The Westward Movement

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The Westward Movement

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

Why did westward migration expand dramatically in the mid-nineteenth century?

Beginning in the 1840s, the nation's swelling population, booming economy, and boundless confidence propelled a new era of rapid westward migration. Under the banner of manifest destiny, Americans encountered Native Americans who inhabited the plains, deserts, and rugged coasts of the West; the British, who claimed the Oregon Country; and the Mexicans, whose flag flew over the vast expanse of the Southwest. Nevertheless, by 1850 the United States stretched to the Pacific and included the Utah Territory with its Mormon settlement.

The human cost of aggressive expansionism was high. The young Mexican nation lost a war and half of its territory. Two centuries of Indian wars, which ended east of the Mississippi during the 1830s, continued for another half century in the West.