Westward Expansion Research Paper

Words: 638
Pages: 3

Is war a good thing? No it isn’t, but back in 1845 we thought it was. Can you believe that? As America was growing we needed more land but we just took it, we didn’t offer to buy it or anything. As we expanded westward, we slaughtered innocent Indians. Also, people are trying to say that's a good thing. Imagine if Canada came to the United States and killed you, your children, and your whole family. That's exactly what we did.

My first reason why westward expansion was wrong is because slavery isn’t a good thing. In 1845 we were on the edge of a full-on civil war. The reason was the south wanted slavery, and the north didn’t. If we expanded westward, then there wouldn’t be any rules on whether it would be slaves or not. In the passage “THE CASE AGAINST MANIFEST DESTINY” it states “The line outlawed slavery in the north but protected it in the south, so many argued it would cause slavery to spread.” This
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Adding to what I said earlier in the essay, we were on the edge of a civil war. Fueling the fire for the slave/no slave war. As the north said no slaves, the south relied on them for their economy because of all the farms that needed to be tended to. If we expanded there would be conflict on whether the territory would be slave or no slave. Now whether or not westward expansion led to the war is up in the air, but we do know it didn’t help. In the passage “the case against westward expansion” it states “many argued that it would not only encourage slavery but it would lead to a war. This shows that people knew it was coming, but they didn’t do anything to stop it. In “Columbia manifest destiny portrait,” the Indians are seen running away from the expansion. This is the reason that we lost all of those men because the Indians fought back. Finally, by expanding westward, it caused the civil war. On my map it shows that there was a clear line between the north and the south, if we expanded westward then it would cause more