Westward Expansion: How the United States Tried to Fill a Continent, 1776 - 2026 *Online* *NEW*

"From sea to shining sea." Heady words, considering the infant United States of America controlled but a section of the Atlantic seaboard in 1776. And there were fears in the early days that a large republic could never survive. Despite what maps seem to tell you, it wasn't a simple matter of buying or conquering land just west of whatever the nation already occupied. Expansion required a social, economic, legal, and even a military framework. The expansion could have taken other turns, and produced a nation much larger or smaller than the US we know. Notes, chronologies, and a bibliography will be provided.

Instructor: Brian Bixby