Fate. Destiny. In the stars. Meant to be. We use these words and phrases to describe things that we see as inevitable, as the natural conclusion to a chain of events.
And from our comfy 21st-century chairs, it can seem like the current borders of the United States were a totally inevitable byproduct of the nation's history and its changing needs. But back in 1803, the borders and boundaries we have now were anything but a foregone conclusion.
It made sense to Thomas Jefferson and other like-minded folks that the young country would have to expand to ensure its continued economic, political, and geographic freedom. And it made further sense that that expansion would occur to the west.
But how far would that expansion go? Where would it stop? Would it stop? These were all unknowns.
The Louisiana Purchase stretched the nation's borders northward, southward, and westward, and it set the stage for further expansion to the Pacific Ocean and beyond. We don't get a lot of the romanticism and pioneering spirit in the Louisiana Purchase docs like we do in other essays and letters written during this time. This is, after all, a set of binding government documents, which really aren't known so much for their poetic flair. But we can still pick up pieces of America's expansionist vision, which would find its flowering later in the 19th century in the doctrine of Manifest Destiny.
America's westward journey of a few thousand miles began with a few giant-sized steps, and the biggest step of them all was the Louisiana Purchase.
Questions About Westward Expansion
- What was the effect of westward expansion on the continent's Native American population?
- Do you agree with the sentiment behind Manifest Destiny? Why or why not?
- How do Canada's and Mexico's paths to independence compare to that of the United States? Did either of them have their own version of westward expansion going on?
Chew on This
Thomas Jefferson was a little paranoid; the United States totally could have remained independent and been prosperous if it had stuck with its pre-1803 geographic boundaries.
Without the Louisiana Purchase and subsequent land deals, there is no way the United States would have become as powerful and prosperous as it did.