The Period of Western Expansion

In the beginning of the 19th century there was a tremendous expansion of the Americans far beyond the Mississippi River. Louisiana was purchased from the France and six new states came into being from 1816 to 1821 namely Indiana, Illinois. Maine, Mississippi, Alabama and Missouri. On February 2, 1848, Mexico was forced to sign the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and give away vast tracts of land to the US. With each new president, new territories were acquired. For instance Louisiana was acquired during the administration of Thomas Jefferson, West Florida was obtained by force during the time of James Madison and East Florida during the presidency of James Monroe. The Monroe Doctrine of 1823 forbade European interference in America and this became the foreign policy of America during the time of President Theodore Roosevelt .This rapid expansion was accompanied by conflicts with the Indians in the West. America also acquired half of Oregon country by means of negotiation with Brittan and further with a war with Mexico acquired other places like California, Nevada, Utah New Mexico and Wyoming. The American colonists expanded as far as the Appalachian Mountains and beyond as they were inspired by the idea of manifest destiny. New England and the Middle Atlantic states became the centers of finance, trade and commerce and with the discovery of gold in California, there was a wave of migration between 1840 and 1860.The western expansion was like a kind of imperialism with a motive of profit. Therefore, by this expansion, the native Indian culture was destroyed and a kind of capitalistic democracy took its place. Much of the rich arable lands came under the control of America. However, the expansion into the interior (commonly termed as back country) of the continent was slow unlike the western frontiers. The western expansion hit the indigenous Indians who felt that the expansion killed their native culture and curbed their freedom. Wars, diseases hit them hard and they felt the inevitable fate of destruction. Slavery in these newly acquired territories became a debatable issue among the politicians and remained a divisive issue in the 1850s as the national leaders could hardly do anything about it.