What Route Did Louis And Clark Play In Westward Expansion

Even before the Louisiana Purchase, President Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the west, and to track water routes to help western expansion. The route that Lewis and Clark traveled west became an important route for pioneers, known as the Oregon Trail. Pioneers went west for many reasons, including economic opportunities and new ways of life. An abundance of land for farming and grazing, mining, forestry and for some, like the Mormons, an escape from religious persecution all led them west.
In the beginning of westward expansion, the issue of slavery in the newly settles territory became an important and dividing political issue. The Missouri Compromise tried to reach an agreement between the North and South, admitting Maine as a free state, but Missouri as a slave state. Although the Missouri Compromise was unsuccessful in satisfying the North and South, it was important in that it marked the boundary for slavery in the territory
The Mexican American War ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo and called for the Mexican cession (giving up). After the war, the US bought even more land from Mexico in an exchange for financial compensation. After the war, the US bought even more land from Mexico in an exchange known as the Gasden Purchase, which included land that became parts of New Mexico and Arizona.
Near the end of the Mexican-American War, the question of whether new territories won in the war would allow slavery or not became an issue. To address this issue, Pennsylvania Congressman David Wilmot proposed the”Wilmot Proviso” (Proviso = condition of terms of agreement), which called for the banning of slavery from any land purchased from Mexico. Northerners supported the proviso, southerners hated It., and after much debate, it was voted down, but reopened the debate about slavery and exposed serious sectional divisions in the