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Louisiana Purchase
Description: The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France, doubling the size of the nation and opening vast lands for westward settlement.
Support for inevitability: This massive land acquisition set the stage for westward expansion, indicating a natural and unavoidable growth west of the original colonies driven by economic and strategic interests. -
Missouri Compromise
Description: The Missouri Compromise admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, maintaining a balance in Congress and establishing a precedent for territorial expansion with slavery considerations.
Support for inevitability: This legislative act highlights the push to organize and settle new territories, showing that expansion was a political and social necessity rooted in national interests. -
Indian Removal Act
Description: The U.S. government forcibly relocated Native American tribes from their ancestral lands in the Southeast to lands west of the Mississippi River.
Support for inevitability: The removal of Native Americans cleared the way for settlers, reflecting a belief that westward expansion was a natural and justified pursuit of American destiny. -
Annexation of Texas
Description: The U.S. annexed Texas, which had declared independence from Mexico, aligning with Manifest Destiny ideals to expand American territory.
Support for inevitability: The annexation demonstrates how expansion was driven by national ambitions and the perceived right to spread American institutions and culture. -
California Gold Rush
Description: The discovery of gold in California brought a massive influx of settlers seeking fortune, accelerating westward migration.
Support for inevitability: The economic lure of resources like gold made westward movement a seemingly natural pursuit of opportunity, reinforcing the idea that Americans were destined to settle the West. -
Compromise of 1850
Description: This series of laws organized the territories acquired after the Mexican-American War, allowing for organized settlement and debate over slavery in new lands.
Support for inevitability: The legislation reflects the ongoing process of territorial organization and settlement, indicating that expansion was a persistent and structured process. -
Homestead Act
Description: The Homestead Act granted 160 acres of public land to settlers willing to farm the land for five years, encouraging widespread settlement of the West.
Support for inevitability: This law actively promoted and facilitated settlement, suggesting that the push westward was a planned, almost inevitable, national strategy for growth.