Esau Razac Mr

Esau Razac
Mr. Goss
US History H 2B
12 April 2018
Westward Expansion DBQ
Westward expansion was promoted in many ways by the federal government in the 1800s. Supporters of the westward expansion had more of a influence than opponents towards federal government policies. This extension of the United States had a big influence on the country. Westward expansion brought railroads, new cities, gold mines, new farmland, more resources, and much more. Expansion of the country came with a lot of positives, but also some negatives.
Americans started to believe it was their destiny to expand its territory over all of North America. This belief was called Manifest Destiny. One way the federal government took actions that led to westward expansion was the purchase of lands. One example is the Louisiana Purchase. We bought the land from the French for 15 million dollars and it nearly doubled the size of the U.S. Also, if some places wouldn’t sell their land, we threatened with war. An example of this is the Mexican Cession. Polk offered to buy land from Mexico and they refused, so we responded with war. The U.S. won the war, and then in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico sold the land to the U.S. for 15 million dollars. This war showed biased toward pro expansionist.