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Hi! I'm Studyfin, your history tutor. Today we are exploring how the United States grew from coast to coast in the 1800s!
In the 1800s, many Americans believed in 'Manifest Destiny.' This was the belief that the United States was fated to expand across the entire North American continent.
To start this growth, the U.S. bought a huge piece of land from France in 1803. This was the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the size of the nation overnight.
President Thomas Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore this new territory. They mapped the land, met Native American tribes, and reached the Pacific Ocean.
Let's practice historical analysis! Explain how the concept of Manifest Destiny motivated Americans to support the Lewis and Clark expedition and the purchase of new lands.
- Identify the core belief of Manifest Destiny: the idea that the U.S. was meant to spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
- Connect this belief to the Louisiana Purchase: buying this land made the dream of a coast-to-coast nation physically possible.
- Connect this belief to the Lewis and Clark expedition: Americans needed to map and understand the land so they could settle it.
- Conclude by explaining that Manifest Destiny acted as a powerful goal that made expansion seem like a positive and necessary duty.
