0601 Westward Unit Overview

In 1803, President Jefferson purchased the territory of Louisiana from the French government, thinking that it was the key to the nation’s health. Nearly 40 percent of the nation’s population lived in the trans-Appalachian West. Following a trial, most of these people had left their homes in the East in search of economic opportunity. In 1845, a journalist named John O’Sullivan put a name to the idea that helped pull many pioneers toward the western frontier. He believed that it was Americans’ “manifest destiny” to carry out the “great experiment of liberty”.