Even though America's purchase of Alaska was something thought to be wrong by many, it was strategically advantageous because of its size, location, and natural resources such as gold and petroleum. After the purchase, the U.S. increased one fifth of its land at that current time.
Almost everything has a starting point; this is it, the starting point of the Alaska purchase. Initially, Russia was highly interested in Alaska. Russia had taken major interest in Alaska after realizing that it was rich in natural resources. In 1725, Russian Czar Peter the Great dispatched Vitus Bering to explore the Alaskan Coast. The reason why the Russians lost interest in Alaska is mainly because St. Petersburg lacked the financial resources to support major settlement or a military presence along the Pacific coast of North America. In addition, permanent Russian settlers never numbered more than 400 people. The defeat in the Crimean War also extremely reduced Russian interest in Alaska due to how the Russians feared losing especially to the British, whom they fought in the Crimean War. What did they have to lose? They believed that the U.S. would offset the designs of Russia's greatest rival in the Pacific, Great Britain so they will have the designs of Great Britain offset and loose land which they can't afford in the first place.
After losing almost all interest in Alaska, Russia decided to sell Alaska to the U.S. However, due to the war, the Alaska Treaty had to be postponed to March 30, 1867. Incredibly enough, the price for Alaska was only 7.2 million dollars (roughly 2 cents per acre).The senate at first disagreed on it. Many people used to call it "Seward’s Folly” because they saw the purchase as 7.2 million dollars for a “huge iceberg”....
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...ka Purchase. The U.S. also highly increased its natural resources. Alaska was filled with gold and petroleum (oil). To this very day petroleum is transported across the state through a pipeline. Petroleum is Alaska's richest, most common natural resource.
Overall, The Alaska Purchase was extremely convenient and helpful to the U.S. Even though Alaska is just one, in 49 other states, its purchase (and itself) caused the U.S. to grow immensely in two ways. It gained about 1/5 more of the current land it had at the time. It also gained lots of natural resources including gold and petroleum. The land was strategically advantageous too. Due to my researching, it is to my understanding that the United States demonstrated a growing interest in the Pacific and began to expand its role in the world by adventuring and taking risks in buying land farther out from its borders.
After temporarily resolving the problems of Reconstruction and Industrialization, Americans began to resume the course of expansion. The horrors of the Civil War had interrupted the original Manifest Destiny that began in the 1840s. Now, as pioneers settled the last western frontiers, expansionists looked yet farther to the west -- toward Asia and the Pacific. American ships had long been active in the Pacific. The New England whaling fleets scoured the ocean in search of their prey. As ships crossed the vast ocean to trade in Asia, islands in the Pacific became important stops for coal, provisions, and repairs. In the South Pacific, the American navy negotiated with awestruck natives for the rights to build bases on the islands of Midway and Samoa. This practice had been going on for a while. The Hawaiian Islands, which lie closest to the American mainland, had long been an important stop for the Pacific fleet.
Jefferson recognized that the purchase would be “beyond constitutional,” (Jefferson) but his desire to expand America undermined his “legal scruples” (book). The Republicans and Thomas Jefferson supported the acquisition, because it was favorable to the “immediate interests of” the “western citizens” (book). The also believed it would create a more safe and peaceful environment, in a way that would separate French and American authorities. The federalists on the other hand, disagreed with the treaty for various reasons. They were worried that westward expansion would increase wages on the Atlantic coast by “reducing and lowering the value of real estate in their region” (book). The federalists knew that the states to that would be created from the new land would be settled by Jeffersonian Republicans, ultimately establishing a stronger Republican foothold in the country. Despite the feuds between the two groups, the Senate ratified the treaty with a vote of twenty-six to six, and on December 20, 1803, America took possession of the Louisiana
...ion with the purchase of the Louisiana Territory in 1803, and furthered it with the expedition. Some instant ramifications were present after the expedition: it led to the northern plains fur trade from 1806-1812 that came out of Lewis and Clark’s focus on improving trade. 33 In a broader sense, the expedition promoted further expansion goals for the United States as a whole later on in American history. The idea of manifest destiny later on in the 19th century reflects a continued goal of the United States to expand. Thus, the “land hungry” attitude that Jefferson himself exhibited went on to influence later American goals of expansion out west. Lewis and Clark’s expedition thus was only the beginning, as it was the first American expedition out last, but nevertheless was surely not the last based on the benefits that the United States reaped after its completion.
Then next event that helped shape our country was the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. During this time Thomas Jefferson was our President and he was buying land from france to expand our country. During this purchase the U.S acquired about 827,000 square miles of land. And Thomas Jefferson bought this land for 15 million dollars. This land held the territory of some of today’s Colorado, Montana, Oklahoma, North and South Dakota and some more of the mid-western part of our country.This was an important event because this is what made our country. We wouldn’t have much of the
The Louisiana Purchase helped the economy by reopening the ports. By opening up the ports the Western farmers could get their products to the market while Eastern merchants prospered from trade (American Passages). When the United States started expanding westward hundreds of acres would guarantee that the economy would remain the primarily agricultural for decades. (Louisiana Purchase. Dictionary of American History) By buying Louisiana the United States gained greater security for the border. Also we gained a better power and self-
The departure from previous expansionism (up to 1880) developed alongside the tremendous changes and amplifications of United States power (in government, economics, and military.) The growth in strength and size of the United States' navy gave the country many more opportunities to grow, explore, and expand both in size and money. The better range and build of ships allowed the U.S. to enter the far-east "trade and money" lands of the Philippines (eventually a territory) and China. Because of the huge production of agricultural goods and the need for outputs and markets for these goods, the United States needed to find other places for shipping, trading, buying, ...
The Exploration of the west could have had the greatest economical impact on the United States ever. After the west had now been explored they realized they had a great deal of land that now had to be settled. The land was so vast and so cheap that it was sold for very low prices and sometimes just given away. This caused a huge surge of people to begin flowing west and sparked westward expansion. People began setting up farms and more and more people had opportunities to make a good living. Also people now had the chance to look for gold out west and the Gold Rush began. This is when America really had its boom. Lastly we now had twice as much if not more natural resources than we had before.
In 1803 the United States would make the largest and possibly most controversial land purchases in American history, the Louisiana Purchase. During the years leading up to this event the United States was still trying to solidify a national identity. There were two subjects that were causing for division of the new national identity, one being westward expansion. The Northern states and Federalists opposed the idea of westward expansion while the Southern States and the Jeffersonians backed this purchase. Although there was a struggle for a single national identity and this controversial purchase did not aid in finding that single identity, it was still the right decision for the United States. By purchasing this land from the French the United States would not share a colonial boundary with the French who were continuing to gain power under Napoleon. Purchasing the Louisiana Territory would prove to be beneficial for the United States for more reason than one.
...se having more land naturally meant having more space for the immigrants and new opportunities. When business expanded, it meant having more wealth for the business owner. After the annexation of Hawaii, the natural resources were enjoyed by both America and Hawaii. Despite the fact that Hawaii was annexed during the war with Spain as a strategic move, America took great care in the expansion of the island (Thurston 1897).
Throughout history, the United States had come off as a stubborn nation that would take what they wanted at any cost. This was prevalent in both cases of expansion as the Americans risked war and national safety for the sake of gaining land, or even merely for proving a point. During the early years of expansion, the Americans had pushed aside the Native Americans and whoever else inhabited the land they wanted. They believed that the land was rightfully theirs and that everyone else was merely squatting on their territory. This idea continued into the early twentieth century as the Americans looked to the oceans for new territories to their kingdom.
The Louisiana Purchase began long before 1803 with conflicts between Spain, France, and the United States of America. One of many disputes began in 1754 with the beginning of the The French and Indian War, which was the result of ongoing frontier tensions between the French and the British, and ended with The Treaty of Paris in 1763. Great Britain’s victory at the end of the French and Indian War resulted in the writing and signing of the Treaty of Paris, 1763, which forced the French to surrender all of their North American territory. Until 1799, France had been controlled by a monarchy, but from 1789 to 1799 there was a revolution in France that led to the people seizing control of the government and placing Napoleon Bonaparte in charge.
The Annexation of Hawaii was something that we just wanted to have happen. We had crops invested When it was time to discuss the Annexation of Hawaii, we were all for it. We already had sugar cane crops in the area and it would be nice to have a port and can stop somewhere off the continent to fuel up. Plus, with it being ours we can control another country from attacking us and using Hawaii to be a pit stop to us.
The west was also a lot different from the rest of the United states. “There was little law enforcement and government in the ‘wild west’.It was during this time that many gunslingers made a name for themselves”(Softschools) .This is also why it was nicknamed the “Wild West” at the time. Thomas Jefferson, the president at the time, believed that the nations future depended on settling in the west. This belief was referred to as manifest destiny. The cost of the Louisiana purchase was $15M, giving the US the land west if the Mississippi river. The purchase also put some boundaries into place that still are the same as of today. With all this new land people were able to leave home and become independent which was Jefferson’s goal with the purchase of the new land.The expansion itself was also an essential part to the republican project. “Some of the people trying to stake land claims would sneak ahead and hide until the land rush began. Then they would stake their land. These people were called “sooners’’(Soft School). “The debate over whether the U.S. would continue slavery and expand the area in which it existed or abolish it altogether became increasingly contentious throughout the first half of the 19th century”(Huntington). Because of all the different jobs and the climate in the west, a whole different culture was developed focused more on farming and ranching, rather than working in the factories
One action taken by the United States government that was influenced by geographic factors was the Louisiana Purchase. There were many historical circumstances that resulted in the government’s action. Louisiana was originally owned by the French until France sold it to the United States. Thomas Jefferson bought Louisiana in 1803. The influence of this geographic factor occurred because as the United States had expanded westward, navigation of the Mississippi River and access to the port of New Orleans had become critical to American commerce. The purchase of the Louisiana territory, including New Orleans, was for $15 million. The acquisition of approximately 827,000 square miles would double the size of the United States. This also gave the United States control of the Mississippi River. This had a lot of impacts on the United States. It increased western expansion which was included in the Manifest Destiny. The Manifest Destiny was a 19th-century doctrine that the United States had the right and duty to expand throughout the North American continent. But, this expansion did lead to conflicts...
It was not very easy for the United States to expand like they had in mind. The division of land had been a rising problem since the Revolutionary war. Two of the main issues during the time of the Articles of Confederation were the pricing and land measurement (Potter and Schamel 1). Throughout the course of over fifty years, the government had tried many different attempts to get people to want to expand to the west. They just didn’t really know the right way of how to go about it. Trying to sell the acres did not go over well, considering the price seemed outrageous for what they were getting. Untouched soil was very hard to start on and be successful from the beginning, which caused some problems with people not wanting to buy the land (Weiser 1). So again, a different political group tried a different approach.