Expansion of America, 1789-1838 (OCR GCSE History B (Schools History Project)): Revision Note

Summary

Before colonisation, the land which is now known as the United States of America was inhabited by diverse indigenous populations. The establishment of British colonies on the Atlantic coast in the early 17th century began a process leading to the formation of the United States.

During the 17th century, many of the indigenous people, such as the Lenape and Powhatan Confederacy, living to the east of the Appalachian Mountains died as a result of wars and epidemics. For over 150 years, the Appalachian mountain range acted as a natural barrier and colonists from Europe did not move any further west. The victory of the United States over Britain in the American War of Independence changed that. The new US government was keen to colonise more of North America and stretch the borders of the USA westwards.

How did the USA expand?

• Between 1789 and 1838, the number of states in the United States doubled from 13 to 26

  • It grew to cover a third of the North American continent

• This land was not empty of people and was already claimed by others

  • Much of it was taken by the Euro-American settlers from Indigenous peoples who already lived there

  • Other land was transferred to the United States from France, Spain or Britain, who had already claimed ownership from the Indigenous population

Expansion into Indigenous lands

• When Britain was defeated in the American War of Independence in 1783, it handed over 230 million acres of land populated by indigenous people to the United States

  • The USA divided these lands into two territories:

    • The lands to the north of the Ohio River became the 'Northwest Territory'

    • The lands to the south of the Ohio River became the 'Southwest Territory'

• People from the United States, often called frontiersmen, moved to these territories and set up farms

  • The frontiersmen often attacked the indigenous populations

  • The Indigenous people also attacked the new arrivals who were occupying their land

• George Washington became president in 1789

• He believed the Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Territory were a threat to the United States

  • Washington feared that, with British backing, these peoples might attack the United States and seize land

• Several Indigenous groups or nations, including the Iroquois, the Cherokee and the Ojibwe, had joined together

  • They formed the Northwestern Confederacy to resist the westward expansion into their lands

• Washington spent huge amounts of money building an army to fight the Northern Confederacy of Indigenous peoples

  • In 1794, he succeeded, and the Indigenous peoples were defeated

  • Under the terms of the Treaty of Greenville, many more Euro-Americans moved to the Northwest Territory

  • The states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Illinois were all formed on land from this territory between 1803 and 1837

• Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee all became states formed from the land of the Southwest Territory by 1819

Louisiana Land Purchase

• In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson began negotiating with France to buy the port city of New Orleans

  • France offered to sell all 530 million acres of their North American territory - known as Louisiana - to the United States for $15 million

  • Jefferson completed the Louisiana Land Purchase in 1803 without consulting the Indigenous peoples who lived in those territories

• As well as the state of Louisiana, the states of Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and others were created on the land gained from the Louisiana Land Purchase

Florida

• At the start of the 1800s, Spain was weak from fighting wars of independence all across central and south America

  • People from the United States had already started to move into and take over land in Spanish-controlled Florida

  • American soldiers had already invaded Florida in pursuit of escaped enslaved people and Seminole fighters

• Spain feared that the United States would simply take Florida and Spain would receive no compensation

  • As a result, Spain signed the Adams-Onis Treaty in 1819, which formally ceded control of Florida to the United States in return for $5 million

North Dakota

• In 1818, Great Britain and the United States signed a treaty to settle the boundary between their territories in the northern Great Plains

  • It was agreed that anything north of the 49th parallel (49 degrees latitude) would be British territory

  • Anything south of the 49th parallel (49 degrees latitude) would become United States territory

  • This meant a large area of land that would eventually form parts of North Dakota and Minnesota came under the control of the United States

Why did the USA expand?

• The various leaders of the United States during this period wanted their newly formed nation to become a global power

• Much of the expansion was motivated by economic gain

  • Cheap or free land meant money could be made from farming and mining

• Expansion also made the United States more secure from invasion by removing foreign powers such as France, Spain and Britain from key regions