of U.S. territory
• War of 1812 – designs on Canada and Florida
• Monroe Doctrine (1823) Hands off the Western Hemisphere
• Indian Removal Act (1830) Trail of Tears, 1838
• Texas Revolution (1836) Annexation of Texas, 1847
• Mexican War (1846) Polk uses border dispute to justify
expansion
• Mexican Session (1848) California, Nevada, New Mexico,
Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona
• Gadsden Purchase (1853) from Mexico — $10 million
• Purchase of Alaska (1867) from Russia — $7.2 million
• Spanish American War (1898) Guam, Puerto Rico, Philippines
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How does this painting explain the attitude
of Americans in the mid-1800s?
Spirit of the Frontier/American Progress, 1872 by John Gast
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Why did early settlers flood across the
country during the mid-1800s?
• The California Gold Rush
• Fertile land for farming,
especially in the Oregon
Territory.
• Ranchers could raise cattle
descended from Spanish
herds in areas buffalo
previously inhabited by buffalo
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How did they get there?
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Conestoga Wagon
“Prairie Schooner”
• The wagons were named for the Pennsylvania town
where many were built.
• Oxen or mules usually pulled these wagons in
traveling groups called wagon trains.
• They got the nickname “prairie schooner” because of
their ship-like appearance moving across the grassy
plains.
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The Train Wagon
• Shorter, lighter, and
easier to navigate than
the Conestoga
• Water-tight bonnet and
slanted side rails helped
to keep rain out
Why might pioneers travel in
large groups as shown in
this 19th century painting?
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The Stagecoach
• Passenger coaches were
a popular form of public
transportation in the early
1800s
• They got their name
because the coach driver
changed horses every
fifteen miles, or stage.
• The person who rode next to the driver usually carried a
shotgun to guard against hostile American Indians or
bandits, thus the phrase “riding shotgun.”
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Steam Locomotive
“Iron Horse”
• The first locomotive built in
the United States was the
Best Friend of Charleston. It
began service in 1830.
• July 1, 1862 – President
Lincoln signed the Pacific
Railroad Act, which called
for building the
Transcontinental Railroad.
• The tracks were completed
in Promontory, Utah, on May
10, 1869
The ceremony for the driving of the “golden
spike” at Promontory Summit
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Steamboat
• Robert Fulton built the first successful steamboat, the
Clermont, in 1807.
• Settlers who traveled west by ship faced an arduous
journey of 18,000 miles around South America or
sailed to the Isthmus of Panama, crossed overland to
the Pacific Ocean, and sailed to California.
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“Go West Young Man!”
Horace Greeley-1845
• To encourage settlement,
Congress passed the
Homestead Act (1862)
• Any adult citizen – including
freed slaves – who had never
taken up arms against the
Union could claim160 acres of
“public” land, but in order to
get the title, they had to
Only 40% of Homestead applicants
fulfilled the requirements to receive the
deed to the property.
– Make “improvements” (build a
house and cultivate the land)
– Live there for five years
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Significance of the Frontier
• As the 1800s ended, the United States
occupied the North American continent
from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
• In 1893, historian Frederick Jackson
Turner proposed his Frontier Thesis
– the frontier experience had shaped the
character of the America and its people
– The frontier was the source of America’s
economic and political power
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Significance of the Frontier
• Now that the frontier was closed, Turner’s thesis
made some Americans nervous.
• Others saw the close of the western frontier as
the beginning of a new era in American history.
• For some, overseas expansion represented the
next frontier and proponents would again use
the idea of manifest destiny to justify American
claims in the South Pacific.
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