Geographic Factors That Influenced U.S Government Actions

Geographic factors often influence United States government actions, both foreign and domestic. Some of these factors include location, physical environment, movement of people, climate, and resources. Although these geographic factors can lead to increase in our countries land size and some positive outcomes, there are also chances for negative outcomes.

One action taken by the United States government that was influenced by geographic factors was the Louisiana Purchase. There were many historical circumstances that resulted in the government's action. Louisiana was originally owned by the French until France sold it to the United States. Thomas Jefferson bought Louisiana in 1803. The influence of this geographic factor occurred because as the United States had expanded westward, navigation of the Mississippi River and access to the port of New Orleans had become critical to American commerce. The purchase of the Louisiana territory, including New Orleans, was for $15 million. The acquisition of approximately 827,000 square miles would double the size of the United States. This also gave the United States control of the Mississippi River. This had a lot of impacts on the United States. It increased western expansion which was included in the Manifest Destiny. The Manifest Destiny was a 19th-century doctrine that the United States had the right and duty to expand throughout the North American continent. But, this expansion did lead to conflicts over slavery because as more states were added, it was a controversy over which states should be slave or free states. This led to the Missouri Compromise which made sure that when new states were added to the country, there was an equal amount of slave and free states. The purchase also increased trade with other nations because there were more useful resources and access to rivers and fertile land helped create necessary items to trade.

Another action taken by the United States government that was influenced