The westward expansion of the United States is a long-term and continuous development process. The American nation began to expand to the west of the North American continent long before the independence of the United States. However, it was not until after the independence of the United States that the United States' westward expansion became more active and planned, and has continued. Throughout the history of the United States' westward expansion, it can be divided into the following periods. The period from the end of the American Revolutionary War to the American Civil War was the first period of the United States' westward expansion, which was mainly the initial development period based on agriculture. The western land is of particular importance to the economic development of the United States after independence. Without the development of the west, the United States would not be what it is today. After the Seven Years War between France and England, Britain acquired Canada and the vast area west of the Appalachian Mountains and east of the Mississippi River from France. At the same time, Britain declared that the land west of the Appalachian Mountains belonged to the British crown. It became one of the factors that triggered the anti-British people in the North American colonies, because the western land had a fascinating charm for people of all walks of life in North America. The bourgeoisie is eager to expand the country's territory, and land speculators are trying to make huge profits. The majority of farmers, craftsmen, and immigrants regard the western land as the only hope to escape oppression and seek a new life. After American independence, the territory of the United States was expanded to the east bank of the Mississippi River under the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Later, with the quiet start of the industrial revolution in the north, the "Cotton Kingdom" in the south also suddenly emerged, and the new west continued to open up.
The westward movement during this period centered on the land issue and focused on agricultural development. Mainly because: objectively, there was a fertile, fertile, and uncultivated vast land in the western United States at that time, which was the basic premise of the United States' westward expansion movement; subjectively, after the American Revolutionary War, it acquired Appalachia. The vast tract of land from the west of the mountains to the east of the Mississippi River has formed a new view in the minds of the American people: the newly acquired land was obtained with the lives and wealth of the thirteen states in North America, so these lands should belong to It is owned by the people and the people have the right to reclaim, plant and develop it.
During this period, the U.S. federal government adopted many policy measures to promote land development and agricultural development in the westward expansion movement, mainly in the following aspects: Land policy. First, the U.S. government promulgated the procedures and regulations for statehood in the West. In 1784, Jefferson, the third president of the United States, drafted the Land Decree "Concerning the Organization of the Western Land Conceded by Virginia", which stipulated that the western land was owned by all citizens of the United States; it stipulated that the land from the Ohio to the Mississippi River should be divided. As sixteen states, new states that are completely equal to the eastern states can be established only when the number of residents reaches a certain number (the minimum number of the original thirteen states). Although the statute's recommendations for the establishment of sixteen states have not yet been implemented, the principles for statehood it stipulates have been confirmed. In 1785, the government issued a Land Act to provide specific provisions for land surveying and sales. The western land is divided into several towns, and each town is divided into 36 districts. Each district covers an area of ??640 square kilometers. Four districts are under the control of the federal government, and one district is used to sponsor public education. On July 13, 1787, the Northwest Land Act was passed by the federal Congress. This act was based on the Land Act of 1784 and specified the methods for dealing with the land north of the Ohio River Basin. It stipulated the procedures and principles for the establishment of a new state. The various regulations and procedures of the U.S. government regarding the establishment of states on western lands have played a positive role in promoting the development of the western region and the stable economic development.
Secondly, the U.S. government promulgated a policy for residents to obtain land. The Land Ordinance of 1785 established the principles for the sale of state land to settlers. Under the provisions of the act, public land was sold at auction in parcels of a minimum of 640 acres (approximately 388 acres), at a minimum price of $1 per acre, paid in a lump sum. The Land Act of 1796 increased the minimum sale price of land to $2 per acre and changed the payment period to one year later, payable in four years. Later, because this regulation could not meet the demand for land from the large number of farmers who moved westward, the U.S. government continued to reduce the minimum limit for purchasing land from 640 acres to 160 acres, reducing the sale price of state-owned land. From 1802 to 1832, the U.S. Congress passed several Relief Acts to delay the confiscation of unpaid land and enable poor farmers to obtain land.
In 1832, under the seventh President Jackson, the government allowed farmers to possess land, that is, farmers who already owned land that had not been surveyed and sold without consent could purchase the land they had cultivated and improved at the lowest price. And gradually lower the price of public land from $1.25 per acre to $0.50 for auction. In 1862, the administration of the 16th President Lincoln promulgated the "Homestead Act", which stipulated that citizens over the age of 21 would have the right to acquire 160 acres or 160 acres as long as they paid a fee of US$10 from January 1, 1863. The following land will be owned by the individual after 5 years of cultivation. In short, the U.S. government’s land policy during this period provided institutional and policy guarantees for farmers to acquire land and carry out agricultural development, promoted the development of the western United States, and enabled the United States to rapidly develop into a major agricultural country. Immigration policy. The United States Land Act of 1787 not only set out some of the principles for the founding of the new state, but also provided for civil rights under Part III of the Act, specifically the freedom of movement to the West under the Act. Therefore, the promulgation of the United States Land Act greatly promoted the influx of American immigrants to the west. The Ohio Company took the lead. In the winter of 1787-1788, their advance teams set off from Massachusetts and Connecticut and headed towards the sunset. Since then, the mass westward movement has flourished. Immigrants mainly came from New England, the central states and the southern states of the 13 North American states. In just 10 years from 1790 to 1800, the 13 counties of Maryland The residents of 26 counties in Virginia and Virginia were all immigrants. In 1810, 1/7 of the country's population lived west of the Appalachian Mountains. In 1820, the United States had a population of 9.64 million, 3 million of whom lived west of the Appalachian Mountains. By 1840, more than one-third of the country's population lived there. In addition, foreign immigrants also came to the United States in large numbers, providing cheap labor for the development of the western United States. There were only 8,385 immigrants who came to the United States in 1820. However, after the failure of the European revolution in 1848, immigrants from Northern and Western European countries flooded into the United States, reaching 310,004 in 1850 and growing to 427,833 in 1854. All in all, between 1820 and 1860, approximately 5 million immigrants came to the United States, providing sufficient labor for the development of the American West. Infrastructure Development Policy. The United States paid great attention to the construction of infrastructure during its westward expansion, especially the construction of transportation facilities such as railways, highways, and water transportation. When it comes to railway construction, the U.S. government has adopted the policy of "Build more railways, the more benefits you will get". For every mile of railway built, the railway company can obtain a certain area of ??land along the railway line; at the same time, it is stipulated that the railway company can obtain varying amounts of loans from the government according to the length of the railway and the terrain. The United States only began to build railroads in 1828, and by 1860 it had 30,000 miles of railroads, most of which were built in the West. The construction of railways during this period greatly promoted the economic development of the western region. In the construction of highways, an important policy of the U.S. government is to encourage private investment. In order to solve the shortage of highway construction funds, toll roads became the earliest development priority in the United States. From the construction of the first highway in 1792 to 1794, the total mileage of roads built by 1830 was 6,400 kilometers. With the invention and use of steam engines, the U.S. government has strengthened the construction of water transportation. From 1817 to 1828, New York State funded the construction of the 350-mile-long IL Canal, which connected the Hudson River in the east and the Great Lakes area in the west, reducing the freight rate of 20 cents a mile at that time to 1 cent. In total, between 1815 and 1840, states invested $125 million to build 3,000 miles of canals, making the United States the most developed canal country in the world. The construction and development of transportation facilities in the United States during this period provided convenience for the westward expansion movement at that time. Policies to support the development of education. The American government attaches great importance to the development of education, especially school education. According to the Land Act of 1785, each state established in the Western Region could obtain a piece of land for the establishment of a public college. At that time, President Jefferson also designed and formulated an ambitious education system that included primary, secondary schools and state universities. system.
So state universities were established in the southern and western states successively, and free education was provided. In 1862, the U.S. Congress passed the Morrill Act, which decided that the government would permanently donate at least 30,000 acres of public land to relevant colleges and universities in each state. At that time, the Iowa Agricultural College was established based on this land donation. Get up. In the 1860s, according to the Morrill Act, a number of agricultural colleges and engineering colleges were established in the United States, such as the famous University of Illinois, Massey Institute of Technology, and Cornell University, all of which were established during this period. It has trained a large number of specialized talents for agricultural mechanization and industrialization in the western United States. The Hatch Act of 1887 provided $15,000 annually to states, providing new federal funds for agricultural experimentation and scientific research. This funding was doubled in 1907 to expand agricultural scientific research and extension; and legislation was passed to increase subsidies to schools to $50,000 per year. At the same time, under the influence of the first industrial revolution, American science and technology also developed rapidly. According to statistics, before 1860, the United States government issued 36,000 patents, which played an important role in the development of the western United States and agriculture. The westward expansion movement was a process of hard work for the American people. Facing all kinds of difficulties and obstacles, the American people abandoned all stereotypes and bad habits, overcame difficulties and forged ahead, thus cultivating the American nation's realistic, optimistic and courageous national character. This is an inexhaustible wealth.
The issue of statehood for the newly developed territories in the west caused fierce conflicts between the North and the South. According to the U.S. Constitution, each state has two Senate seats. Whether the new states would join the Union as free states or slave states was related to the issue of whether the northern bourgeoisie or the southern planters controlled the Senate. In a certain sense, without the westward movement, the contradiction between the north and the south would not have intensified to the point of civil war. The successful end of the Civil War cleared the way for accelerated western development.