After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, a large amount of land west of the original 13 states and the Northwest Territory was acquired. The open land, additional benefits and other existing problems encouraged Americans to expand westward. The American people began to realize that the future of the country lay in the development of its own western resources. There were many reasons that made the people face the grueling and dangerous movement west, but the primary reason was economy.

"Like the Spanish conquistadors before them, the Americans looked beyond the Mississippi, they saw an open beckoning. Despite the presence of hundreds of Indian nations with rich and distinct cultures, who had populated the land for thousands of years-from the desert of the Southwest and the grassy prairies of the Great Plains to the high valleys of the Rocky Mountains and the salty beaches of the Pacific Coast-Americans considered the west to be an empty wilderness. And in less than fifty years, from the 1803 purchase of Louisiana Territory to the California gold rush of 1849, the nation would expand and conquer the West" (Herb 3).

The ocean had always controlled New England's interests and connect

This demand for cotton pushed all the owners of the cotton plantations west along with all the slaves (Westward Expansion and Regional Differences). "By 1821 the old South produced one hundred and seventeen million pounds, and five years later, one hundred and eighty million pounds (cotton)"(Turner 46). But in the next five years, recently settled southwest was overtaking the older section. "By 1834 the southwest had distanced the older section"(Turner 147). "What had occurred was a repeated westward movement: the cotton-plant first spread from the sea-coast to the uplands, and then, by the beginning of our period, advanced to the Gulf plains, until the region achieved supremacy in its production"(Turner 47).

"As the movement of capital and population to the interior went on, wealth was drained from the coast"(Turner 57). As the value of their lands declined, the people of the south coast naturally sought for an explanation and remedy to the problem (Turner 61):

The middle region moved inward along with the canal. With cities like Cleveland developing inland, and with help of the canal making everything more accessible, settlers moved inward. "The struggle of Baltimore, New York City and Philadelphia for the rising commerce of the interior was potent factor in the development of the middle region"(Turner 69). With the lands being practically free in this vast area, not only did it attract the settler, but it also furnished the opportunity for all men to hew out their own careers (Turner 68). The open land gave people a chance to start over. "The wilderness opened a gate to escape the poor, the discontented and the oppressed"(Turner 68).

But as much of the people moved west, the southern states began to grow inferior to the other sections. "The westward migration of its people checked the growth of the south. It had colonized the new west at the same time that the middle region had been rapidly growing in the population and the result was that the proud states of the southern seaboard was to numerical inferiority"(Turner 57).

"As a bond of union between the Atlantic and western states, it may prevent the dismemberment of the American Empire. As an organ of communication between the Hudson, the Mississippi, the St. Lawrence, the great lakes of the north and west, and their tributary rivers, it will create the greatest inland trade ever witnessed"(Turner 32-33).

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2177
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)