Westward Expansion Essay

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Westward expansion was a vital movement in the United States between the 1780s and 1860s. This brought many opportunities and difficulties to the nation. It brought opportunities and difficulties to the nation because it brought together many pro and anti-slavery people. Each state added to the expansion were either to prohibit slavery or not and it was up to the government to make it equal. There are about three important moments/events in this time period. These three are Manifest Destiny, Compromise of 1850 and bleeding Kansas. From early years the United States has been set on expanding west. Expanding westward would bring new commercial opportunities along with trade opportunities. It also brought upon war and tension amongst the states …show more content…

Manifest destiny became very popular and was created by John O’ Sullivan. Manifest destiny was an important event in this time period. This was an “imperialist phrase first used in 1845 to urge annexation of Texas; used thereafter to encourage American settlement of European colonial and Indian lands in the Great Plains and Far West” (Tindall, A31). “By 1840, nearly 7million Americans; 40 percent of the nation’s population lived in the trans- Appalachian West” (History.com). Most of the population in the west people who left their homes in the east for a better economic opportunity. When these settlers thought of western migration, land ownership, farming and freedom crossed their minds. Manifest destiny brought opportunity and hope to these …show more content…

This was “a complex compromise mediated by Senator Henry Clay that headed off southern secession over California statehood; to appease the south it included a stronger fugitive slave law and delayed determination of the slave status of the New Mexico and Utah territories” (Tindall, A10) The divisions of slave territory was resolved in the compromise of 1850. This compromise did many things such as declaring California as free, would determine if Mexico would be slavery free by the citizens who reside there, ending the slave trade Washington but not slavery and passing a fugitive slave act for southerners to find runaway

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