Westward Expansion
The Westward Expansion has often been
regarded as the central theme of
American history, down to the end of
the19th century and as the main factor in
the shaping of American history. As
Frederick Jackson Turner says, the greatest
force or influence in shaping
American democracy and society had been that there
was so much free land in
America and this profoundly affected American society.
Motives After the
revolution, the winning of independence opened up the Western
country and was
hence followed by a steady flow of settlers to the Mississippi
valley. By
1840, 10 new western states had been added to the Federal union. The
frontier
line ran through Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas on the western side of
the
river. All parts of the valley except Wisconsin and Minnesota were
well
populated. Thus a whole new section had been colonized with lasting
effects on
the American institutions, ideals and ways of living. The far west
was the land
of high mountains, deserts, strange rock formations, brilliant
colors and
immense distance. Fur trade with Europe had now become a lucrative
business and
the fur traders became the pathfinders for the settlers.
Migration was now
possible by the discovery of paths over which ox-driven
carts could be driven
through seeking mountains and across the western
desert. People wanted to move
away from the overcrowded cities and this led
to the migration into the
uninhabited lands. Increased transportation like
roads, railroads and canals and
their construction created a demand for cheap
labor making it easier for people
to get jobs now, in contrast with the
cities where there was unemployment. The
pioneer movement for 70 years after
the revolution roughly represented the form
of 3 parallel streams, flowing
westwards from New England, Virginia and South
Carolina. The first
pioneer groups tended to move directly westward. Thus the
new Englanders
migrated into western New York and along the shores of the great
lakes,
Virginians into Kentucky and then into Missouri and the South Carolinians
and
Georgians into the gulf territories. Throughout the settlement of
the
Mississippi valley, most pioneers did not travel long distances and
as a
territory had been occupied, families would move into the adjacent one.
There
were boom periods of great activity, during which million acres of land
were
sold, alternated with depression periods during which there was little
further
expansion of the frontier and many disappointed pioneers even
backtracked from
the west to the east. When the treaty of Paris was signed in
1783, the Americans
had thought that they had enough land between the
Atlantic coast and the
Mississippi river. Yet in 1803, by the Louisiana
Purchase, the area of the
United States doubled and not long after, it
was augmented by the
half-purchase-half-conquest of Florida. By the end of
1820, as many as 6 states
were created, east of Mississippi-Indiana (1816),
Mississippi (1817), Alabama
(1819), Maine (1820) and Missouri (1821). By the
1830s, the frontier line had
been carried to Iowa, Missouri and
Arkansas-about one-third of the way across
the continent. By the 1840s, the
expansionist policy, typified by the Manifest
Destiny doctrine, became
very strong with many sections willing to go to war to
acquire more land.
Slavery became a bone of contention between the Northern and
southern states
with the control of the senate in question. The South wanted
expansion to
increase slave states, the North to keep the balance with free
states and the
West wanting expansion to increase their land. The antagonism
between the
North and the South sees the beginnings of sectionalism leading to
the civil
war later. The spirit of equality becomes a banner with which
the
expansionist policy was proclaimed. Phases Of Development Before the
1830s, most
sections of the west passed through the same phases of
development in a regular
order. The first white men to usually enter a new
area were the hunters and fur
trappers, who had extraordinary skills to open
up a new path through wilderness,
finding food for themselves and dealing
with the Indians. These men explored the
country and brought news of its
resources back to the east. In many regions, the
second phase was cattle
ranching while some also passed through the mining
phase. Parts of Missouri
and Wisconsin, for example were settled by lead miners.
Behind the cattle
ranchers or miners came the first farmers, who were often
squatters with no
legal title to land. They were frequently restless and were
impatient of the
restrictions of civilised society, and were not interested in
making
permanent houses. Many of them, had a habit of moving every few years
and
would follow the frontier land as it carried further into the west. Once
a new
area had been opened up and shown to be fertile, it would soon attract
men of
sober and ambitious type, who had much more capital and more farming
techniques
and wanted homes where they could settle for the rest of their
lives. They
brought with them the habits of civilizations. They developed
trade, established
churches, schools and newspapers and set up institutions
of government. The
Federal government then assumed responsibility for
guiding each area through the
territorial stage until it was ready for
statehood. But there were many parts of
the west, where the white settlers
provided for their own government, by the
democratic methods long before the
legal establishment of territorial
institutions. Thus the society became more
diversified once small towns sprang
up to meet the economic, political and
cultural needs of the population. In
those cases that did not afterwards
become urban and industrial, this
represented the final stage. Geographic
factors also caused some variation in
this usual pattern. Some mountain
regions never passed beyond the squatter
stage, while fertile countries, such
as the black belt of Alabama and
Mississippi, were sometimes settled, at
the start, by men of more ambitious
type. Geography also determined the order
in which different regions were
occupied. The early pioneers mostly preferred
to make their homes in forest
country or close to it, for they needed timber
for shelter and warmth and also
for fencing. The forest regions were
therefore settled in advance of the open
prairies. By the 1830s, the frontier
line had been carried into Iowa, Missouri
and Arkansas. Immediately west of
the Mississippi valley was the Great Plains,
which after 500 miles sloped
into the Rockies. The plains had a lot of wildlife
with nomadic and highly
warlike Indian tribes. Beyond the Great Plains, the way
westwards was through
the South pass between two immense mountain systems. The
Spanish
territories of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and
California,
including parts of Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming were passed onto
the newly
established Mexican government in 1821. But the Spanish had only
made
settlements in New Mexico and parts of Texas and California, so the rest
of the
areas were ripe for expansion. To the north of California, the area of
Oregon
was to be occupied jointly by the Americans and the British according
to the
Anglo-American convention of 1818. From 1804 till 1807 and after
1812, the
Federal government sent a number of exploring parties to the
far west. This area
was labeled as the "Great American desert". And so the
American government
during the 1820s and the 1830s believed that the west
might appropriately be
left to the Indians and were willing to promise that
they could keep it in
perpetuity. A more important role in expansion to the
west was played by the fur
trappers. They were the first white people to
cover most of the western
territories and find routes suitable for pioneer
settlers. Between 1807 and
1835, the trappers penetrated into the
mountains with intensive exploration and
exploitation of the mountain country
and discovering routes that helped
establish the fur trade as well as open up
the west for expansion. Overland
trade with Mexico also helped in the
knowledge of the far west. The trade route
from Missouri to Santa Fe and
later upto California resulted in the Americans
establishing contacts with
New Mexico and California which prepared the way for
annexation. Texas and
California It can be assumed that the northern parts of
Mexico would have
eventually come under the control of the United States as the
Mexicans
did not colonize them, there was no effective sovereignty and
American
settlers would have resulted in American annexation. That the
annexation
occurred by force can be seen as the augmentation of an aggressive
American
nationalism and the Mexicans’ refusal to sell the land and inability
to
develop it. Mexico achieved independence in 1821 with the installation of
a
constitutional government but from 1824 to 1857, the country was dominated
by
the army and chronic military revolutions. The earliest of the northern
parts of
Mexico to come under the control of Americans was Texas. In
1823, Stephen Austin
secured authorization from the Mexican government to
colonize the area. The
Mexican government was hoping for the quick
settlement and mexicanisation of the
area. By 1830, around 30,000 Americans
were settled in Texas with local
self-government. At the same time, the
Mexican government barred any more
Americans from settling in Texas. The
dictatorial government meant negotiation
was impossible and in March 1836, a
convention of Texans issued a formal
declaration of independence, drafted a
constitution and chose Sam Houston as
commander-in-chief of their army. The
Texans were hoping for annexation by the
Americans but the question of
slavery meant the Lone Star Republic remained a
republic. In 1844, a motion
to make Texas a part of the United States failed but
it became the main
platform for the next presidential elections. James Polk won
on the party
platform of "reannexation" of Texas and "reoccupation" of
Oregon. In
1845, a joint resolution was passed by Congress and Texas finally
became a
part of the United States. Polk now had to get Mexican consent to
the
annexation of Mexico and fix the boundary line, which the Texans said was
Rio
Grande while the Mexicans insisted on Nueces. Mexico had also
defaulted on the
repayment of the debt of 2 million dollars. This made Polk
order the American
army under General Zachary Taylor to occupy the disputed
boundary region.
Mexican troops were also ordered to hold the same region
and when a clash
between the two armies occurred in 1846, Congress declared
war. The Northeast,
under the leadership of Emerson, Thoreau and James
Russell opposed war, as they
feared slavery. The planters of the South wanted
Texas but knew that New Mexico
and California were unsuited for slavery and
so wanted limited expansion while
the people of the West wanted war for
expansion. Texas was soon conquered and
with California being taken in 1847,
the American annexation of the Far West was
complete. A treaty was signed in
1848 whereby Mexico ceded Texas with the Rio
Grande boundary, New Mexico,
California and the rest of the western territories.
The United States
would pay Mexico 15 million dollars and assumed its debt of
3.25 million
dollars. The treaty was ratified by the Senate. The settlement
of
California was accelerated by the Californian Gold Rush, when gold
was
discovered in 1848. In 1849, elections were held in California and
California
asked Congress for admission to the confederation. California
became a state in
1850. Oregon The settlement of Oregon was preceded by
lot of propaganda, which
was nationalistic in nature led by Kelley and later
Wyeth. Religious missions,
from Methodist to Presbyterians and
Congregationalists and Catholic, all tried
to settle this area and they were
the first permanent American settlements in
Oregon and became the centers
of agriculture and cattle-raising. The great
migration began in 1841 and was
stimulated by the depression of 1837 with people
with some capital hoping to
make a fresh start. By 1845, there were 6,000
Americans in Oregon, and
the United States government tried to make the 49th
parallel as the boundary
without success. The fur trade had since declined in
this area so the British
agreed to the 49th parallel as the boundary in a treaty
in 1846 and thus,
American sovereignty was established over the area covered by
Washington,
Oregon and Idaho. Utah The Mormon Church under the able leadership
of Brigham
Young settled the area south of Oregon and by 1847 had settled the
area of
Utah. Immediate Problems after the War The new acquisitions meant
that
problems like transportation had to be tackled. A canal across Panama
was
planned but this didn’t materialize for many years. The building of
a
transcontinental railroad with the financial assistance of the government
was
debated upon. Also the question of slavery in the newly acquired
territories was
a more troubling issue and this decided the fate of the
United States for the
next few years. Manifest Destiny F. Merk in his book
Manifest Destiny says "a
sense of mission to redeem the old world by high
example was generated in
pioneers of idealistic spirit on their arrival in
the new world." It was
generated by the immense potential in the virgin land
of the American
continents. Successive generations also gave this sense of
mission life in
various ways from the struggle of religious liberty in
Plymouth and Boston at
the time of the early colonies right uptil the 14
points of Wilson when the 13
colonies had matured into a major world power.
In the mid-1840s, a new form of
expansionism, novel in name, appeal and
theory made its appearance in the United
States. It was Manifest Destiny.
It meant expansion, prearranged by heaven, over
an area, which according to
some was the region to the pacific, to others it was
the North American
continent and to others it was the hemisphere. Its public
appeal was enormous
as it meant an opportunity to gain admission to the American
Union. John
O’ Sullivan coined the phrase "Manifest Destiny" and many
other politicians
supported him like John Wentworth (Ill.), Stephen Douglas
(Ill.), Daniel S.
Dickenson (NY) and Andrew Kennedy (Ind.) The people of the Old
South
under Calhoun supported the annexation of Texas but were against
going
further as area beyond it was unsuitable for plantation style of
farming of the
South and also because balance of free state and slave
states would be
disturbed. Its dominant feature was federalism, which left
control of local
affairs-such as slavery-to the states and entrusted to the
central government
control over only such extra-local functions as foreign
affairs, inter-state and
foreign commerce, coinage and taxation for Federal
purposes. Federalism
permitted a spreading of the domain of the union almost
in definitely without
danger of central tyranny. The people entering the
union were protected by ‘
States’ rights’ as it was republicanism on
confederated states. It signified
republicanism as freedom with a government
of a classless society. Religious
freedom was stressed as a feature of this
doctrine. Democracy was explained as
political democracy with wide suffrage
and frequent elections as well as
economic democracy with democracy of land
ownership, ease of land acquisition
and the glorification of free trade along
with the promise of the development of
the natural resources. This economic
democracy sounded very attractive as
Mexico’s failure to improve
California was attributed to an incompetent local
bureaucracy, degenerating
into a state of anarchy and to a slothful population.
The same was true
of the agriculture and mining potentialities. If these areas
were brought
into the American confederation, the people would be taught both
the value of
their resources and trained at their development. It was believed
that
occupation was the moral force, which should and would move territory
to
America. It was talked of as a refuge from monarchial Europe. Manifest
Destiny
also encompassed the idea that the duty of the United States was to
regenerate
backward peoples of the continent. The enthusiasm and belief for
the doctrine of
Manifest Destiny was enormous with every level of
intelligentsia, though the
scope and enthusiasm for its separate features
differed widely. The growth of
Manifest Destiny can be attributed to
certain factors: ? Technological changes in transport especially the plans to
build the
transcontinental railroads in the mid-1840s. ?
Uneasiness of
insufficiency of good land. ?
Economic distress- the crises in 1837,
1839, and 1841 encouraged the flight of
farmers in search of better land. ?
The
idealism of youth, which fueled reform with vision and high enthusiasm. ?
Geography of the western country. ?
Dissemination of the ideas of
Manifest Destiny through the press with the
advancements in communication.
The forces that produced Manifest Destiny were
domestic for the most part
with expansionism as the dominant thread.
Interpretations Sectional
Opinions: q John Rhodes in his monumental work History
of the United States
says that John C. Calhoun and others lobbied for annexation
of Texas against
the protests of northern Whig traders. He says that the Whigs
never forgave
the South for the holocaust of the war. He talks of the Mexican
war being a
Southern conspiracy. He blamed the South for the Mexican war saying
that
excessive Southern democracy provoked Mexico into war; that in order
to
acquire land in which they could establish slave states, South caused
the
Mexican war of 1844. T. Parker and William Jay support him. Rhodes’
opinion
assumes unity of purpose and action in the South. q Boucher thinks
that the
South was disunited and so couldn’t carry out the pact. He talks
of different
leaders, some who advocated war against Mexico, some who like
Calhoun placed the
blame for the war on James Polk. He says there was no
effective democracy, which
compelled the South to fight against the
anti-slavery men who favored war. q
James Douglas Fuller agrees with
Boucher’s view that there was no Southern
conspiracy. He says that this is
obvious when it became clear that the Mexican
territory was not suited for
plantation agriculture. q William Dott favors
sectional interpretations but
he holds a section of West responsible for war
saying that West had been
interested in expansion. Manifest Destiny was
America’s slogan and
Westerners were its boldest advocates. The West helped
Jackson and
Jefferson who were in favor of expansionism to get elected and in
1804,
West declared expansionist policy through the democratic platform and
elected
Western leader James Polk. He says that 70,000 people volunteered for
the
Mexican war of which 40,000 were from the West. q Norman Grabler says
that
neither the West nor the South were responsible, rather it was the
commercial
interest of the North, which was responsible for the war. Yankee
merchant ships
moved from Boston to the Pacific coast and San Diego to
Mexico. They exchanged
goods for Californian hides & they exploited the
Pacific. Eastern mercantile
interests dreamt of having lucrative trade with
the Orient. He says that these
men dictated expansion of trade, as the
occupation of western lands was the way
to reach the ocean-a barrier to be
crossed. Beyond Texas, expansion of America
is different unless it is
explained in terms of commerce and harbors. Polk won
on a party programme
based on conquest to fulfill commercial interests. q Wern
says that it was
concept of Manifest Destiny and not mercantile interest, which
was
responsible for expansion. Americans were expansionist-minded and felt
that
entire continent was for them. Manifest Destiny reflected more than mere
land
hunger. American democracy symbolized freedom. Men moved further on to
acquire
freedom. Freedom allowed them to carry the institutions.
Expansionists believed
that by being free in nature and not weak and impotent
like autocratic character
of Mexicans, they would inherit the earth. God had
built weak Mexico to be
bettered by his chosen ones-the Anglo-Saxons i.e. the
Americans. The
interpretation of Manifest Destiny was less a matter of
expansion than purpose.
Concept of expansion as a destiny meant it was a
means to fulfillment of certain
ideas. The preservation and perfection of
American providential mission or
destiny. He talks of how it had economic
implications. There was a vast land
held by America yet Americans were
acquiring more land. The main motive was to
acquire land for future
population before the need arises. The guilt of
population was fundamental
cause towards territory and expansion. He talks of
how economic and social
liberty was sought without which political liberty was
meaningless. Spanish
School: q Carlos Garcia felt that to understand expansion
of the United
States, it is essential to understand the colonial background of
America
and Mexico. The English masters of the 13 colonies had no place for
red
Indians in their society. The Indians were eliminated and then the
Anglo-Saxons
society existed. According to him, in the case of North America
the ends
justified the means. If the Americans wanted more land, they conquer
it by
eliminating its barbaric neighbors. The Americans unwillingness to
assimilate
Indians and Mexicans explains the enthusiasm for conquering
sparsely populated
Mexico and their failure to go beyond Rio Grande.
Thanks to their colonial
heritage, that part of Mexico remained Mexico. It
was racial supremacy that held
them back. q Richard Steinberg holds Polk
responsible for the Mexican war. He
argues that Polk’s party platform was to
annex Texas and if he carried out
this plan, it would be his responsibility
totally. He encouraged people of Texas
to ask to have Rio Grande as the
boundary. Mexicans had severed their relations
with the United States.
Americans provoked Mexicans into war. q The Mexican
scholar Sierra was aware
of the shortcomings of his nation. He blamed the
church, politicians and
stupid military for their betrayal to the public cause.
The United States
was aggressive and attacked the Mexican territory and Mexico
was not defended
properly. Significance Of The Westward Movement Any discussions
on the
significance of the Westward Expansion must take into account the views
and
criticisms of Frederick Jackson Turner whose thesis was that the
westward
movement had been the central factor in the evolution of American
civilization
and the chief reason for the differences between America and
Europe. He says,
" the existence of an area of free land, its continuous
recession, and the
advance of American settlement westward, explain American
development."
According to Turner, the chief effects of the frontier were
to promote the
formation of a new, composite nationality and decrease the
dependence on Europe,
to strengthen national unity and increase the powers of
the Federal government,
and to stimulate individualistic and democratic
attitudes and institutions.
However, many criticisms of Turner’s thesis
exist with scholars like George
Pierson, Hofstader and Robert Riegel
challenging his arguments. They say that
the frontier is an inappropriate
interpretative framework for studying American
history, when other themes
like class struggle, economic forces of growth, level
of technology, growth
of urbanization, the immigrant experience or the role of
continuity and
urbanization exist. David Potter says that Turner failed to see
that
technology and industry also produced abundance, which shaped the
American
character of individualism, egalitarianism and immense
opportunities. Scholars
say that the states of the upper valley became
democratic primarily because they
were founded by men who already believed in
democratic ideals. So to say that
the frontier brought about democracy is an
exaggeration. Turner’s idea of the
Westward Expansion being a safety
valve for urban discontent sounds faulty to
Charles Bearde who said that
the people who moved were wholly agricultural
people as the urban workers had
neither the agricultural skill nor the capital
needed to settle on the
frontier. Despite the various valid criticisms of
Turner, many points of
his thesis are acceptable. On the whole, the West was
certainly more
democratic than the East and had a stronger faith in human
equality as it was
settled by people looking for wider opportunities. Even the
safety valve
theory has an element of truth when applied to ambitious young men
of the
professional class who had a better chance of making it big much quicker
in
the West than in the East. Without the open frontier, moreover, there
would
have been a much larger migration of young people from the farms to the
cities;
thus the frontier helped indirectly to check the exploitation of the
working
class by preventing it from expanding too rapidly. The Westward
Expansion also
weakened state and regional loyalties and promoted national
unity due to its
inherent mobility. Most westerners thought of themselves
primarily as Americans,
and wanted strong national government with broad
powers for developing
transportation and promoting the general welfare. The
most significant feature
of the Westward Expansion was that the pioneers took
with them the essential
institutions of their civilization. Thus we must look
upon the Westward
Expansion as one of the factors in the shaping of the
American civilization but
not the only one.