Fernando Trujillo
Mr. Felder
U.S. History - 4th
30 August 2018
DBQ
Westward expansion was promoted in many ways by the federal government in the 1800s. This extension of the United States had a big influence on the country. Westward expansion brought railroads, new cities, gold mines, new farmland, more resources, and much more. Expansion of the country came with a lot of positives, but also some negatives.
Americans started to believe it was their destiny to expand its territory all over North America. This belief was called Manifest Destiny. One way the federal government took actions that led to westward expansion was the purchase of lands. One example is the Louisiana Purchase (Document 1). “We bought the land from the French for 15 million dollars and it nearly doubled the size of the U.S. Also, if some places wouldn’t sell their land, we threatened with war” (Background information). An example of this is the Mexican Cession.
Mexicans wanted to reconquered Texas and start a war. For this reason, “In official proclamations and manifestoes has repeatedly threatened to make war upon us for the purpose of reconquering Texas” (Document 3). Mexicans got what they were looking for, a war, “The ...
