Jefferson believed if the whole country was a good down to earth working class community that it would be the future and uprising of the newly settle country. The Westward expansion is one of the defining themes of the 19th century American history both in positive and destructive ways.
By the 1840s, 40% of the population of the US lived in the expandetery western territories. They left the east to move to the West to become wealthy and successful in the west. They saw the west as a chance to claim land, make money and to create a ‘moving forward’ society. John O’sullivan coined the term ‘Manifest Destiny’. Basically saying that the big shift to the West is what the …show more content…
The south grew more dependant on ‘king cotton’ and slavery kept on going. More northeners believed that the south had an unfair advantage because the south had little to no labour costs as to the north they had to emply free people that cost money because of the no slave rule in their land. In 1873, texas joined the union as a slave holding state. This threatened to ruin the balance in congress achieved by thr Missouri compromise. James Polk became president in 1844. He pushed to get texas included as a slave holding state for cheap cotton production in 1846, but oregan (British owned) was added as a free state that same year. This is known as the texas compromise. Polk declared war on mexico falsly claiming that Mexicans had attacked and killed US citizenz on American soil. The Mexican war ended in 1848 with the treaty of Acudelupe Hidalgo which added more than 1 million square miles to the US. (more than he Louisiana