The westward expansion movement of the United States began at the end of the 18th century and ended at the end of the 19th century and gradually expanded to the west.

The emergence of the westward expansion movement has its historical inevitability, and of course the United States also has all possibilities. First of all, at the end of the 18th century, the northeastern United States had an advantage in economic development, and the industrial revolution had begun. The development of the industrial revolution urgently required raw materials and resources, and it also needed to expand the space for production organization to maintain its full development. Secondly, after the United States became independent in 1783, a unified large market was needed to unify the domestic situation. If the west was developed, it would have more trading space, and it could use the eastern and western markets to complement each other's resources. The 13 independent states, especially the northeast, focus on heavy industry, and the proportion of agriculture in the total economy is small. The west is an uncultivated virgin land with huge production potential. For example, development can fully supply the east with basic materials and materials. means of production. Thirdly, the U.S. government encouraged eastern immigrants to move west and supported them with force, providing the possibility for the westward movement.

The Westward Expansion Movement is a major event in the history of the United States, and it has remarkable characteristics. According to modernization theory, it belongs to endogenous modernization. [1] It should be said that the Westward Expansion Movement is a typical example characterized by endogenous modernization. The westward expansion movement is different from the overseas colonial expansion of general European countries. It is an activity based on the country to develop the local territory. It is directly subjective and constructive. It makes the population distribution more reasonable through migration. And it combines the population with idle land materials to generate benefits. At the same time, this movement is widespread, large-scale, and long-lasting, which is rare in the modern history of the world. It also has a broad mass character. A large number of immigrants from the east can move to the west voluntarily or with the encouragement of the government, injecting vitality and vitality into the take-off of the west.

Because the Westward Expansion Movement was carried out under capitalist conditions, it determined that the movement had the distinctive characteristics of capitalism. It inevitably contained policies of aggression and expansion, bloody massacres, and genocide, which brought great harm to the local Indians. Man has brought serious disasters, which is his greatest stain, but his positive historical impact cannot be erased. The movement had a huge impact on the economy, politics, culture, ideology, and military of the United States, and played a strong role in promoting the development of the United States and the future development of the United States. The Westward Expansion Movement is a history of blood and tears, but objectively it is a history of entrepreneurship.

1. The impact of the Westward Expansion on the American economy

1. The realization of mechanization, regionalization and specialization.

The western United States has unique natural conditions, especially vast arable land. The arable land in the continental United States is as high as 40%[2], most of which is concentrated in the west. There are many plains here, with soft soil, sufficient sunshine, abundant precipitation, and a climate suitable for agricultural farming. This has helped American agriculture realize mechanization, regionalization and professionalism. After the rise of the westward movement, the central and western regions quickly became famous grain bases, and agricultural regionalization and specialization were increasingly formed. According to statistics, Ohio's wheat output reached 16.6 million bushels in 1839. In 1859, Illinois replaced Ohio and its wheat output reached 238 million bushels. By 1861, Wisconsin replaced Illinois and became the new wheat production center. According to statistics, from 1859, the entire Midwest produced 54.95% of the country's wheat production. The wheat production in Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana alone accounted for 40% of the country's total wheat production, followed by the Ohio River and Ansuri River. The north developed into the "Wheat Kingdom". After the American Civil War, agriculture continued to market, and corn production also continued to increase. Cotton cultivation also developed from the Atlantic coast to the Gulf of Mexico, and the southwest became the main cotton planting area. The lower reaches of the Mississippi River became the "Cotton Kingdom" with Alabama as the center. The livestock industry has also continued to develop, and the vast prairie has become the "livestock kingdom" of the United States, with three major agricultural areas initially formed. In the northwest, some wealthy farmers became agricultural capitalists, and large-scale farms emerged. According to statistics, in 1860, farms west of the Appalachian Mountains alone accounted for 57.6% of the total number of farms in the country, and their area accounted for 59.8% of the total farm area in the country. The assets account for 54% of the total value of farm assets in the country. For example, "the world's largest agriculturalist" Michael Sullivan owns 80,000 acres of land in Illinois, uses one to two hundred hired workers, and raises 5,000 sheep. At this time, as the farms in the west grew, the agricultural product bases in the east continued to move to the west. Agricultural specialization and regionalization in the west developed rapidly. Most of the production materials and daily necessities needed by farmers in the west came from the east, which expanded the domestic manufacturing industry in the east. At the same time, basic material materials such as livestock and wheat in the west meet the needs of urban and population development in the east, and also promote the development of corresponding agricultural and sideline industries, meat processing, canning industry, and fabric food industry in the east. At the same time, the cotton growing industry in the west provided cotton growing fabrics for the eastern industry and laid the foundation for replacing the cotton growing industry center in the south. The westward expansion also greatly accelerated the mechanization of American agriculture. Due to the substantial expansion of the westward expansion movement, the contradiction between the expansion of production and the backwardness of production tools has become increasingly apparent. This has stimulated the invention and use of agricultural mechanization and promoted the early realization of agricultural mechanization in the United States. During the period from 1865 to 1900 alone, the United States had 1.2 Thousands of agricultural inventions were patented.

Since the advent of horse-drawn plowing in 1820, lawn mowers, steel plows, threshing machines, horse-drawn hand mowers, wheat seeders, corn planters, grain binders, cotton gins, etc. have come out one after another, making every step from plowing preparation to harvesting crops. Almost every process is mechanized. According to statistics, by 1855, there were 10,000 grain harvesters in the country. At the same time, the use of steam engines in the West further improved its mechanization level. Capitalist large farms have used mechanization to become a powerful driving force for agricultural production, greatly improving agricultural productivity and greatly improving the level of American agricultural industry. The Westward Expansion Movement is of great significance to the development of western agriculture. Agriculture, which basically formed the entire "American road", laid a solid material foundation for the United States to become a powerful industrial country.

2. The development and rise of western industry

The western United States is rich in mineral resources, such as coal. Mineral deposits from Pennsylvania to Alabama account for 13% of the country's total, and iron ore is concentrated. Located in the Lake Superior area, gold and oil resources are also quite abundant. In addition, the water resources in the west are also very rich. The Great Lakes in the north are the largest freshwater lakes in the world. These raw materials and energy sources for industry are necessities for the development of industry. Manufacturing in the East moved westward. Since the mid-19th century, industries such as food processing, canning, agricultural machinery manufacturing, coal, and steel have gradually spread to the west. By 1860, there were 54,000 enterprises in the west, with 300,000 workers and an output value of US$5.16 trillion. [3] The vast resources in the west make it easy for western enterprises to thrive, especially the rise of the mining industry, which shows the charming advantages of the west. There was the "gold rush" of 1848. Its influence was worldwide, attracting more people from all over the world to move westward. At the same time, the rise of the mining industry also led to the development of other related industries. At this time, U.S. trade also experienced great development. According to statistics, the transaction volume in the Great Lakes region of the United States did not exceed US$20,000 in 1820. In 1815, it was only about US$8.78 million. By 1860, it had increased to US$1,852 billion. With the continuous advancement of western industry, western immigrants became more capable of pioneering, and it became possible to migrate to the remote "Far West", thus leading the wave of the Industrial Revolution further to places, all the way to the Pacific coast. Such wave-like industrial advancement laid the foundation for the United States to achieve industrialization as soon as possible. This is also a concrete manifestation of the endogenous development of the U.S. economy. It has achieved the expansion of the U.S. economy and caused the U.S.'s total industrial output to rise significantly, laying the foundation for the U.S.'s total industrial output to rank first in the world in 1894.

3. Revolution in the transportation industry

Due to the continuous advancement of the westward movement, the connection between the east and the west has been strengthened. At this time, the transportation conditions in the east and west could not adapt to the social and economic conditions at that time. The needs of development, especially those tax channels, can no longer adapt to economic development. Therefore, reforming transportation vehicles and traffic roads has become the task of revolution in the transportation industry. The first revolution was the development of the automobile and aviation industry. In 1807, Fulton built the "Clermont" steamship and successfully tried it, and the United States entered the age of steam navigation. Steam navigation was quickly used, and the inland waterway shipping system with the Mississippi River as the main body was greatly improved. In the 1830s and 1940s, the Mississippi River "was becoming the main artery of the entire inland plain" [4]. The use of steam aviation greatly increased the transportation speed than before, speeding up the flow of goods. At the same time, transportation roads were also rapidly improved. The second revolution was the excavation of the East-West Canal. Before the development of railway transportation, the geographical expansion of the westward movement urgently needed to strengthen connections to achieve sustained and stable economic development, so the excavation of the canal became natural. . In 1825, the Erie Canal opened and became the first land and water channel connecting the east and west. Subsequently, four canals were built one after another. The excavation of canals reduced transportation costs, expanded cargo transportation volume, and facilitated the further westward migration of immigrants and opened up new immigration areas. The third revolution in the transportation industry is railway construction. Railways have the advantages of fast speed and large carrying capacity. Beginning in the 1830s, government encouragement and funding led to a nationwide boom in railway construction. Within a few decades, five transcontinental railway lines were built, solving the transportation "bottleneck" problem in the United States and injecting vitality into the development of the western region. It effectively promoted the spread of the Industrial Revolution to the west and also promoted the transformation of western society from an agricultural society to an industrial society. In particular, the Great Lakes region quickly became an important core industrial area in the United States, and also expanded the industrial base to the Pacific coast, laying the foundation for the United States to become an industrial country. foundation.

4. The rise of western cities

The westward movement promoted the rapid development of agriculture, industry, and transportation, and also promoted the process of urbanization in the United States. The original cities in the United States were mainly concentrated in the northeast. American scholar Eric Lampard believes that these cities are not the product of industrial development, but the result of the development of transportation and commercial trade. Such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, etc. At that time, the proportion of urban population in the country was very small. In 1790, there were only 200,000 people living in cities nationwide, accounting for only 5% of the total population. [5] With the advancement of the westward movement, the level of urbanization in the west has developed rapidly. According to statistics, the national urban population had a net increase of 1.15 million between 1820 and 1840, of which 1/5 was concentrated in the west of Appalachia. [6] As the population continues to move westward, population centers, commercial and transportation centers also move westward.

There are mainly the following types of cities in the west: The first type is cities developed from planned towns. These towns are first selected and purchased by land speculators, planned, and then sold to immigrants. With the macro guidance of the government, these towns Rapidly developed into large cities such as Marietta, Cleveland, Cincinnati, etc. The second type are cities that grew out of mining towns. Especially during the gold rush, many towns emerged, such as San Francisco, Denver, Virginia, etc. The third type is the cattle towns that originated in the Great Plains due to the long-distance cattle trade, such as Abilene, Caldwell, etc. The fourth type is due to the superior environment, developed trade and better cultural accumulation, which attracts more people to gather in cities such as Lexington and Nashville. The fifth type is railroad towns that appear near railroads. The construction of railroads facilitated economic development along the way, allowing many villages and small towns close to the railroad lines to develop into large cities, such as Pittsburgh. With the westward movement and the continuous advancement of industrialization, the proportion of urbanization in the west continues to increase. The continuous emergence of western cities has increased the proportion of cities in the entire United States, thus promoting urbanization in the United States.