The United States is one of the countries with the most fascinating histories. Thirteen British colonies in North America gained their freedom during the American War of Independence, leading to the formation of the United States. Soon after, the new nation began expanding westward across the continent. The United States pushed back European colonial powers, Native Americans, and Mexico, eventually stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Professor of History, Dr. Mladen Tomorad, explained to us the westward expansion of the United States, the phenomenon of the Wild West, and the idea of American exceptionalism.
– Which territories did the United States control after the American War of Independence ended in 1783? Was the US even considered a power after defeating the British?
The United States as an independent country was established by the peace treaty of 1783 that ended the American War of Independence. By this treaty, the US controlled the territory of the 13 colonies that had been established by 1732. Individual colonies, which later became federal states under the 1789 Constitution, believed they had the right to expand westward beyond the Appalachian and Blue Ridge mountain ranges. Any earlier westward expansion had been prohibited by the 1763 peace treaty that ended the Seven Years’ War.
The US could not be considered a global power until the second half of the 19th century, specifically after acquiring Mexican territory in 1848. It was during this period that the US began to involve itself in world politics, becoming an imperial power only at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.
– When and in what context did the westward expansion of the US in North America begin?
I have been lecturing on many issues related to the founding of the US and its westward expansion for almost 20 years at the University of Zagreb (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Faculty of Croatian Studies). If everything goes according to plan, my new book History of the United States – From European Colonies to World Power (Zagreb: Školska knjiga), which covers various aspects of US history up to the early 20th century in more than 750 pages, should be published by the end of this year (possibly even at Interliber).
The American westward expansion began in the early 1780s, initially as independent exploratory expeditions by mountaineers and explorers. Then, from the late 1780s, new federal states gradually began to form in the northwest of the then United States (Northwest Ordinance, 1787). At the same time, new states started to be founded west of the southern federal states.
The true phase of western expansion began only during the first decades of the 19th century, as a result of the purchase of the vast Louisiana territory, which the US acquired through a purchase agreement with France in 1803. This huge area covered land west of the Mississippi and Missouri river basins to the northwest. Further west of this area (from Texas to California and from the Rocky Mountains westward) was a large Spanish (later Mexican) colonial possession. The far northwest regions (present-day Oregon and Washington) in the early 19th century did not belong to any world power. This vast area was mainly inhabited by numerous indigenous Native American tribes and a small number of mountaineers and trappers who mostly hunted fur-bearing animals and traded their skins and pelts.
The large western territories were first explored during the Lewis and Clark expedition (1803–1806), followed by some smaller military exploratory missions. Florida was purchased from Spain in 1819, and Texas was annexed in 1845. This led to a major war with Mexico (1846–1847), resulting in the acquisition of a huge territory from the east to the west coast of North America. Around the same time, in the early 1840s, the first caravan routes began toward Oregon, and in 1846, the final border between Canada and the US was established.
The real expansion into areas west of the Mississippi and Missouri basins began only with the onset of the California “Gold Rush” (1848/1849), during which millions of new settlers from Europe, Asia, and the eastern US arrived in the western US. This event was crucial for the true westward expansion because until 1848, only a few thousand white settlers lived in the territories west of the large river basins.
– What ideas, such as “Manifest Destiny,” influenced and encouraged westward expansion?
At the beginning of the 1840s, the idea emerged that the United States had the right to all the land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The term Manifest Destiny appeared during the first year of President Polk’s term (1845–1848). This phrase was first mentioned by John L. O’Sullivan (1813–1895), editor of The United States Magazine, and Democratic Review, in the summer of 1845 as part of his commentary on European countries interfering in American politics. His words began spreading in politics and newspapers during 1846 and became the slogan for further American expansion westward.
– Who were the main opponents that Americans had to overcome in their expansion toward the Pacific Ocean?
The main opponents of American westward expansion were primarily the great European colonial powers (France, the United Kingdom, Spain), and during the first half of the 19th century (1835–1848), Mexico.
To a lesser extent, Native American tribes in the eastern areas posed a threat, at times waging significant wars against the American army (notably important Indian Wars during the 1780s and 1790s, the Creek War of 1812/1813, and three Seminole Wars in Florida).
In the western areas, conflicts with Native American tribes began only toward the late 1850s and early 1860s, primarily due to the failure of the federal government to fulfill conditions of treaties signed at Fort Laramie in 1851. From the early 1860s until 1890, nearly constant military conflicts took place with Native Americans in the Southwest and the vast grassy Great Plains. After all tribes were relocated to limited reservations, the federal government gained huge areas on which settlers from the East gradually settled from the 1850s onward.
– To what extent did the Gold Rush in California and elsewhere in the mid-19th century spur westward expansion?
The Gold Rush had a decisive influence on further westward expansion. After acquiring the large southwestern territory through the peace treaty with Mexico in February 1848, President Polk believed Americans should rapidly begin settling this area. The discovery of gold near present-day Sacramento provided a perfect pretext for settlement. Polk emphasized in his address to the U.S. Congress in early December 1848 that an “El Dorado” had been found in California, which led to the start of the Gold Rush in January 1849. During its first year, about 80,000 gold miners settled in California. By 1860, nearly 2 million settlers had arrived in California.
Routes were established along which settlers moved westward. Some traveled by wagon trains leaving from St. Joseph or St. Louis, journeying thousands of kilometers across inhospitable territory controlled by initially mostly peaceful Native American tribes and bandits who often attacked and robbed newcomers from the East. Other dangers included typhus epidemics causing high mortality among settlers. The lack of food and potable water was a serious problem crossing the desert and semi-desert areas of today’s Utah and Nevada. The journey usually lasted 5 to 7 months, and if settlers did not start early in spring, they risked being trapped by snow in the Sierra Nevada by late September or early October. Some settlers also traveled by sea around Cape Horn or across difficult jungle terrain of the Isthmus of Panama. Only with the opening of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 did the journey from east to west shorten to just a few weeks.
– How did life in the West differ from life in the eastern states at that time? Is the term “Wild West” justified?
Life in the eastern “highly civilized” states was completely different from the harsh and inhospitable conditions of the western U.S. Unlike the large cities in the East, people in the West lived on scattered farms or in small towns and villages often hours away by horse or wagon.
Law enforcement was minimal. In the vast new territories, a local marshal might patrol several counties, and larger towns had a sheriff. A traveling judge was sometimes present to enforce the law. Due to this, “law” was often taken into the hands of angry mobs that would lynch and hang lawbreakers from nearby gallows.
Bandit gangs roamed the area, robbing caravans, travelers, and cattle drovers. From the early 1860s until the capture of the last resisting group led by Geronimo in 1886, settlers also faced raids by Native American groups, especially in New Mexico, Arizona, western Texas, and the Great Plains from Colorado to Dakota.
Additionally, disputes occurred between ranch owners and groups of cattlemen and farmers due to fencing off land with barbed wire (since 1876), which ended the era of open range grazing.
The “Wild West” had relatively few women, so every town and village had brothels, which became hotspots for the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, especially syphilis.
– When was the process of westward expansion completed?
The process of westward expansion was completed at the beginning of the 20th century, specifically with the formation of the last states in 1912. During this period, the state of Oklahoma was created—an area that until 1889 had been reserved exclusively for Indian reservations. The opening of this territory to new settlers through large land races that took place at the end of the 19th century marked the end of westward expansion. The only area left to settle was Alaska, which had been purchased from Russia back in 1867. The discovery of gold in the late 1880s encouraged settlement of this region. Alaska, along with Hawaii—which the U.S. acquired at the end of the 19th century—were admitted as states only in 1959.
– Would the U.S. be a superpower today if it had not expanded from the Atlantic to the Pacific?
The U.S. became a major continental power during the 19th century. However, it only became a true world power after acquiring the vast territory of North America. Therefore, the answer to this question is definitely yes. The U.S. would never have achieved superpower status if it had not expanded across the entire North American continent, from its eastern to its western coast. Still, this was not the sole decisive factor in becoming a superpower. Canada also spans from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts of North America, but it is not considered a superpower.
A key factor in the rise of the U.S. as a superpower was the development of its economy during the second half of the 19th century, when America became the leader of the Second Industrial Revolution. After gaining dominance over North America by the end of the 19th century, the enormous wealth generated by industrial and agricultural development fueled the U.S. to turn toward imperial expansion. Between 1867 and 1898, the U.S. acquired Alaska, Midway Islands, Samoa, and Hawaii. During the Spanish-American War (1898), the U.S. gained control over Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam.
At the beginning of the 20th century, it began its imperial policy in Panama, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Mexico. The U.S. became a global power after World War I, when, thanks to military aid to the Allied Powers (from spring 1917 to November 1918), it directly influenced the fate of Europe and the rest of the world.
Interview conducted by Matija Šerić.
