National Expansion and Race in the Americas - Essay Example

Although the frontier in the name of unlimited free land provided opportunities to natives and non-natives, who were attracted in order to develop the lands of the frontier resulting in thousands of migrants who only succeeded because western farming promised unusual profits. But on the other hand, the democratic American frontier remain deprived of political and social institutions until the beginning of 1800. Many historians still believe that war and diplomacy were the major determinants behind extending the territory of the U.

S by securing control over the Mississippi River and removing the threat of foreign intervention in the Southwest. In fact, U.S decided to expand its frontiers due to the political threats from the English and French. When Canada along with the federal civilization democratic policy and the conquest of the Creek Nation opened land for white settlement, the government initiated the facilitation of the transfer of property on which federal tariffs on foreign sugar bolstered Louisiana's economy.

At the same time each of the Deep South states passed laws regulating the internal slave trade to ensure their desire for labor and security. People immigrated to America for many reasons among which the most common ones include starvation, war ravages and political influence in America and Europe. History suggests that the Westward movement initiated a new conflict over land rights that took place from coast to coast, while at the same time arising new issues over frontiers regarding occupation and settlement and included the borderlands of Mexico with the westward movement in Canada and Alaska.

Racism remained a prominent feature of Western expansion which resulted in evil forms of oppression among which deliberate racial extermination against aborigines in areas settled by whites was common. The economic transformation benefited frontier white Americans who had already utilize the traditions of an expanding capitalist system of private property and to some extent political and economic system. The settlement of trans-Mississippi West experienced a rapid pace of change in a short span of time and as compared to the Mexican frontier, witnessed many wars in less than a century.

Mexican frontier was followed with feudal political system with rare communicating modes with the outer world, ship and rail. Meanwhile, the French in Canada did their best to maintain their fur trade down the Mississippi river from where most of the revenue and trade went to Montreal, which portrayed America to be a large market for British goods (Dunn 2005, p. 5). In addition to the fur and land trade, African slaves were traded in order to work at tobacco and sugar farms. After taking control over American frontier, Illinois along with the French in Canada developed effective strategic processes from bringing fur from the frontier to Montreal.

This way Canada managed to be a leader in trade while America benefited from the Westward revolution through turning its attention towards agriculture and farming. Canada had greater advantage for it had forty portages between Montreal and Michilimackinac along with the advantage of Ottawa river. Since, Canada was exposed to harsh weather where the rivers often turn useless to be utilized, it left behind industrial progress as