Westward expansion between 1801-1861 encouraged exploration and vast territorial growth in the US, leading to new economic opportunities. The development of industries like mining, ranching, farming and logging expanded across the Midwest and West. In the late 1800s, the railroad system and new technologies like the telegraph connected more areas and accelerated the movement of people and goods. However, westward expansion also resulted in conflict as Native American land was increasingly taken and destroyed, with many tribes being killed or forced to assimilate to white culture. By the early 1900s, the contiguous US stretched across North America following these patterns of exploration, settlement, development and industry spurred by westward migration.

1. My outlook on westward expansion
movement
Manifest Destiny
Cotton Farms expanding (Cotton Gin) in the South, ranching,farming, as well as
mining in the mid-west and far west gold mining
Railroads / Locomotives
Steamboats
Texas Independence
US Controls all land to the Pacific Ocean
Homestead Act

2. Westward Expansion
Lewis and Clark
exploration
Manifest Destiny
Overcrowding in the East
Fertile and inexpensive
land
Logging
Trapping/Fur-
trading/Mining
Freedom for runaway
slaves
California Gold Rush

3. Causes of development

4. Pony Express
 150 years ago
 Revolutionary idea to deliver
mail from St. Joseph, Mo to
California in only
10 days.
 Lasted for only two years
 Made no profit

5. Physical, social and economic influence on
Western development
Expansion of land
Exploration, Settlement, Exploitation, Railroad, Pony-
Express
Socially
Westward expansion caused destruction of native lands
and people, led to war and killing thousands of Indians
Economic
Railroads, Mining, Wheat, Corn & Cotton Farming, Logging,
Fur-trading

6. Telegraph
 Made the pony express obsolete
 Samuel Morse - gifted artist and
inventor
 1838 petitioned Washington to
build an experimental telegraph
line

7. Conflict
Euro-Americans wanted land for farming, ranching and mining. The believe that
uncultivated land is wasteful and often believed that non-white and non-christian
people were inferior.
Native Americans need land for hunting and fishing. Some tribes farmed, only a
few built a permanent residence.

8.  Transcontinental Railroad
 Jobs
East to Midwest for Irish immigrants and
from west to Midwest for Chinese
immigrants, politicians
 Transportation
People, goods and cattle, gold and
payrolls
Greatest American achievement
Transcontinental Railroad

9. Businesses in the sub-regions
Great Plains
Development of ranches due to large number of
cattle
Rocky Mountains
Pioneers traded fur, mining
Southwest
Industry was mining
Northwest
Agriculture and Cattle
California
Gold rush Fever

10. Wheeler Howard Act
 Wheeler-Howard Act, June 18, 1934
(The Indian Reorganization Act)
An Act to conserve and develop Indian lands and resources; to
extend to Indians the right to form business and other organizations;
to establish a credit system for Indians; to grant certain rights of
home rule to Indians; to provide for vocational education for Indians;
and for other purposes.

11. Conflict led to
Dawes Act (1887)
 Goal of the Dawes Act: to get Native Americans to live like white
Americans
 Reservations were broken up into "allotments" that were given
out to individual families.
 Families were supposed to farm and build homes on their
allotment to support themselves
 Land that wasn't given to a family was sold by the US government
to white farmers

12. Many wars ensued, ending with Battle of
Wounded Knee (1890)
 The last stand between Indians and the soldiers
 300 Natives dead and 25 soldiers.
The dead of the tribe of Big Foot were thrown unceremoniously into a mass
grave
 Indian Assimilation attempts
Trying to teach “white ways” to Indians

13. Summary
Between 1801 and 1861, exploration was encouraged as America underwent vast territorial expansion
and settlement. The influence of Westward migration changed the geographical status quot
which lead to the start of huge economic opportunities. At the same time woman were fighting for
equal rights as the suffrage movement gained momentum.
Prior to the Civil War, most industrialization in America was in the North. The manufactured products
soon found their way to the South:;making the question of slavery even more complex. Machines
were faster and could do more work than the slaves. The abolitionists began to work to end slavery.
President Lincoln was faced with the daunting challenge to resolve the dual question of secession
and slavery as well .Before the end of Lincoln's presidency, secession would be quelled and the
institution of slavery crippled. However during this time, Lincoln would lose his life.
Expansion began again after the Civil War Reconstruction period ended in the late 1800's. The country
was becoming industrialized, leading to the development of the Railroad system and the ability of
people and goods to cross the country was expedited. The expansion and immigration of the late
1800s merged with this industrialization to provoke the growth of American urban society. Slavery
was over. As the needs of industrial workers became ever more important, the discrepancy in needs
between America's rural and urban populations, as well as the needs of the new classes, created
new problems for the ever changing economy
By the early twentieth century, the United States consisted of 48 contiguous states stretching clear
across the North American continent, The devastating defeat of the Spanish in 1898 helped
the US become a legitimate international power. US cities increasingly traded with foreign markets
and the nation became involved in international politics. The economic and political evolution that
had accompanied, and in part resulted from, westward expansion culminated with US involvement in
World War One.

14. Resources
EBOOK COLLECTION: Brinkley, A. (2007). American history: A survey (12th ed.)
Burr Ridge, IL. McGraw-Hill., . (). . Retrieved from:
https://portal.phoenix.edu/classroom/coursematerials/his_110ca/20121106/OSI
RIS:43398468
Retrieved from:
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/AP_CurricModUSHist.pdf