Essay About United States And Geographical Conditions

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The years 1840 to 1890 were a period of great growth
for the United States. It was during this time period that
the United states came to the conclusion that it had a
manifest destiny, that is, it was commanded by god to someday
occupy the entire North American continent. One of the most
ardent followers of this belief was President James K. Polk.
He felt that the United States had the right to whatever
amount of territory it chose to, and in doing this the
United States was actually doing a favor for the land it
seized, by introducing it to the highly advanced culture and
way of life of Americans. Shortly after his election he
annexed Texas. This added a great amount of land to the
United States, but more was to follow. The Oregon Territory
became a part of the United States is 1846, followed by the
Mexican Cession in 1848 and the Gadsden Purchase in 1853. At
this point the United States had accomplished its manifest
destiny, it reached from east to west, from sea to shining
sea. Now that the lands it so desired were finally there,
the United States faced a new problem- how to get its people
to settle these lands so they would actually be worth having.
Realistically, it is great to have a lot of land, but if the
land is unpopulated and undeveloped, it really isnt worth
much. And the government of the United States knew this. One
of the reasons that many did not choose to settle there
immediately was that the lands were quite simply in the
middle of nowhere. They were surrounded by mountains,
inhabited by hostile Indians, and poor for farming. Because
of these geographical conditions, the government was forced
to intervene to coax its citizens into settling the new
lands. Basically the lands were not settled because they
were available, they were settled because of various schemes
the government concocted to make them seem desirable.
The government participated in a great “push” to get
its citizens to move to west. At first few people moved to
the west, but this changed when gold was discovered in
California in 1848. This caused a “gold rush” to the west
coast which consisted of many prospectors seeking to find
their fortunes in the gold mines of California. Many
traveled to the west coast, however few actually found their
fortunes. The problem remained that the midwest was still
relatively unpopulated. There were people on the west coast
of the United States, there were people on the east coast of
the United States, but relatively few in the center of the
country. In order to convince people to move to the central
midwest, the United States started a massive propaganda
drive that Hitler would have been proud of. Everywhere one
would look they would find brochures telling of how
wonderful the central midwest was, and how it would be an
ideal setting for someone to settle down and raise a family,
and how it was great for farmland. In the tradition of
propaganda, however, this was often far from the truth. In
reality the land that looked so beautiful in the brochures
and posters was actually the Great American Desert. To work
in conjunction with the propaganda posters and brochures,
the United States passed the Homestead Act, which offered
extremely cheap land to anyone who was willing to live on it
and farm it. The Homestead Act actually went as far