By 1820, the United States already extended well beyond its original boundaries. Through the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and treaties with Spain and Britain, the nation's borders moved west to the Rocky Mountains, north to the 49th parallel, and south to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. These boundaries remained essentially intact until the 1840s, when the United States acquired massive territories in the Southwest and on the Pacific Coast. Show
A complex mix of political, social, and economic factors fueled American expansionist sentiment in the 1840s. Many Americans subscribed to the concept of "Manifest Destiny," the belief that Providence preordained the United States to occupy as much land on the continent as possible. Some saw lucrative economic opportunities in the vast stretches of arable land and superb Pacific Coast ports. Others dreamed of the romance of settling uncharted terrain, or thought the United States should expand rapidly across the continent before foreign nations could do so. These expansionist yearnings fueled American settlement in Texas and Oregon, the acquisition of which became a principal object of American foreign policy by 1845. Texas Independence With the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819, Spain settled a long dispute with the United States over its southern border. In return for Florida and the Gulf Coast lands east of the Mississippi River, the United States foreswore all claims to Texas in the west. However, soon after the treaty was in place the Mexican War of Independence ended Spanish rule on the continent and forced Spain to relinquish all rights to Texas.The newly independent Mexican Republic rejected all American offers to buy Texas during the 1820s and 1830s, but agreed to grant huge tracts of inexpensive land to American settlers on the condition that they convert to Catholicism, learn to speak the Spanish language, and take Mexican citizenship. In response, more than three hundred slaveholding American families settled in Texas during the 1820s. Early settlers adapted well to their new home and met the conditions for settlement set by the Mexican government. But later, tensions arose between the Mexican government and the region's Anglo and Mexican settlers over the issues of slavery, taxation, and settlement requirements. The Mexican government responded by barring any further settlement in Texas by Americans and banning slavery.  Samuel Houston by Francis D'Avignon (c. 1814%#151;61), Lithograph on paper, 1848, NPG.93.270, National Portrait Gallery The strained relationship between the Texans and the Mexican government turned violent in 1835 with the Texan Revolt. After a series of bloody engagements, including the legendary siege of the Alamo, the Texans, led by Sam Houston, won a decisive victory at San Jacinto in 1836. Following that battle, the Mexican army commander General Antonio L�pez de Santa Anna signed, but later renounced, treaties that granted Texas independence and established its southwest boundary at the R�o Grande. While a majority of Texans and many Americans favored annexation in 1836, the admission of a slave-holding Texas (or several states formed from Texas territory) threatened the delicate balance of slave and free state representation in the Senate that had been carefully maintained since 1820. Rather than upset this balance, the United States recognized Texas as a sovereign nation, leaving the tensions between Mexico and Texas to simmer for the nine and one-half years of Texan independence. The United States of America was created on July 4, 1776, with the U.S. Declaration of Independence of thirteen British colonies in North America. In the Lee Resolution two days prior, the colonies resolved that they were free and independent states. The union was formalized in the Articles of Confederation, which came into force on March 1, 1781, after being ratified by all 13 states. Their independence was recognized by Great Britain in the Treaty of Paris of 1783, which concluded the American Revolutionary War. This effectively doubled the size of the colonies, now able to stretch west past the Proclamation Line to the Mississippi River. This land was organized into territories and then states, though there remained some conflict with the sea-to-sea grants claimed by some of the original colonies. In time, these grants were ceded to the federal government. The first great expansion of the country came with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, which doubled the country's territory, although the southeastern border with Spanish Florida was the subject of much dispute until it and Spanish claims to the Oregon Country were ceded to the US in 1821. The Oregon Country gave the United States access to the Pacific Ocean, though it was shared for a time with the United Kingdom.[2] The annexation of the Republic of Texas in 1845 led directly to the Mexican–American War, after which the victorious United States obtained the northern half of Mexico's territory, including what was quickly made the state of California.[3] However, as the development of the country moved west, the question of slavery became more important, with vigorous debate over whether the new territories would allow slavery and events such as the Missouri Compromise and Bleeding Kansas. This came to a head in 1860 and 1861, when the governments of the southern states proclaimed their secession from the country and formed the Confederate States of America. The American Civil War led to the defeat of the Confederacy in 1865 and the eventual readmission of the states to the United States Congress. The cultural endeavor and pursuit of manifest destiny provided a strong impetus for westward expansion in the 19th century. The country began expanding beyond North America in 1856 with the passage of the Guano Islands Act, causing many small and uninhabited, but economically important, islands in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea to be claimed.[4] Most of these claims were eventually abandoned, largely due to competing claims from other countries. The Pacific expansion culminated in the annexation of Hawaii in 1898, after the overthrow of its government five years previously. Alaska, the last major acquisition in North America, was purchased from Russia in 1867. Support for the independence of Cuba from the Spanish Empire, and the sinking of the USS Maine, led to the Spanish–American War in 1898, in which the United States gained Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, and occupied Cuba for several years. American Samoa was acquired by the United States in 1900 after the end of the Second Samoan Civil War.[5] The United States purchased the U.S. Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1917.[6] Guam and Puerto Rico remain territories; the Philippines became independent in 1946, after being a major theater of World War II. Following the war, many islands were entrusted to the U.S. by the United Nations,[7] and while the Northern Mariana Islands remain a U.S. territory, the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau emerged from the trust territory as independent nations. The last major international change was the acquisition in 1904, and return to Panama in 1979, of the Panama Canal Zone, an unincorporated US territory which controlled the Panama Canal. The final cession of formal control over the region was made to Panama in 1999. Regarding internal borders, while territories could shift wildly in size, once established states have generally retained their initial borders. Only four states—Maine, Kentucky, Vermont, and West Virginia—have been created from land claimed by another state; all of the others were created from territories or directly from acquisitions. Four states—Louisiana, Missouri, Nevada, and Pennsylvania—have expanded significantly by acquiring additional federal territory after their initial admission to the Union. The last state of the contiguous United States, commonly called the "lower 48", was admitted in 1912; the fiftieth and most recent state was admitted in 1959. Legend for maps[edit]Key to map colorsUnited States states (domestic maps), undisputed area of United States (dispute maps) United States territories (domestic maps) disputed area of United States 1776–1784 (American Revolution)[edit]1784–1803 (Organization of territory)[edit]1803–1818 (Purchase of Louisiana)[edit]1819–1845 (Northwest expansion)[edit]1845–1860 (Southwest expansion)[edit]1860–1865 (Civil War)[edit]1866–1897 (Reconstruction and western statehood)[edit]1898–1945 (Pacific and Caribbean expansion)[edit]1946–present (Decolonization)[edit]Bancos along the Rio Grande[edit]An example of a banco, created when a meander is cut off by a new, shorter channel, leaving a cut-off section of land surrounded by a U-shaped (oxbow) lake The Banco Convention of 1905 between the United States and Mexico allowed, in the event of sudden changes in the course of the Rio Grande (as by flooding), for the border to be altered to follow the new course.[451] The sudden changes often created bancos (land surrounded by bends in the river that became segregated from either country by a cutoff, often due to rapid accretion or avulsion of the alluvial channel), especially in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. When these bancos are created, the International Boundary and Water Commission investigates if land previously belonging to the United States or Mexico is to be considered on the other side of the border.[452] In all cases of these adjustments along the Rio Grande under the 1905 convention, which occurred on 37 different dates from 1910 to 1976, the transferred land was minuscule (ranging from one to 646 acres) and uninhabited.[453][454][455] Why did the United States seek to expand its territory in the early 1900s?Jefferson's foreign policy goal to expand U.S. territory westward was intended to help the U.S. have greater freedom in dealing with foreign powers on the North American continent and to consolidate the power of the young republic.
Why did the United States want to expand in the late 1800s and early 1900s?Some saw lucrative economic opportunities in the vast stretches of arable land and superb Pacific Coast ports. Others dreamed of the romance of settling uncharted terrain, or thought the United States should expand rapidly across the continent before foreign nations could do so.
What caused territorial expansion in the United States?Westward expansion, the 19th-century movement of settlers into the American West, began with the Louisiana Purchase and was fueled by the Gold Rush, the Oregon Trail and a belief in "manifest destiny."
What was the main purpose for the US to expand in the late 1800s?The appeal of profits to be earned from the China trade served as the initial impetus to motivate U.S. citizens and officials to enter into the Pacific region.
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