US History - Westward Expansion

Aim: What were the causes of Westward Expansion

Do Now: What did President Thomas Jefferson do to allow for expansion of the United States?

Lesson Overview:

Item	Approx Time
Do Now	3-5 Min
Mini Lesson	15-20 Min
Activity	15 Min
Discussion	5-7 Min

Westward Expansion

American Progress or Manifest Destiny

Since its beginnings, the United States has spread westward and acquired territory. At first this meant dealing with European colonial competitors such as France and Spain, as well as native groups that already claimed the land. Eventually, the idea that the United States should occupy all of the land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, that it was our manifest destiny, became the norm.

Louisiana Purchase

The Louisiana Purchase - 1803

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson doubled the size of the United States by purchasing the Louisiana Territory from the French. This purchase troubled Jefferson somewhat because he used his presidential treaty-making powers to craft the agreement. He considered this to be a loose interpretation of these powers, and he believed that the Constitution should be interpreted strictly.

Missouri Compromise

The Missouri Compromise - 1820

In 1820, the first of several debates over the expansion of both the United States and the institution of slavery took place. Missouri wished to enter the union as a slave state, however, this would grant slave-holding states the majority in the Senate. This arrangement was unacceptable to the industrial North, which did not depend upon slavery as the South did.

Congress passed the Missouri Compromise which would allow Missouri to enter as a slave-holding state and Maine as a free state. This act also banned slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of the 36 degree 30 minute line of latitude which was the southern border of Missouri.

Compromise of 1850

The Compromise of 1850

The California gold rush in the late 1840s and the acquisition of new territory of Utah and New Mexico after the Mexican-American War required Congress to analyze the intertwined issues of expansion and slavery again since the Missouri Compromise only applied to the Louisiana Territory.

This time, Congress allowed California to be admitted as a free state and southerners were granted a stricter fugitive slave law allowing them to recapture their property, even in the North. Finally, popular sovereignty would allow the people living in the Utah and New Mexico territories to vote on the issue of slavery when they entered the union as states.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

The Kansas-Nebraska Act - 1854

In 1854, Congress decided to extend popular sovereignty to the unsettled areas of the Louisiana Purchase, now know as the Kansas and Nebraska territories. This act led to violence and a pre-cursor to the Civil War as pro-abolition and pro-slavery forces flooded Kansas to sway the vote, in what became known as Bloody Kansas.

Further Expansion

The United States also went on to acquire Alaska and Hawaii which also became states. Imperialism also resulted in the possession or control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippine Islands, and the Panama Canal.

The California Gold Rush

The California Gold Rush - 1849

Classwork & Homework

Lesson PowerPoint:

• Manifest Destiny
• California Gold Rush

Lesson Video: Manifest Destiny - Family Guy

Lesson Activity: Manifest Destiny - Positive or Negative? or both?

Homework: Work on Vocabulary Worksheet