Westward Expansion
Between 1783 and 1815, the terms West, Northwest, and Southwest referred to different geographic areas of the United States than they do in the twenty-first century. The meaning of ...
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A Collision of Worlds.
At the time of the founding of the United States diverse peoples with varying languages, religions, and levels of technology lived across the breadth of North America. On the E...
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The Old West.
For white Americans in the early nineteenth century the West represented many things. For some it offered adventure or a chance to get rich quick; for others, the opportunity to own lan...
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Post-Revolutionary Plans.
As citizens of the United States and immigrants migrated westward in the first half of the nineteenth century, they brought to new communities and states educational experim...
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Facing West.
The early national period was marked by a fascination with the West. Thomas Jefferson said in his first inaugural address in 1801 that Americans possess a "chosen country, with room enou...
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Westward Migration.
Following the American Revolution, Americans swarmed to the West. Kentucky and Tennessee provided the beachhead for the vanguard of land-hungry settlers. After the War of 1812 s...
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The Rise of Empire and the Arts.
"There shall be sung another golden age," prophesied the poet George Berkeley in 1752, "westward the course of empire takes its way." With the Louisiana Purchase of 1...
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The ever expanding nation of the United States and its national unity suffered more than it benifitted between 1800 and 1850.
The precursor to territorial expansion was Thomas Jefferson's Louisiann...
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The idea of expanding the American empire has always been enticing for the people of America. One of the very reasons for American dissent and the ensuing American Revolution in the 1700's was the lac...
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Historians have different approaches to interpreting history. Frederick Jackson Turner praised the frontier by saying that it is a "social leveler" and a "safety valve" while other historians, such as...
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Between the 1840's and 1890's, many Americans moved west beyond the Mississippi River. For several reasons, Americans moved westward. Surely the ability to own land was a great draw for many people ...
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For generations children have been studying the Western Expansion or Homesteading Era in their school history classes. Many books, such as the Little House on the Prairie books written by Laura Inga...
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America was expanding at such a rapid pace that those who were in America before us had no time to anticipate what was happening. This change in lifestyle affected not only Americans but everyone who ...
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