US territorial expansion 1783–1917 – territories, slavery, Native nations and the frontier
HistoryRevolutions & Industrial AgeAges 13–14
Loading…
Sign in to playA hand-drawn map of the United States with a year slider from 1783 to 1917. Four layers show each territorial acquisition and how it was made, the balance of free and slave states, the loss of Native nations' lands through removal, treaties and reservations, and the westward movement of settlement with the frontier line, the centre of population, trails and railroads. Click a region, state, route or event dot to read a short note.
Lesson: US westward expansion and Manifest Destiny
What it shows
Between 1783 and 1917 the United States grew from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific and beyond. Purchases, treaties, annexation and war added territory, while every new state reopened the conflict over slavery that ended in the Civil War. Native nations, who already lived on almost all of this land, lost most of it through wars, pressured or broken treaties, forced removal and reservations. The sim shows these processes on one map and timeline; see also the sims on the bourgeois revolutions (American independence) and the Industrial Revolution.
How to use
Press Run or drag Time. Choose a layer: Territory, Free and slave states, Native nations, or Settlement and transport. Click a coloured region, a state circle, a route or an event dot to read about it. Compare the chart of area and population, or of free and slave states, with the events on the timeline.
Parameters you can change
- Starting year on the timeline 1783–1917 year
- Map layer Territory, Free and slave states, Native nations, Settlement and transport
- Timeline playback speed 1–15 years/s
- Show labels on the map
Questions to explore
- Which acquisitions were purchases, which came from treaties, and which followed a war?
- Why did each new state make the conflict over slavery worse between 1820 and 1861?
- How did Native nations' lands change between 1830 and 1890, and what caused the changes?
