Western Expansion and Its Influence on Social Reforms and Slavery

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Discussion
Works Cited

Introduction

The western expansion refers to the process whereby the Americans moved away from their original 13 colonies in the 1800s, towards the west which was encouraged by explorers like Lewis and Clarke. These explore braved nature and hostile American natives in order to explore the lands at the west. They were later followed by the settlers. The American colonists took one and a half-century to expanding colonists took fifty years to push their expansion up to the Mississippi River, (Counter.E.M, 1926).

The Americans were inspired by a notion that they had a manifest destiny which promoted their belief that it was their destiny to stretch across the American continent. Another reason for the expansion was the American’s search for cheap land, with the Texas edge of settlement being pushed by the year 1850. The expansion further extended to the Southwest and the Pacific Northwest. The ‘Manifest Destiny’ as a belief discouraged United States expansion from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean.

In the 1840s the Western United States (Texas, Oregon territory, and Mexican Cession ) was proposed to be annexed. The expansion era is also referred to as the “Age of Manifest Destiny”, from the end of the War of 1813 era to the beginning of the American Civil war. States that were first acquired by the Americans during the expansion include; Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio between 1791and 1803. After the 1812 war, expansion resulted in the statehood of Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Maine, and Missouri.

The expansion involved laying of siege, drafting of Acts to make expansion easier (for example Dawes Severalty Act), Impresarios, Overland trails, and building of trail roads. The Western expansion, in turn, affected social reforms and slavery in America. In this paper, the influences of western expansion on social reforms (women reforms) and slavery will be discussed.

Discussion

Social Reforms

Social reforms refer to the process that involves a gradual change in certain aspects of society. A society always holds particular views or opinions. However, these opinions may be challenged and changes advocated about them in society. The changes are undertaken through a gradual process that can also be referred to as social reforms. From the colonial era, both unmarried women and men enjoyed equal legal rights though the same law advocated for early marriage in women.

The social injustices to women before the Western expansion were many and very discriminatory. After early marriage, women lost the equal rights with men that they previously enjoyed before marriage. In addition, women were not allowed to vote during elections and their education rights were undermined by limitations to only reading, writing, music, needlework, and dancing. The western expansion brought with it social reforms to stop the above-mentioned injustices against women.

Social reforms made many women realize their unequal position in society during the Western expansion. Women were prohibited from speaking in any public place before the expansion. During the expansion, a Scottish lecturer and journalist Frances Wright visited America in the 1820s. This started off the social reforms in America with Wright speaking out about the social injustices against women.

This encouraged women to speak out about the injustices in their society. Wright further shocked her audiences by her views that not only advocated for women’s rights but also encouraged women to seek information on birth control and divorce issues. Wright’s public views made women realize that their rights are denied and they should take measures to fight for their rights.

Women by the 1840s drew up a declaration to demand equal rights to those of the men. American women formed a group that would forge the women’s rights movement led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. A women’s rights convention was organized at Seneca Falls in New York. This was the first women’s convention in the world. Delegates who attended the convention drafted a declaration, which demanded equality through the law. They demanded rights included the women’s right to vote.

Women were able to get equal opportunities in education with men. Initially, women were only allowed to learn how to read and write in addition to music, dancing, and needlework. While men were offered a chance to learn up to the higher levels of education, women were limited to only reading and writing. It was difficult for women to give their opinion on professional matters, unlike the men. With the Western expansion, women were able to fight for their rights to be educated and even secure professional employment later.

With an equal opportunity to education, women consequently demanded an equal opportunity to employment. When women were denied a chance to advance in education their employment was compromised too. With a good opportunity to get educated, women gained professional skills and knowledge that enabled them to secure professional employment.

Before the Western expansion, women had no right to own property in their own name. In 1848 Ernestine Rose pushed for the passing of a law in New York, which allowed married women to own their property under their name. The law referred to as the married women’s property Act led other state legislatures in enacting similar laws in their states. Women through these reforms were able to own property even though they were married.

Before the expansion women played no role in the election of the leaders. However in 1859 teamwork by Elizabeth Cady, Ernestine Rose and Susan B. founded the National woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). This movement was very instrumental in advocating for a constitutional amendment that would allow women to vote. The amendments to the constitution gave women an equal right to vote just like men. The Western expansion in the US played an important role in the social changes that prevented undermining of women’s rights and empowered them in the later years.

Slavery

A slave refers to a person who is denied his or her personal freedom and is compelled to work without pay. Slaves are held against their will and are either captured or purchased to work without leaving or receiving compensation for their labor,( James O.H et al.2005 ). A social-economic system that allows the use of slaves for labor is known as slavery.

The western expansion resulted in the settlement of the Americans to the West region. Agriculture in the already acquired lands demanded labor in the farms. Within the United States boundaries, slavery for life was legal from 1554 to 1865 (James O.H. et al 2005). In most cases, the whites held the black slaves though some native Americans and few blacks also held black slaves. Slaves were used in agriculture, with the majority of slaves being held in the Southern United States. According to a US census in 1860, 15 states that had legalized slavery held almost four million slaves. While slavery in the Northwest Territory was banned in 1787 through the Northwest ordinance, slavery continued in the South.

Western expansion contributed very greatly to the growth of the slavery system. Expansion by Americans led to the establishment of huge agricultural farms. The southern region of America encouraged slavery and fought against any measures that would end it. Slave labor as an economic factor made slavery very profitable in running the agricultural farms.

Earlier growth of the cotton industry and new inventions led to the Industrial Revolution that increased the demand for raw cotton. Consequently, new lands were opened through the expansion process after 1812 greatly extending land available for cotton cultivation. The owners of these agricultural lands increased the number of slaves in their farms while new farms brought in the slaves to provide labor.

Sugarcane production required intensive labor, which demanded labor that was easily provided by slaves. Slavery extension in the South continued with the rich hot lands of southeastern Louisiana providing ideal sugar cane profits. Tobacco growers took slaves with them after they moved to the west.

Slavery in agriculture from settlements in the west as a result of expansion in the 18^th and 19^th centuries caused Industrial Revolution. The establishment of industries encouraged high demands for raw materials. Cheap labor from slaves increased profits that saw further increase of industries to welcome industrial Revolution in the US.

Western expansion in the U.S caused the deaths of so many slaves. The slave owners and the overseers were authorized to whip and brutalize both the compliant and non-compliant slaves. Slaves were exposed to very hard work and only provided with inadequate and poor nutritional food. Furthermore, the agricultural plantations were located in mosquito-prone areas which resulted in many slaves’ death from malaria. The death toll of the slaves rose so much that the plantation owners opted to rent out slaves rather than own them,(Otton.. H.O,2004). The expansion was very influential in promoting slavery in addition to causing their deaths. The slavery system of owning slaves was also changed to the system of renting them to combat the high death rates of the slaves.

The expansion to the west by the Americans saw the rebellion by the slaves in the plantation farms. The slaves were normally treated very brutally by the farm owners which compelled the slaves to fight back. As owners switched to brutal methods of punishing slaves(trading their relatives for profit, punishment, or as payment to debts), slaves retaliated by killing the owners, burning their barns, killing their horses, and staging work slowdowns. The slave’s resistance later raised concerns for this system which later saved them from this brutal system (Blassingame. J.W,1977).

The slavery that was practiced during the 18^th and 19^th century, contributed greatly to the illiteracy of slaves even after the reconstruction when slavery was abolished. After Nat Turner’s rebellion, laws were put into place that prohibited the education of black slaves, free blacks, and children of blacks and whites. When slavery was abolished, illiteracy was identified as a major challenge for people seeking to join free enterprise and support themselves during reconstruction.

On the other hand, western expansion in the Northern region encouraged the banning of the slavery system. The Northwest Territory of the US banned the use of slaves to provide labor. Though the South continued with the slavery system, the banning of slavery through the Northwest ordinance reduced the number of slaves forced to work on farms.

At the beginning of the 19^th century, slavery became an issue of national concern. In the 1850s slavery system in newly found agricultural lands failed to be banned by the political leaders in the US. Eleven states left the US union and proclaimed themselves an independent nation after 1860. this was after the election of Abraham Lincoln as US president. These states included; South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. The Confederate later surrendered after the American civil war. Slavery was finally abolished in Dec 1865 through a congress ratified 13^th amendment to the US constitution. Though the Western expansion had led to the growth of the slavery system in the US it finally led to the abolishment of the same system.

Works Cited

Blassingame.J.W,1977.Slave Testimony: Two Centuries of Letters, Speeches, Interviews and Autobiographies. Louisiana State University Press. Louisiana.

Coutner.E.M,1926.The Civil War and Readjustment in Kentucky.pp.268-270.

James O.H and Loise.E.H.2005.Slavery and the Making of America.New York: Oxford University Press,p.7.

Otton.. H.O,2004.Historians and the extent of Slave Ownership in the Southern United States. Civil War History.

The Struggle for Equality: Abolitionists and the Negro in the Civil War and Reconstruction. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1964.

Outline of American History. 2005.

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