The start of the westward expansion was at a time in which the United States was experiencing a time of high birth and immigration rates. Other factors for why people wanted to expand westward was the two economic depressions, frontier land was very inexpensive or free, and west coast ports could have oversea trading with pacific coast countries. The two economic depressions of 1818 and 1839 put a hurt on the entire country. With money being worth not as much as it was, the need for cheaper land and housing was needed throughout the country. The Western Frontier had what the country was in need for. The land in the west was inexpensive and sometimes free to live on. In 1841, the Homestead Act was passed through Congress that allowed people to purchase 160 acres of land for a very small price. The only requirements were that the landowners bought the land, built a house on the property, and live there for at least 5 years. With the first gold found at Sutter’s Mill, people started showing up by the thousands, and they were also called the 49ers.
The Manifest Destiny had to side of supporters, those for and against. They were inspired to reach across from sea to sea because of two reasons: that God had gave them the challenge to stretch from sea to shining sea, and the feasible need for the country to increase in size. Advocators for the Manifest Destiny were mainly white Americans with a Northern European background, who were enlightened by other cultures. They argue that the call for this westward expansion is needed for a country that is growing faster and faster each day. Supporters also said that the government had a divine right to grow, but also had to protect all the people traveling to those new territories and to protect them once they get there.
Newton once said in his laws of gravity, “Every action as an equal but opposite reaction.” People in opposition thought that it was impossible for God to grant us to take land from other people who had been there for hundreds of years. The people in opposition also thought that spreading out the Union would make us weaker and more vulnerable to attacks. Some may say that Manifest Destiny was a mere justification for us to take other peoples’ land. Some people against the Manifest Destiny were called “Conscience Whigs.” The Conscience Whigs for mostly from the Northeastern states who thought that the expansion was another way for the South to expand their slavery. They also said that the expansion is unconstitutional in that it gives no reason for the government to obtain new land and territories. The Conscience Whigs said that we these recent desires for new land would also mean that someone will have to lose
it.
The President of the United States at this time was James K. Polk, a Democrat from Tennessee. Polk was determined to expand the country by westward expansion and the Texas Annexation. He won the vote for President because the North liked the idea of Manifest Destiny, and the South liked the Annexation of Texas, so they could have another state of slavery. Polk’s
first step in the westward expansion was for Oregon, a British territory. When all negotiations with Britain was finished, the movement for Oregon started out slow, but then blossomed with thousands of migrants moving along the Oregon Trail, which stretched from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon. The next struggle that Polk would have to face would be on the Texas Independence from Mexico, which was said by many to be his greatest accomplishment in his presidency.
On March 2, 1836, Texas declared independence from Mexico. Mexico never showed awareness of this declaration, therefore causing a war between the United States and Mexico. In the United States, the South wanted this war so that they could have back Texas, which was once part of the South, but was traded to Spain for Florida. The war would last for two years. In the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago, the Mexican property would cede nearly half, 500,000 miles, to the United States, and the border between the United States and Mexico at Texas would be the Rio Grande. In return, the United States would give the Mexican government fifteen million dollars for the new territory, which included California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Wyoming. The beginning of the Civil War had also put a damper in the quest of larger territories for the United States.
