Westward Expansion and the Effects
On the United States
October 3, 2007
Abstract
The Louisiana Purchase was the largest land deal in our history. It doubled the size of the United States and gave us a strong face as an economic power. It brought immigrants from all over the world for the idea of owning land and making a living for themselves. We also had a second expansion with the Adams-Onis treaty in 1819 (Davidson, 2002, p.p. 246-247) where we clearly defined the United States and Spanish board to the Pacific and obtained the Florida territory. This gave the United State a firm foothold and clearly defined boarders for the first time in our history.
With the foreign, French, British, and Spanish, citizens already living on the land we as a nation truly began to meld our cultures into what is now the United States. This paper will identify the timeline of the purchase and the reasoning behind the purchase. It will also detail the effect the Louisiana Purchase had on the nation.
Westward Expansion
The westward expansion was a slow process until the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Colonist settled in the westward territories in small groups. The territory identified as the Louisiana was originally owned by French and was lost to Spain in 1762 during the Seven Years' War (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2007). The territory was again transferred back to France in 1801 during another war with the stipulation that France could not transfer it to anyone else without the consent of Spain.
This territory was extremely important to the United States as it held transport access via the Mississippi River and a shipping port in New Orleans. "Spain had granted United States the right to ship goods originating in American ports through the mouth of the Mississippi without paying duty and also the right of deposit, or temporary storage, of American goods at New Orleans for transshipment" (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2007).