Westward Expansion
and Sectional Strife
Trends and Themes of the Era
- In the first half of the nineteenth century,
the United States and its citizens were moved by a belief in manifest
destiny, which held that it was the right and fate of the United
States to cover the continent.
- Technology, specifically in the form of the railroad,
dramatically
accelerated expansion.
- Expansion intensified the sectional tension between the
North and South by bringing to the forefront the issue of the extension
of slavery into the West. Brief compromises relieved the tension
from time to time, but no compromise was able to resolve the fundamental
differences between the North and South.
