Geography has been a major factor in many important decisions of the United States government. Location, climate, natural resources, and physical features are some of these factors.
The Lewis and Clark expedition from 1804 to 1806 was the beginning of US expansion and therefore an important geographical decision. The construction of the Panama Canal was also major in that it would benefit the US for many years.
Manifest Destiny was a belief that the United States had a divine right to expand across North America. This superior feeling brought about the Lewis and Clark expedition. Prior to this, the United States began expanding west. Due to the Louisiana Purchase, the country doubled in size for a cheap cost. Napoleon and the French owned this giant mass of land. When the US sought after a key port, New Orleans, Napoleon agreed to give the entire area, known as the Louisiana Territory, to the United States. President Jefferson hoped to gain a port to trade with the gulf coast, the Caribbean, central, and south America. The nation didn’t know exactly what it was buying with all this new extra land, so Congress later agreed for a financing of an expedition to explore this unknown land.
The two men leading this expedition, Lewis and Clark, began their expedition in 1804. Setting out west, the exploration hoped to encounter new Native American groups. They did just that, and even befriended a Native American woman Sacajawea. She helped translate as well as find local resources. This was another goal of theirs- to find the natural resources the new territory had to offer. One major resource found was fur and even fertile land for agriculture. At the end of their journey, Lewis and Clark finally reached the Pacific Ocean and west coast. They finished mapping out the United States from coast to caost.
The Research paper on JKL International plc. International Human Resource
INTRODUCTION With the trend of globalisation, the number of multinational companies is constantly increasing as well as expatriates (Business Recorder, 2011). Expatriate management now is an essential issue of human resource department because it takes a large amount of budget from the corporation. It is inevitable for expatriates to face culture barriers in subsidiaries because of unique national ...
Native Americans would grow to resent the white settlers of America. The idea of Manifest Destiny and even white supremacy would cause the United States to try dominating all land they possibly can. The US would eventually push the Native Americans out of their homes and put them in less-than-desirable settlements. The government would take the land and give to settlers for home and farming land. When people failed or were not succeeding in the industrial east, they would travel to western lands to start a new life.
Another geographic factor was the Panama Canal. People from the United States had to travel around the entire land of South America just to reach the west coast of the US by boat. This journey was costly with both money and people- many peoples’ lives were taken by a hunger-filled and disease-prone travel. The United States decided to go into action and create a new way of quicker travel since no other option was available.
The government turned to Panama in southern Central America. It was the narrowest strip of land, so it was ideal to create a canal through it. At the time Columbia ruled Panama and the country did not allow the US to gain rights of the land required for the construction of a canal. The US decided to send in troops to organize a revolt amongst the people of Panama against Columbian rule. Panama was soon free and under the protection of the United States, who was given the land they needed to start building their man-made passageway. Constructing this canal gave jobs to many poor workers in Central and South America.
The Panama Canal was beneficial for the United States in that it provided quick and easy access between eastern and western coasts of the nation. Many thought that it would be helpful to have this waterway in times of war if troops needed to be sent across the ocean. The US also benefited from it by profiting from other countries. If other ships sought to use the canal for their benefits, they had to pay a price to continue through.
The Term Paper on The Panama Canal 3
... Hundreds of years before the Panama Canal was completed, people of many lands dreamed of building a canal across Central America. "As ... treaty with Colombia, the United States sent ships to Panama to protect the Panama Railroad. Marines landed in Colon, and prevented ... in 1913." [Jorden 284] The United States also guaranteed Panama's independence. The United States took over the French property in ...
In conclusion, many decisions made by the United States government dealt with geography. After the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark were sent to explore the land of its natural resources and location. The Panama Canal was created to increase trade and profits due to its location and transportation of natural resources.
