American Territorial Expansion

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the American territorial expansion from 1763-1803. It presents the larger aspects of the problems encountered. The paper begins with a general overview of the first frontier, the frontier before the revolution. It describes the obstacles to conquering a new continent and discusses the differences in the settlement of the South and the North. It then discusses the development of a national government in the 1787 Northwest Ordinance.

Table of Contents:
I. Overview Of The "First Frontier"; Or, The Frontier Before The Revolution
A. General Survey
B. Motives For Expansion In The Pre-Revolutionary Days
C. Settling the South
D. Settling The Northern Part
II. Trends of expansionism in the New Nation (1783-1796)
A. Moving to the Southwest
B. Heading for the Northwest
Iii. An Empire Of Liberty: Ideological Approaches
A. Liberty Vs. Private Enterprise: Antagonistic Views
B. The Conflicting Visions Of The West
C. Agriculture And/Or Manufactures
Iv. Organizing The West: From Statehood To Territory
A. The West Under State Status: Jefferson's Land Ordinance (1784)B. Erecting A National Government: The 1787 Northwest Ordinance
V. Implementing the Northwest Ordinance
VI. The Louisiana Purchase 1803
A. The Diplomatic Game

From the Paper:

"The frontier is the symbol of the advance of civilization, progressive Christianization, economic development, of the settlement in the wilderness, and the gradual disappearance of "savagery". The frontier was seen as the division between civilization and the wilderness. We could say that the first frontier is America as a British colony. In 1607 with Smith, the conquest started and became gradual. The first immigrants from Britain were the rejects of European society. They were paupers compelled to leave because they could not make ends meet in Britain. They settled in the Tidewater area where the soil could be cultivated. They could build small towns and make a living thanks to the natural resources the region offered. This was a slow and difficult experience. The country was peopled by natives and the presence of Spanish and French settlers in the Mississippi Valley did not solve the problem. The British settlers felt surrounded by enemies. The French presence was a significant factor until 1763 when the French and Indian war came to an end. The French were defeated and the British took control of the region. A treaty was signed in 1763, the Treaty of Paris, the French were driven out of the continent. However, the natives were still there and they were hostile to European presence."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Anne Butler, The American West: A Concise History, Blackwell Publishers, June 2006.
• Gary Lawson, Guy Seidman, The Constitution of Empire: Territorial Expansion and American Legal History, New Heaven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2004.
• Michael Burgan, The Louisiana Purchase: From Independence to Lewis and Clark, Heinemann Library, August 2006.
• Patrick Griffin, American Leviathan: Empire, Nation, And Revolutionary Frontier, Will & Hang, April 2007.
• Pitman B. Potter, "The Nature of American Territorial Expansion", The American Journal of International Law, vol. 15, no. 2, April 1921, pp. 189 - 197.

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