Expansion of the United States during President Jefferson...

With Immigration, relatively cheap land, and Tobacco, the West was a great place to expand on however President Jefferson and President Polk approached this in fairly different ways while both contributing to strengthening the United States. Great treaties and compromises signed by both will be forever recognized in history to the help of expanded our country. Jefferson conducted one of the largest territory gains in United States history with the Louisiana Purchase. Louisiana was France territory, originally from Spain; and Napoleon was already eager to sell because his empire was expanding and needed money, especially from the loss at Santo Domingo. France did not want Britain to take Louisiana because they controlled the seas.†¦show more content†¦The Oregon Fever was one of many great expansions from Polk. Polk concluded that he wanted to buy Texas and California from the Mexicans, which was hard because they wouldn’t give up parts of their countries unless by force. Polk began by offering 25 million dollars but this plan as expected, failed. His next solution was to take it by force, so he sent his army to the border of the Rio Grande River to wait for the Mexicans. Rumors of the British wanting to buy California caused him to rush the purchase. After his army built up over a short period of time, shots were fired on April 25th, 1846. With better generals, a bigger army, and better artillery the Americans won the battle. In the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the war was officially brought to an end. With defeat to their army and their capital being taken over, the Mexicans essentially surrendered to the Americans and granted them California and Texas as well as some more land for a total of 18 million dollars with the claims of citizens and property damage. This gain was a major development in the United States and really satisfied the Manifest Destiny which was the desire to increase in size. The efforts of Jefferson and Polk helped our country domestically by increasing the actual physical size of the United States. Jefferson in particular with the Louisiana Purchase aided the country economically releasing fresh new economic breaks, and Polk did as well with California because in 1848 Gold wasShow MoreRelatedManifest Destiny, By John O Sullivan1277 Words   |  6 Pagesbegan expanding little by little into the interior. Certainly, from the 18th century Americans had come to believe that is was their right, and in fact their duty to bring Christianity and republicanism into the uninhabited western areas of the United States. Of course, what these expansionists did not take into consideration, was that the regions they were expanding into were inhabited by Indians, French, and Spanish speaking peoples. 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