INTRODUCTION

North America is a vast continent, but the early explorers could not have known exactly how vast. From the very beginning, however, immigrants to this new land began to think in terms of taking control of the entire land mass, even after they discovered that the continent already was populated with indigenous people. Regardless, three hundred years of European colonization of the Americas set the stage for a period of rapid westward expansion that resulted in the United States extending its influence "from sea to shining sea" in just a few decades.

This process of American territorial expansion was driven by many forces, and many other factors had to fall into place to make it possible. Many obstacles had to be overcome, too, so the story is one of human endeavor, endurance, and devotion to duty; the process was accomplished at a great cost to others as well, so it is just as much a story of human arrogance and cruelty.

Underlying much of this expansion was a notion called " Manifest Destiny." This is the idea that it was somehow proper, and even destined by some supreme being, that the United States would spread across the continent. It also was used by various Jacksonian Democrats to justify this expansion even when other countries and the continent's indigenous people had prior claim to those parts of it.

Many historians doubt this expansion could have been accomplished without several technological advancements such as the transcontinental railroad and the telegraph. Prior to the development of these technologies, messages and supplies could take months to make their way across the country. These technologies made it possible for the vast areas of the West to be controlled from the places of power in the East.