Westward Expansion

Approved on May 30, 1854, the Kansas Nebraska Act established the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and allowed settlers to decide on the legality of slavery through “popular sovereignty.” This repealed the Missouri Compromise and increased sectional tensions by opening northern lands to potential…

In this speech, Stephen F. Austin explains and defends Texas’s decision to revolt against the Mexican government. He outlines the early Anglo-American settlement of Texas, the legal guarantees offered by Mexico, and the settlers’ grievances following the dissolution of the Mexican federal…

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo concluded the Mexican-American War. Under its terms, Mexico ceded a vast expanse of its northern territory to the United States. These included the present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, most of Arizona and New Mexico, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. In…

This article, written in September 1896 by Frederick J. Turner for The Atlantic Magazine, the author argues that westward expansion in the United States has played a role in shaping a uniquely American identity distinct from Europe. He conceived the idea of the "Frontier Thesis" which…

This map depicts U.S. territorial acquisitions and annexations during the 18th and 19th centuries. Westward expansion increased rapidly during the 19th century and correlated with the concepts of Manifest Destiny and American imperialism that dominated U.S.

3 men plowing with a team of 14 cattle, 2 Indians in foreground, log cabin and 3 deer in background, wild geese flying overhead.

On April 30, 1803, the United States purchased 828,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million from France. This almost doubled the size of the US.

<p><span class="deck"><span class="typestyle">Legend says the frontier was “hell on women,” but the ladies claim they had the time of their lives</span> </span></p>

<p><span class="deck"> <span class="typestyle"> Westward with the course of empire Colonel Jonathan Drake Stevenson took his way in 1846. With him went the denizens of New York’s Tammany wards, oyster cellars, and gin mills—the future leaders of California.</span> </span></p>

<p><span class="deck">Fate brought Custer and Sitting Bull together one bloody June evening at the Little Bighorn—and marked the end of the Wild West.</span></p>

<p><span class="deck">Written in haste, on an April midnight in 1803, the unedited text of the message that led to the Louisiana Purchase is printed for the first time.</span></p>

<p>With five major exploring expeditions west of the Mississippi, John C. Frémont redefined the country — with the help of his wife’s promotional skills.</p>

<p>In a momentous couple of years, the young United States added more than a million square miles of territory, including Texas and California. </p>