How Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny Effected The U.S.

Were the events that
took place in the 1800’s, and westward expansion beneficial for the U.S. and
its future? Or was westward expansion just a negative to the U.S. and its
future? The 1800’s in American history was a time period of change and benefits
for the U.S. It was when many events took place. For example, Thomas Jefferson
purchased the Louisiana territory. Many settlers moved west because of the gold
rush of 1849, and the Homestead Act. Also
many railroads were built, so now produce, meats, and people could travel from
place to place, faster. Furthermore, railroads redistributed the population,
carried homesteaders into the Great Plains, and opened the U.S. to settlement.
Lastly it was when westward movement affected the Native Americans the most.
Back in the 1800’s it was America’s Manifest Destiny to “conquer” and claim the
land in the west.

Why settlers moved westward.

Thomas Jefferson wanted to buy New Orleans because it was
west of the Mississippi (good for farming) and was where a lot of trading took
place. So Thomas Jefferson sent James Monroe to offer 7.5 million dollars to
buy New Orleans. Napoleon was on the brink of war with Britain, so he decided
to give an offer they couldn’t resist, to give all of the Louisiana Territory
for double the price (15 million). On 1803, April 30th, Thomas
Jefferson accepted Napoleon’s offer and purchased the Louisiana Territory from
Napoleon for 15 million dollars (HA 202-203). After acquiring
all this land, the Americans decided since they were all “squished” northeast,
to move westward. But to lure even more people to move west, there was the
Homestead Act. The Homestead
Act was passed in 1862, and as stated in the Homestead Act, any person that is
the head of a family, at least 21 years old, and was a citizen of the United
States could receive 160 acres of public land by just paying a fee (AJ 534). This attracted
farmers because of all the farming land, and if enough farmers moved west, and
“made” farms, there is a possibility of a surplus of food. Another reason why
settlers wanted to move westward was because of the 1849 gold rush. The gold rush attracted over 100,000
people, and significally increased California’s population. (in 1848 the
population of California was about 20,000, and in just 4 years the population
skyrocketed to more than 220,000.) Many people who moved west hoped to later
on, fulfill their vision of the godly life (AJ 376-378). (Basically
becoming “rich” and owning a lot of land). Lastly, thousands of settlers moved west because of 1 economic
deal of buying land: (more specifically buying land from the Burlington and
Missouri River R.R. Co) low prices (Doc 3)

The impact of railroads on the development of the west.

During the 1800’s a new
way of traveling had been invented and used. Trains. Railroads became a big
part of the west as it
redistributed the population, helped transport people and materials faster, and
affected the way people thought of time. (AJ 554) In addition, 4 new improvements
were made. The first one by
George Westinghouse, he invented air brakes which improved the system for
stopping cars. The second one by Eli H. Janney, who made it easier to link cars
together. A third one by Gustavus Smith, who invented refrigerated cars, which
allowed people to transport meats. And a last one by George M. Pullman, who
invented the Pullman sleeping car, which was a luxury railway car with seats
that converted into beds(AJ 553) Also The U.S purchased the Gadsden
Purchase which was an area that was flat and good for railroads. So it was used
to connect California to the east. Lastly people took the passage on the railroad from Omaha to San
Francisco, because San Francisco had
lots of land to farm in, very fine timber, and the best kept land.(Doc
6)

Impact of westward movement on the lives of Native Americans

Since the U.S acquired
Oregon (the U.S and Britain
were fighting over who should get the land because Lewis and Clark (American)
were the people who explored all of that area. And Britain explorers discovered
the Columbia River (AJ 355-356). So to make it fair, both the U.S. and
Britain agreed to split the land at the 49th parallel. The land
below the 49th parallel was for the U.S. and the land above is
Britain’s.) And Native Americans lived on the Americans land, they too wanted
to move west. So later when the Native Americans (some of them) lived in
Oregon, lots of non-native
American settlers started moving to Oregon as well (from 1805 to 1900, the
non-native population increased by about 95,000 people. It mainly spiked between
1841 to 1870) (Doc 1) so Native Americans Started to move out. Also
westward movement affected
the Native Americans when they got in a war with the U.S. All their chiefs were
killed, and their people were starving and freezing to death (Doc 7)

In Conclusion, the
1800’s was when America “evolved” and adapted the most, and also when America
gained new technologies like trains, when many settlers moved west, and when
Native American movement affected the Native Americans the most. This time
period was when America’s manifest Destiny came into play the most, and America
acquired a lot of land. Without what happened in the 1800’s, America would not
be what it is today.

The Guidance Counselor

The Guidance Counselor

By Kiran.C

Monday, before announcements, Mrs.Chang called me over to her desk and
conferenced with me about Tyler. “I know Tyler has been teasing you about he
thinks you are, but I know that you’re a good student, and you’re not what he
says. I will talk to the guidance counselor, and she’ll settle this.” had
feared guidance counselors, thinking that they were really strict, but I knew
that she was going to be on my side, and she was going to talk face to face to
Tyler, so I knew that this would be the best way to end this. I told my teacher
that I would like to settle this with the guidance counselor.

Later the guidance counselor arrived at our
class room, and told my teacher that she needed to “borrow me and Tyler”, Tyler
just got up and headed towards the door as if he was going to recess while I tapped
my foot nervously, not because I was scared of the guidance counselor (I had
gotten over that now) but because this was my first time with an guidance
counselor, and didn’t want Tyler to get even more angry with me because I told
on him, but I was happy at the same time knowing that I was not the one in
trouble, and that this “madness” was going to end once, and for all. I stood up
with what seemed my “rubber legs” and headed towards the door with no
expression on my face.


When we were in her office, she introduced herself, then she asked for
his name, looked at his records on her computer, then she told me to wait in
her office till she got Tyler. I waited, and waited and waited, tapping my foot
against the, hard, scratchy, carpet, it felt like 5 minutes, ten minutes maybe
even half an hour, finally she arrived. She talked to Tyler and explained to
him about what he was doing. “Tyler, I know that you’re in A&E, and that you
should be glad, and enthusiastic that you are so, but just because you are,
doesn’t mean that you should put down anyone who isn’t considered “smart” to
you. Tyler finally understood how I felt, but she said even though Tyler said
that he would stop, there would still have to be consequences, so she made him
come to her office every day for once a week (he would bring his lunch there).
“Really?” Tyler whined. “I guess so Tyler, sorry Tyler” sighed Ms.Gallach.
Tyler put his head down then looked at me with an annoyed look, “uh oh” I
thought. Then she sent us back to our classroom with a pass.

“Ok everyone, its 11:48, clean up, put your projects in the bin, and you
can go, have a nice lunch!” “Sorry man, yeah, I know how you feel, my older
brother treats me the same way I treated you, I have so much anger, well it
seems I took it out all on you, hope you can understand. “Whoa, is it me, or
did Tyler just apologize?” He said it without taking any breaths of air, and
took a big gulp of air at the end, so it also seemed like he was really trying not
to say it. If you know Tyler he is not that type of person. “Um…. sure, I guess I could let you go, this time,
but let’s get going, or were going to be late for lunch!” I said.

The Tall Tale Of Texas

The Tall Tale Of Texas

By Kiran.C

Stephen
Austin set foot on the prized “Lone Star State”. His intentions were to carry
out his father’s dream of creating a successful cotton colony in Texas. Farming
in such colonies would strongly enhance the economy by creating new jobs and
increasing the amount of resources.

By setting foot onto Texas, which was owned by the Mexicans, they had to abide by
certain regulations. They followed rules such as changing their religion to be
Catholics, and to be hard working citizens. Or at least they pretended to. By
donning the mask of superficiality, they kept the Mexicans happy and deluded.
As time progressed these rules became so harsh that there rules were impossible
to follow. This caused the Americans to deny their promise of changing their
religion and to be industrious citizens.

Due to the defiance of the Americans, the Tejanos (the Mexican settlers) were
filled with rage. The Tejanos displayed their fury by informing General Antonio
López de Santa Anna to ambush the Americans. Suddenly, the sky was filled with
the sound of gunshots and the cries of men. Bloodshed and the bodies’ fallen
men, woman and children occupied the vicinity. Suddenly the disconcerting
feeling of corpses surrounded the grounds of Texas. This calamity was known as
the Alamo.

Furthermore,
the Americans were to defuse the controversy with the Mexicans. An ethical man
by the name of Sam Houston was the hero to the many victims of the Tejanos and
general Santa Anna. He comprised an army to attempt to defeat General Santa Anna. He believed that it was manifest to avenge
his fellow companions whom were lost in the hostile ambush by General Santa
Anna. As the Americans stepped onto the battlefield, they were well armed,
determined to receive vengeance on those whom purloined the lives of other
precious family members. The rain of gunfire draped the battlefield, and the
lives of many were compromised. The odors of the fallen have drenched the
region. Even though the lives of many had been seized they received the
acquisition of Texas and avenged those whom have been demised.

What Are Newton's Laws?

What Are Newton's Laws?

By Kiran.C

What are Newton’s
Laws, why must things that go up come down, why is it when we throw some thing
it eventually has to stop? This is all due to motion and design and natures
forces. Motion and design is a multitude tests and experiments in which we
leaned about Newton’s laws aerodynamics by using kne’x {a building device} with
a self propelled propeller and wheels, we also learnt how the design can and
will affect the motion {if the design is not aerodynamic there will be friction
between the object and air which leads to drag.} So as my title state’s lets
talk about Newton’s
laws, wonder why they call it a law? Its because it is what motion will always
do, it wont ever “break the law.”


The first Law seems to violate everyday experience {also
known as the law of inertia} state’s that “Once an object is at rest, it will stay
at rest, and an object in motion will stay in motion, unless acted of by
another force.” An example of this is when: a hockey puck is still it
won’t just move by its self unless another force or object that is in motion
moves it, and when some one hits the hockey puck it will be in motion, but object,
and another force {such as Gravity, Friction, Inertia, and drag created by
aerodynamics} can and will stop it. Here is the scientific equation for it “F = m x a.”
F stands for force, M stands for mass, and A stands for acceleration. So all
together it adds up to Force = Mass x Acceleration. This can also apply to the
second law.


The second law states that “When
a force acts upon an object, the object will start to move, speed up, slow
down, or change direction in direct proportion to the magnitude of the force
and inversely proportional to the mass of the object.”
Here is a somewhat complicated example: imagine we are having a game of
hockey, when someone hits the puck lightly to a teammate next to him it won’t
go suddenly 10 yards, because he is hitting it lightly so it will move lightly,
neither will it not move at all. When you hit the puck lightly it will move a
short distance; if you hit it hard it will move a large distance, and so on it
will follow this sequence even when you change direction.






Finally Newton’s
third Law states that “to every action there is always an
opposite an equal reaction.”
Here is another great example: when you jump you push down so an opposite thing
happens and you go back up according to how much downward force you used.

{Newton's third law. The skaters'
forces on each other are equal in magnitude, but act in opposite directions.}

Here is another
one, both of them are pushing against each other with the same amount of force
so again the opposite happens and its like both are pushing a wall. Unless some
one uses more force, and it is unbalanced, so one will fall and one will
prevail! A arm wresle has to do with the same thing as shown above.


I am simply
trying to say that the design of an object affects its motion, but I can write
on and on so I can not say this is the end either

D.A.R.E.

The Following Essay is on D.A.R.E. (Dare to resist drugs and violence)

D.A.R.E.
{Kiran.C}

{D.A.R.E. to Resist Drugs And Violence}

D.A.R.E
was made very funny and interesting program; the cop
made learning fun! I feel great now that I
know how to get out of a multitude of sticky situations I have encountered in
the past. We also learn’t many strategies to avoid “trouble”, and be drug and
violence free, here are a few: you can just avoid the situation, or you also overpower
them with more people on your side, maybe even just walk away from the
situation, Or you can just ignore them, again…… you could just say “NO!”, or if
someone dares you to do something dangerous like “jump of a slide backwards”,
you could say”Nah, I want to keep my brain cells”, even just change the
subject, maybe even act like a broken record and say ”NO!, NO!, NO!”. But your
last resort is to use humor. Don’t say anything that might get you punched in
the nose. And don’t forget to dare your self to resist drugs and violence.


I learnt that once you use tobacco, marijuana, alcohol, or even
inhalants {and more}, it can and will effect your body for a long time creating
serious health risks to your body. They even add addictives to some things
witch makes it even worse because then you will want to have more, and more and
MORE! One of these addictives is nicotine. This made me happy now that I know
will happen to me and that will prevent me from drugs and violence {I am very
jovial about it} I have learned all the effects of these drugs too

Here is one meteoric skill I have learnt to use when some one is
trying to get me to do something you can apply it to almost any thing in life.
Here it is:



D=Define {Describe the problem, challenge or opportunity.}
.
A=Assess {what are your choices?}
.
R=Respond {make a choice. Use the facts and information you have
gathered.}
.
E=Evaluate {review your decision. Did you make a good choice?}
.
=D.A.R.E. {dare to resist drugs and violence.}


I {Kiran.C} forever pledge to make wise decisions about
alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.

Truly………..Kiran.C