Antebellum Western Migration and Indian Removal

Antebellum Western Migration and Indian Removal
           An interplay of social, political, and economic factors spurred the Antebellum Western Migration during the 19th century. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 contributed to the population spike and expansion of the economy westward. Nevertheless, with the extension of the American boundaries, expansion proponents and white settlers raised concerns over the social and economic development in America and saw the American Indian tribes along the east of the Mississippi River as obstacles to settlement. Indian tribes such as the Chickasaw and Choctaw in the west and Seminole, Creek, and Cherokee in the south appeared to stand in the way of America’s manifest destiny and progress (Smithsonian American Art Museum, n.d). The tribes occupied lands with economic potentials of animal and plant farming, timber and cotton harvesting, and a source of minerals for industrialization. White settlers had to pressure the government to buy lands from the tribes leading to the Indian removal from the area. With the justification of the manifest destiny, early interest in industrialization led to the westward expansion following the removal of the Indians from their native homelands. 
           The concept of “Manifest Destiny” was a selfish ideology that the American expansion and the removal of the Indian tribes were justifiable, divinely ordained, and inevitable. White settlers believed that the American Indians were unable to exploit their lands to their full potential as they only used large parcels of land for hunting, which was a waste. Therefore, the Americans fulfilled their manifest destiny by grabbing, settling, ...