How Did The West And Western Settlements Affect America's Development

Americans’ experience with the West and the western settlements impacted the development of the nation in the years from 1800-1860 is many ways. The most significant topics that impacted the nation’s development the most were the perception of nature and the environment and our views of different social groups. While the Americans expanded west, they took everything they could, conquering and claiming everything in their path. They took advantage of people other than the “ideal” pioneer and they also took from the land, whether it was natural resources from the land, or just land in general that was already settled by other groups of people.
Land fertility and climate conditions affected where settlers decided to take land and begin to
Farmers had to clear the land and cultivate it as well as maintain the land. Settlers were looking for arable soil to grow their crops on, and were looking for other natural resources like minerals and metals provided by the land. Once the settlers picked the land they wanted they realized they needed certain things, such as roads and canals in order to trade goods they would be producing. Building these routes caused damage to the earth showing that American settlers did not have a care in the world except personal gain. When they built the Erie Canal in 1825 the commissioner’s articles of agreement with contractors “reveal their confidence in man’s ability to triumph over nature” (301). “First, in all places where the natural surface of the earth is above the bottom of the canal and where the line requires excavation, all the trees, saplings, bushes, stumps, and roots shall be grubbed and
The settlers came into contact with Indians and other various groups and took advantage of them. They not only used them as laborers they used them for land. Also, they drove out the Indians and took their land. As the Americans began to claim more land, trade became a major factor. This up rise of opportunities brought about more and more slaves and other forced labor. More slaves were needed in the south as production needs and trade began to increase. As better relationships with trading increased, so did the need for space to grow cotton and items to trade. Many people were looking to continue to move west and conquer. These people that were forced to work were in many ways viewed as land or “property” that was meant for conquering. The settlers began to create this social inequality because they were so good at conquering and using others without giving them credit at all. An abolitionist decries slavery’s dehumanizing power. David Walker states “the result of my observations has warranted the full and unshaken conviction, that we, (coloured people of these United States,) are the most degraded, wretched, and abject set of beings that ever lived since the world began…” (277). With new states being added from the expansion many conflicts between people