Of the selected events (The Lewis and Clark Expedition and The California Gold Rush) The California Gold Rush was the most impactful on Westward Expansion during 1800-1848. The expedition of Lewis and Clark also had a specific impact on this event, but the process taking place in the western lands was not fast.
The tour proceeded slowly due to cold winters, climate, and challenging conditions. The California gold rush proved to be a storm over the expedition as it allowed large numbers of people to come to San Francisco to mine gold. However, the events were not accompanied by purely economic changes: “Conflicts between the settlers and American Indians escalated to horrific violence when gold was discovered on American Indian land in California” (Myers, 2016, p. 29). Overall, the California Gold Rush had significantly impacted the West’s economy, ecology, and urbanization.
The ideology of Manifest Destiny, in turn, is well shown in the historical event associated with the expeditions of Lewis and Clark. “Their purpose was to discover the commercial possibilities of the new land and, most importantly, potential trade routes” (Corbett et al., 2014, para. 19).
They do not show cruelty and rudeness, and the Indians welcome them, although they do not always understand the intentions of white people. Lewis and Clarke are not warriors, but their expansionism and conquest go smoothly through compromises and offer the illusion of choice. It is similar to Manifest Destiny’s subsequent association with US foreign policy, rooted in soft influence through trade and the media, and always contained calls for peace, cooperation, and democracy. In the situation with the Lewis and Clark expedition, westward expansion is explained and justified by economic benefits and market diversity.
References
Corbett, P. S., Janssen, V., Lund, J. M., Pfannestiel, T., Waskiewicz, S., & Vickery, P. (2014). U.S. History. OpenStax. Web.
Myers, L. (2016). What affects have “Discovery”, “Westward Expansion”, and “Manifest Destiny” had on the indigenous peoples of North America and museum cultures today? [Master’s Thesis, University of Oklahoma]. Web.