Texas joined the union in 1844 after fears from Mexican invasion and a want for the strength and stability offered by the Union. In 1846, the Union acquired South Oregon after the Oregon Treaty agreed with the British in which they gained the north, which then formed the Northern border of the U.S.A with Canada. Therefore also with the use of diplomatic pressure and compromise was the U.S able to expand.
However, vast Mexican territories also tempted President Polk, who was a firm believer in Manifest Destiny. Polk lured Mexico into war via aggravation. After a brilliant campaign saw the Mexican capital fall by September. The Treaty of Guadalupe- Hidalgo gave the United States Texas and secured all the area to the West including California, in acquisition even larger than the Louisiana Purchase.
This marked the final achievement of the Manifest Destiny and a republic that stretched from coast to coast. The final piece in the Jigsaw was inserted when in 1853, James Gadsden, railroad magnate purchased land to the south of New Mexico for $15 million in order to build the first transcontinental railroad.
- Explain the changes in transport that allowed Americans to move West after 1803
Originally, the West only attracted daring mountain men, fur trappers, and explorers due to poor communication and transport and security, this had to change if the West was to evolve and become populated. Trails such as that to Oregon saw forts gather around its course as protection from Indian tribes. In 1811, the federal government began construction of the Cumberland road, a highway which by its completion in 1852 stretched 600 miles from Maryland to Illinois, this was a major step for Western migration as this new highway meant that Mid-West settling was made relatively easy.
By the end of the American Civil War, a stagecoach entrepreneur named Ben Holladay had built more than 5,000 miles of stage routes across America. These Stagecoaches formed early communication and postage systems.
In October 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph line was established which meant that conversations with the West and the East would be more reliable, immediate and affordable. With the telegraph, system in place pioneers could go west and still have the security that they could keep in contact with civilisation.
The development of the Steamboat also did much to open the West, especially round the Mississippi and its tributaries. Steamboats with their speed of around ten miles per hour became reliable for transporting goods, especially timber and minerals to the markets of the east.
However, out of all the technological advances the impact of the railroads was the greatest, nothing could compare with the importance of railroads for opening up the Western lands. The vast expense of construction meant that only one line could be contemplated initially. On 1 July 1862, the First Pacific Railroad Act chartered two companies to build the Central Pacific Railroad, eastwards from Sacramento, and the Union Pacific Railroad westward from Omaha. The incentives to the companies were very large land grants, giving the companies a 400-feet right of way and alternate sections of land for every completed mile of track. Thus giving an incentive to build as much track as they could.
Nevertheless, even then investment was slow and construction only began in 1984 when the land grant was doubled and government money loaned to investors. After many obstacles by the end of the century, there were four more transcontinental lines: the North Pacific, Southern Pacific, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe and the Great Northern. The Major lines spawned a network sprawling 87,000 miles across the West by 1900. The West was now easily accessible for prospective settlers and the United States ready to emerge as an affluent nation.
