Originally the US expanded quite slowly, due to difficulties in travel and surveying. States were small and communities were close together, about as far apart as a person could walk in a day. At the end of the 1700s, it was only about as big as the blue area in the post above. But in the 1800s, after the Louisiana Purchase, we began to very aggressively expand westward. The construction of the Intercontinental Railroad helped immensely, and towns were being built almost faster than they could name them. The government began giving away land for cheap or sometimes free for anyone who could develop it. Native Americans were forced off their land and onto reservations. State borders became straight lines encompassing vast areas.
Originally the US expanded quite slowly, due to difficulties in travel and surveying. States were small and communities were close together, about as far apart as a person could walk in a day. At the end of the 1700s, it was only about as big as the blue area in the post above. But in the 1800s, after the Louisiana Purchase, we began to very aggressively expand westward. The construction of the Intercontinental Railroad helped immensely, and towns were being built almost faster than they could name them. The government began giving away land for cheap or sometimes free for anyone who could develop it. Native Americans were forced off their land and onto reservations. State borders became straight lines encompassing vast areas.