Westward Expansion
- Reasons for Westward Expansion: Population pressures and economic pressures pushed many Americans from the east; the availability of new lands and the decline of Indian resistance drew them to the West.
- pressures driving white Americans out of the East came in part from the continued growth of the nation's population
- Between 1800 and 1820, the population nearly doubled-from 5.3 million to 9.6 million.
- Most Americans were still farmers
- Most of the North lands were used and with the spread of slavery, there was little room for new settlers
- West was becoming increasingly attractive to white settlers; the War of 1812 had helped diminish one of the deterrent of native American opposition
- Was much fertile land for new settlers out west