Westward Expansion Dbq

During westward expansion, the Native Americans got kicked to the side. The settlers coming west often saw the Indians as a threat to them and their families. However, this was not the main reason the Indians were pushed aside. The settlers saw the Indians had fertile land and wanted it for themselves. The Indians were the opposite of what the settlers thought they were. The Indians often helped the people moving west across the plains; giving them food, supplies, and acting as guides. However, the U.S. Government did not see this side of the Indians, instead they forced the Indians onto reservations. During the time of the expansion of the United States to the present, the Native Americans went through many things so that the United States could expand; they were pushed onto reservations, and forced to give up their culture through the Ideas of Manifest Destiny and Social Darwinism.

3. Dawes General Allotment Act required Indian land to be surveyed and their families receive an allotment of 160 acres for farming. 4. Homestead Act allowed people after 5 years to gain at least 160 acres of land if they took care of it. 5.

The Transcontinental Railroad affected the Indians mostly, in my opinion. Americans “needed” the Indians’ land to build the railroad. That way the railroad would cut straight through everything and be faster instead of being longer than necessary and taking more time to build. The Indians were forced off

The native population declined and their well being was not a priority. The US settlers became obsessed with this notion of westward expansion even if it meant that natives were going to be mistreated and oppressed. The creation of the railroad was the final nail in the coffin to the natives’ fate. The railroad allowed easy access and transportation to the new land. As stated in the text, “… Between 1790-1840, some 4.5 million people crossed the Appalachian Mountains – more than the entire U.S population at the time of Washington’s first inauguration.” (Pg. 336) This shows the dramatic increase in population and demand for westward expansion. Since natives occupied the land that was needed for building such infrastructure, the European settlers

The purchase of Louisiana doubled the United States in size and was the key to the beginning of westward expansion. This expansion of the U.S. served as one of the defining topics of American history but contrarily, it nearly demolished the entire democracy. Because of Louisiana’s high birth rate and rapid immigration, the United States’ population increased from about five million to more than twenty-three million people. Such expeditious growth as well as economic depressions drove millions of Americans to the west in search of fresh territory and opportunities also known as manifest destiny. At the start of the 1830’s almost one hundred twenty-five thousand Native Americans lived on southeast acres that their ancestors had inhabited for generations. But then President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian removal act which gave the government the authority to trade native held land for land to the west that the United States had obtained with the purchase of Louisiana. By the closing of the decade, only a few Natives were left because the Federal government mandated that they abandon their homeland and go to designated Indian territory. This expedition was better known as the Trail of Tears. The purpose of these reservations was to bring the Native Americans under United States government control, eliminate conflict between the Indians and settlers, and finally to further encourage Native Americans to take on the habits of settlers. In exchange tribes usually received money but it was never a lot and the majority were spent on purchasing food and supplies from traders. But the daily living conditions of the reservations primarily had the most catastrophic results with devastating and long lasting effects. Overall, the rapid territorial expansionism resulted in relocation and brutal mistreatment of Native American occupants of territories now occupied by the United

America into an "empire for liberty". He made that happen by expanding westward, to create "room enough for our descendants to the thousandth and thousandth generation”. This westward expansion is also known as the "manifests destiny", where many Americans was our God-given right to expand to the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican Territory.

As an example, Document 5 shows the buffalo being killed and loaded onto the train. So, now they could be shipped to the businesses in a much more efficient time frame. Furthermore, many industrial companies such as steel and lumber benefited greatly because their merchandise could be shipped throughout the country, which means more orders, and more money. In addition, the railroads made travelling to the west much more safer and quicker. As stated in Document 4, the trains allow you to avoid the dangers of the sea, and the journey was less than 4 days long. With this in mind, before the transcontinental railroad was built, the journey to the west was long, hard, and filled with

Due to America’s expansion in the West, it made a very negative impact on the Native Americans there. For example, numerous amount of native Americans died due to the new diseases that they were being exposed to; such as influenza and smallpox. Additionally, Settlers tooks over large amounts of the Native Americans’ hunting grounds. Due to their inhabitants of the hunting grounds, it chased the animals that they would hunt. Lastly, the Native American population decreased. Seeing all this change being brought on to their land, Native Americans began to resist. America responded by attacking the Shawnee villages on the Tippecanoe River while Tecumseh was away, looking for allies. __________________________________________________________________________________

The instances of social, political, and economic antagonism between cultural and ethnic groups that arose from Westward Expansion were racism and the assimilation forced against marginalized groups of people. According to the Document B, “...China—the greatest and oldest despotism in the world—for a cheap working slave...the meanest slave on earth—the Chinese coolie—and imports him here to degrade white Labor.” One can infer that many were not happy with the fact that Chinese immigrants were doing jobs that white settlers did for cheaper and thought of them as stealing their jobs which added to the conflicts between the two groups, Whites and Chinese. According to Document D, “Many of the Indian dogs were still found in the vicinity lately occupied by the lodges of their owners; they probably subsisting on the bodies of the ponies that had been killed and then covered several acres of ground nearby.” One can assume that Custer was very biased against the Native Americans and reported them as dogs and savages that would leave their kind behind, which further adds to the antagonism between Native Americans and White Settlers.

As many ventured into the unknowns of the western territories of the US, they were lured by the dream of a promised bountiful future. However, they were met with some of the most cruel, yet defining factors of westward expansion. Westward expansion was based on Manifest Destiny, the belief that expanding the United States and its territories was its destiny. The hope was that expansion would bring more economic gains, like natural resources and trade routes. However, expanding only increased the spread of slavery and the problems with Native Americans.

Law signed by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862, the Homestead Act encouraged Western migration by providing settlers 160 acres of public land. In exchange, homesteaders were waged a small fee and were required to complete five years of continuous residence before receiving possession of the land. The rapid development of railroads lead to quick access to these territories. Hence, the quick development of these states, as farmers, towns, churches, and stores that were built to address the needs of the

Westward expansion played a huge part in history and helped the United States become what it is today. In 1803, the United States started expanding westward by obtaining more land. The United States got land through purchasing, negotiation, war, and annexation. Such a great expansion would surely have an impact on the country. Westward expansion impacted both positively and negatively the people living in America, the environment, and the growth of the United States.

Throughout the 19th century, the American nation was overtaken with an idea known as manifest destiny, the belief that it was the destiny of the United States to expand its territory from coast to coast. It drove settlers to journey westward and acquire new territory for their nation. This came with many positives and negatives, ones that would eventually impact the nation forever. Although it is often glorified and seen as a positive and harmless thing, westward expansion had to come with many challenges, and although the nation experienced many different merits during westward expansion, there were more limitations and cons than pros. To start, the nation had claimed more land with westward expansion.

The United States westward expansion is part of the reason the country has become what it is today, but was it morally right to do so? Expansion west at the time was called Manifest Destiny and many Americans believed it to be their god given right or even their duty to conquer the western expanse of mountains and grassland; however to do this many Native American tribes were pushed out of the land that they had occupied for many generations. Natives weren't the only ones to be mistreated. Land what was then Mexican controlled was settle by American pioneers and eventually conquered ignoring national treaties the two countries previously held. The United States westward expansion (Manifest Destiny) was unjust and not only ignored human rights but also made national treaties obsolete.

In the early to mid 1800s, Americans began to want to expand the country again. Some Americans did not agree with the idea of expansion, and wanted to remain complacent with the amount of territory that they currently owned. The nation was torn. There were supporters and opponents of the idea of expansion. Each side presented their points but we eventually ended up expanding.