Ap Us Expansion Essay

Nick Laverde
APUSH
January 2012

The American expansion movements in the 1840’s and 1890’s were results of economical, cultural and political factors.   They were similar in respects to their reasons for expansion but differed in the arguments towards each other greatly.
Reasoning for the American expansion was greatly similar in both movements. Economic and political factors fueled expansionists in each. What separated both movements in the long run were the cultural conditions that were going on in America at the time of each movement.
In the 1840’s movement, expansion was debated mainly because of slavery. Fear of disturbing the peace between North and South with newly gained American territory; expansion was not opposed for territorial gain but for the fear of slavery being spread. This was pre-civil war times and the threat of newly gained territory was feared by both sides, north and south. Attaining new land in the north would mean an uneven number of free states in the country and the same would be vice versa. This argument was very vivid in the1840’s as the United States experienced one of the most rapid territorial growths.   The annexation of Texas, along with the territorial control of California, Oregon, and New Mexico, brought the debate of what to do with the newly gained territory in regards to slavery constantly. The annexation of Texas was a source of this debate and presidents Jackson and Van Buren had to put it off due to concerns by Northerners of Texas settlers’ extensive use of slavery, as the annexation would lead to conflicts with Mexico and it would show support of slavery.
Such actions were justified with Manifest Destiny and Social Darwinism as they went along hand in hand. Manifest Destiny as it had been first expressed a year earlier in 1839, was God’s will for Americans to control all of Northern America and eventually international desires.
The conflicts with Mexico eventually resulted to the Mexican –American war that in...