What is west ward expansion?

Answer 1

Considering the Lewis and Clark expedition, the fact that they were part of a scientific expedition was extremely important, especially during the Age of Enlightenment. The new knowledge they obtained about the Northwest's geography, Natural Resources, and native inhabitants sparked American interest in the west, and strengthened the nation's claim to the area. It also gave Americans a sense of pride at a time when they badly needed symbols of national triumph. Americans at this time realized that their new nation was still very much divided and relatively weak and Lewis and Clark's adventure offered Americans proof that the men of their nation could accomplish great deeds amidst enormous hardships.

Also spread was the idea of 'Manifest Destiny' as Americans increasingly assumed a continental destiny. This opened many door for poor families to go out and prosper throughout the late nineteenth century. However this also led to many Native Americans and earlier Hispanic settlers to be dispossessed, along with the great number of buffalo that Lewis and Clark themselves saw and were amazed by.

Answer 2

Westward Expansion describes the tendency of Americans to move West. In colonial times, pioneers moved across the Appalachian Range into Kentucky, Tennessee, the Ohio country, and the Northwest Territory. When Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase, this expanded American horizons, and planted the notion of Manifest Destiny, that it was America's destiny to expand from sea to sea across the North American continent. The Texas Annexation and the resulting Mexican War added the Southwest territories. Settlers took wagon trains to the Pacific Northwest along the Oregon Trail. Following the discovery of gold in California, the Gold Rush resulted in a mass migration westward. The Civil War brought an interruption to expansion, but after the war the Transcontinental Railroad brought hundreds of homesteaders to claim forty acres of free Federal land. The West officially came to an end with the Oklahoma Land Rush, and the granting of statehood to New Mexico and Arizona. The West was gone before WWI began.

Answer 3

The West Ward expansion is another way of saying Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was the idea that America need to expand from the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean.