Jennifer Silva Unit 11 Essay Was Westward Expansion Ethical?

March 29th, 2013

A Journey Of Injustice

Alexis De Tocqueville once wrote Slavery is theft -- theft of a life, theft of work, theft of any property or produce, theft even of the children a slave might have borne. (De Tocqueville, 1835) This theft could have ended or been avoided if it wasnt for the westward expansion. During 1803 to 1848 United States expanded west for more resources. The area the United States expanded to was home to the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole nations. Westward expansion was unethical although some might argue otherwise. Slavery expanded, many Indians died, and most Native Americans were forced out of their own land, as the result of the westward expansion. First, slavery expanded along with westward expansion. For example, in 1845 Florida was admitted into the union as a slave state. (History.com, 2013) Slave owners wanted to take over Florida because slaves sometimes ran away to Florida. Some of the runways slaves were accepted and welcomed by the Seminoles Indians before United States took over. (TCI, 2002) Annexation of Texas was unnecessary, United States didnt take over Texas because they had to, but because they wanted to. (Sanchez, 1828) Texas also became another slave state after a while. (TCI, 2002) The purchase of Louisiana was the beginning of the westward expansion but it was also the beginning of slavery expansion. (Hyslo, 2009) Westward expansion not only expanded

slavery but it also took way territories where slaves could be free and be their own ruler. Native Americans were mistreated by the United States while expanding, and that was completely unethical. For example, in 1818 Andrew Jackson was sent to Florida by President Monroe to end the Seminole raids, but he decided to do it his way, and killed seminoles Indians by hanging some of the Indian prisoners and firing at them. (John Adams, 1818) That wasnt the only unethical thing he did; he also replaced the Spanish governor with an American; he captured nearly every military post in the colony. (John, 1818) Also in 1830, the Indian removal act was signed by Andrew Jackson. (TCI, 2002) According to the act, Natives in the southern states were to move to federal territory west of Mississippi River in exchange for their homelands. Jackson promised the Tribes protection and a new land where they could govern themselves. (USC, 1830) The presidents main goal was to remove the remaining Indians to the new territory in the west. (TCI, 2002) The congress told the Cherokees they had two years to move west.Cherokees petitioned congress to reconsider the treaty that would get them removed but the congress just putted aside. (PBS, 2009) In may 26 1838, federal troops began removing Cherokees out of their land by force, not even giving them time to grab their belongings.(PBS, 2009) The Cherokee people called this journey the "Trail of Tears," because of its devastating effects. They faced hunger, disease, and exhaustion on the forced march, it was a long and painful journey. The march was unbearable because of the winter storms and frozen river. (PBS, 2009) The Trail Of Tears resulted in 4000 deaths. They buried 14-15 cherokees every time they stopped

to rest. (PBS, 2009) This was highly unethical because Native Americans didnt deserve to be treated the way they were by United States.. Westward expansion didnt only affect Native Americans, but it also affected Mexicans. For example the Mexican American War of 1846. United States invaded Mexico and instigated war with Mexicans. (TCI, 2006) After Mexicans soldiers fired on American troops, President Polk used it as an excuse for war. (TCI, 2006) United States took over Mexican cession and divided it into different states, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona.US troops were becoming hard to control during the war, soldiers got drunk and attacked Mexican villages and also raped women. They also fired shells on the Coastal city of Veracruz and killed many civilians. (Howard, 2006) Also Mexicans now had Native Americans being forced southward by American settlers, moving in on their farmland. This was unethical because americans werent only taking over lands but they were hurting innocent people and mistreating them. During the westward expansion period many people were mistreated , enslaved and many people died. Its reasonable for some to argue that the expansion was ethical since Americans used diplomacy to acquire some of the lands, and also US expanded. However more bad things came from the expansion than good. What seemed to be a good plan at first turned out as the destruction of thousands of people.