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 h

In conclusion, the west was settled slowly because, geographically it was in the middle of nowhere. It was isolated from the rest of the country, although the transcontinental railroad would soon solve this problem. Another problem of the west was the hostility of the Indians, which was not the unjustified considering what they had gone through. Although today the central midwest is populated, it is not to the degree that the coastal areas are, and it will likely remain that way until the population of the United States becomes so large it actually forces people to move there.

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 lo

Some common words found in the essay are:
Gadsden Purchase, Horn Needless, Homestead Act, Needless Indians, Wyoming Territory, Polk United, Beyond Mississippi, Dawes Act, Americans Shortly, American Desert, homestead act, central midwest, west coast, coast united, united actually, manifest destiny, people move,
Approximate Word count = 936
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)