Introduction

Hi, I'm Kevin.

Wait, an assistant professor in American history here at Durham University.

Uh, and in this series of many lectures,

we'll be talking about the expansion of the

United States across the North American continent.

We'll learn how the U. S.

Went from a relatively weak nation that was largely

confined to the eastern seaboard of North America,

uh,

to a global power that conquered an entire

continent in a remarkably short span of time.

There are six many lectures in this series.

Um, first,

we'll be learning about the Louisiana purchase of 18 oh

three and the Foreign Policies of America's Founding Fathers,

notably Thomas Jefferson.

Then we'll move south to learn about encounters between white settlers and native,

um, Americans in the 18 tens, twenties and thirties.

Then we're moving west into Texas to learn about how Anglo American immigrants, uh,

basically detached Texas from Mexican control.

Then in the fourth lecture,

will learn about how the institution of slavery shaped questions about American

expansion and ultimately led to the bloodiest war in America's history.

Uh, and then we'll go into the post war period in the fifth lecture, uh,

to learn about the Plains Indians war.

Uh, and finally,

we'll conclude in the year 18 90 when the United

States virtually consolidated its control over the American West.

Uh, and before we dive into the actual content of the course,

I want to outline a few general themes and some key questions.

Uh, and in doing so, I hope that they'll, uh, help you wrestle with some of the, uh,

with what's really a big and a complex topic in American history.

America expanded west through three main factors. Really.

Uh, first through the power of the U. S.

Military as it forcibly seized land from Native Americans

and from the Mexican government.

Uh, second,

the US expanded through the the initiative of individual settlers as they

pushed westward onto the frontier and confronted native peoples on those lands.

And third,

the nation expanded through diplomacy and the

purchase of land from foreign powers.

And what's important to keep in mind here is that these three forces, the military,

individual settlers and diplomats weren't entirely

distinct from one another or discrete.

Often they work together

in conjunction to assure America's expansion across the continent.

But of course, this this expansion produced tensions.

Um, not only with the people that the United States attempted to take land from, uh,

but also between Americans themselves.

Actually,

um, the issue of expansion ran headlong into, uh,

the very values that America had enshrined in its founding documents.

The Declaration of Independence, for instance,

written by Thomas Jefferson in 17 76

decl where that quote,

all men are created equal and that they have the fundamental right to life,

liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Uh, these became the fundamental and we could we could say,

the Universalist values of the American Republic.

But, uh, these fundamental values produced attention.

How could America achieve control of the

continent without undermining these values without violating the

rights to life and liberty and happiness of the people that stood in America's way?

And this is really a question that vexed American

leaders really at every turn of the 19th century,

and it's a question as well See, that never really gets resolved.