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Americans Followed a Simple Pattern
Throughout our Expansion...Upon arriving in America, the Europeans and the Wampanoags coexisted
peacefully. The Wampanoags helped the pilgrims to survive the harsh
winters and taught them ways to survive in the New World.
They also provided beaver skins to help the Europeans financially.

We cooperated when we were weak, and pushed
outsiders out of the way when we grew strong

As time progressed, the number of Europeans in America skyrocketed and the
Wampanoags were no longer necessary for European survival. Josiah
Winslow became governor of Massachusetts, and like many whites born
in America, believed that the Indians were a hindrance to European
expansion. Colonists began taking Indian lands by any means necessary,
forcing conversion on Indians, and trying Indian crimes in white courts.
This assimilate or die attitude led to King Phillip's war, a conflict where
the Indians, feeling as if they had no other choice, attacked white
settlements. to take their land back. This ultimately allowed whites to take
the land of the Wampanoags, a people who ensured their survival
in the New World.

The land we could not take, we bought The Louisiana purchase was one of the few land acquisitions American history
that didn't involve conflict or violence. In 1803, Napoleon needed money
to finance his wars in Europe. The America needed the water route to the
ocean but were unable to take it from the French, who had recently acquired it
from Spain as a peace offering. The French forbade America to use Louisiana
ports, and so the U.S. bought all the land between the Mississippi and the
Rocky Mountains for around $15 million, a total of almost 830,000 acres.

And when facing opponents of equal strength,
we sometimes ended up with no land at allIn 1812, America went back to war with Britain. Since Independence, tensions had grown
between the British and the Americans. British soldiers were reported to have interfered
with Americans in neutral waters, and America had attempted to pressure the British
economically with embargoes in American ports. The war hawks, who were primarily
young congressmen, supported the war to protect American honor and to win their own
glories against the British. When we went to war, the Native Americans, led by Tecumseh,
backed the British. Most battles occurred at or around the Canadian border near the Great
Lakes. Ultimately, no land was gained in the war, and it simply showed
the country was strong enough to handle Britain. The war also helped to unite America, in
that it led to the advancement of infrastructure and the construction or roads, railways etc.

But throughout history, when we were invited to share
land, we always chose to take it instead

Welcome to Mexico, Americans!

After Mexico won its independence from Spain, it was heavily underpopulated and
needed people to enforce the new borders that it had gained from its war. Americans
were invited into the area that is modern Texas by Mexico to take land for their own
on the conditions that they converted to Catholicism and swore allegiance to Mexico.
When Antonio Santa Anna became dictator of Mexico, the ratio of Mexicans to
Americans in Texas was around 35,000: 3000. They declared their independence in
1836, and brought Mexico into the union in 1845.

Even when we took the land, we were never satisfied with
what we had, because it was our manifest destinyPresident James Polk was an extreme expansionist who believed that it was
our "manifest destiny" to own all the land from the Atlantic to the Pacific
Ocean. In 1846, America entered into the Mexican American war to gain
the necessary territory since Mexico wouldn't sell it. The war lasted until
1848, in which time America advanced all the way to Mexico City.
The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo defined the boundaries of the U.S.
and Meixco. In the treaty, the U.S. took the land that became California,
Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and some of Colorado.

The transcontinental railroad was one of the largest steps in American history toward
uniting the country. The railroad made a trip across the country a journey of only
a few days, meaning that San Francisco and New York were closer than ever.
The railroad fostered towns all along its path. But the railroad also meant a danger
to the way of life of the Plains Indians. Bison, their key food source, were killed
in millions to feed crews and provide skins, and tribes often fought with the army
sent to protect workers on the rails.
Our expansion was the only concern, even at the cost
of other cultures and the world around us.

Because in the end, territory around America was
ours if we could get it, no matter the cost Once the transcontinental railroad was completed and towns began to form, the Plains
Indian tribes became a serious issue for the American government. Indian tribes
living in the Great Plains like the Sioux, Arapahoes and Comanches conflicted
heavily with workers on the transcontinental railroad. The government first made
treaties, and then simply passed legislation to force the tribes at issue into reservations.
These reservations were some of the worst land available, and if any resource of value,
like gold, was discovered the Indians were moved away from them to allow the
government to gather them.