Political and social issues in westward expansion

During westward expansion, many political and social issues arose. Some of these
political issues included territorial lines, and property ownership. Some of the social issues
included slavery, race and ideas such as manifest destiny.
One of the political issues that arose during westward expansion was territorial lines.
When a group of people settled in a place to live, they would create townships to organize who
lived where. These townships were determined by which state these people lived in and other
territorial lines previously set because of political issues between countries. An example of this
was the territorial line between Canada and the United states in northern states (Northwest
Ordinance, 1787) (Document B). Another political issue with these townships was that they had
to reserve certain spaces of land for government use (Land ordinance, 1785) (Document A).
During westward expansion, there were many social issues ranging from slavery, to
ideas such as manifest destiny. Slavery played a role in westward expansion in many ways.
One example of slavery being used was when townships would select the number of
representatives they would have. The number of representatives in each township would be
determined according to the number of free men in that township. This would create issues as
states who owned more slaves than free men would not have as many representatives as those
states that didn’t (Northwest Ordinance, 1787) (Document B). Another example of slavery
during westward expansion was that slaves would be used to help families move their wagons
while traveling (Gottfried Duden, 1825) (Document G).
Another type of social issue that arose during westward expansion was the idea of
Manifest Destiny. In manifest destiny, Americans believed that America should be expanded so
that it can govern over more people and have more power because America was the great land
that would help the rest of the world prosper and grow. Americans believed that God had
destined America to be the nation of all nations (John L. O’Sullivan, 1839) (Document D).
Another type of social issue was conflict between two groups of people. Even before
westward expansion, there had already been conflict between the Native Americans (Indians)
and the Americans. While Americans were expanding westward, there still seemed to be
conflict between the Native Americans and the Americans. An example of this conflict can be
seen from a letter written during this time period (Julia Louisa Lovejoy,1856) (Document F).
Based on the history between these two groups, it is likely that this letter was written by an
American (specifically an American women) who is talking about how the Indians have
destroyed their townships and created conflict. This document shows the way Americans
thought during this time period about their issues with the Native Americans. Americans
believed they had done nothing wrong and that every issue that came up was because of the
Native Americans.
Another issue which was brought up during westward expansion was the lack of
communication. Many times, it was hard for people to be able to communicate with someone in
a different part of the country. According to a letter (letter from gold miner, placerville, california,
1850) (document H), from a gold miner, in order to get a message to another part of the country,
people would have to write letters and send them through another person going to that place.
This would often take days, and it was not guaranteed that the letter would reach the other
person.
 These issues would help shape the way Americans settled down in new land and the way
America would become. One issue that is still seen today is that the government gets to control
what land the people can own and how they can use it. Many of these issues are still relevant to
today’s society which is why it is important to address their importance in westward expansion.