Geographic Factors That Influenced U.S Government Actions

Geographic factors often influence United States government actions, both foreign and domestic. Some of these factors include location, physical environment, movement of people, climate, and resources. Although these geographic factors can lead to increase in our countries land size and some positive outcomes, there are also chances for negative outcomes. One action taken by the United States government that was influenced by geographic factors was the Louisiana Purchase. There were many historical circumstances that resulted in the government's action. Louisiana was originally owned by the French until France sold it to the United States. Thomas Jefferson bought Louisiana in 1803. The influence of this geographic factor occurred because as the United States had expanded westward, navigation of the Mississippi River and access to the port of New Orleans had become critical to American commerce. The purchase of the Louisiana territory, including New Orleans, was for $15 million. The acquisition of approximately 827,000 square miles would double the size of the United States. This also gave the United States control of the Mississippi River. This had a lot of impacts on the United States. It increased western expansion which was included in the Manifest Destiny. The Manifest Destiny was a 19th-century doctrine that the United States had the right and duty to expand throughout the North American continent. But, this expansion did lead to conflicts over slavery because as more states were added, it was a controversy over which states should be slave or free states. This led to the Missouri Compromise which made sure that when new states were added to the country, there was an equal amount of slave and free states. The purchase also increased trade with other nations because there were more useful resources and access to rivers and fertile land helped create necessary items to trade. Another action taken by the United States government that was influenced by geographic factors was the Interstate Highway Act. The causes of this act were from when soldiers came home from World War 2 and for people who wanted nice safe homes to live and raise families. The influence of this act led people to move to the suburbs. A lot of farmland was turned into housing. These houses and places to live were made to keep people safe and have a fun easy way of life where jobs were still available. This had major impacts on the United States. It led to a major increase in economy because a lot of consumerism was taking place. Places like malls were made and there was a big increase in demands for Televisions and cars. Especially cars because some people still had jobs in the city and everything wasn't always in walking distance anymore. This also led to the white flight. The white flight was when a great amount of white people and families moved to the suburbs to be away from minorities and to bring their children up in a better environment. These actions taken by the government were probably all for the better for our country. It led to a major expansion of our country and led to many more positive things then negative. Without these expansions, the United States would have been a small country for a while and could've affected us greatly.