How soon after the Civil War was the West founded?

Question

California was considered a Union state...what happened to everything in between? Why were they not states yet?

Answer 1

westward expansion started when Europe setteled colonies in the Americas long before the Civil War.

If you mean, why was the area of the Lousianna Purchase not incorporated as states, its because the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 required certain population quotas before an area could apply for statehood - which california achieved quickly.

also, the fact that the Senate and Congress remained evenly divided for decades in terms of slave and free states meant the delay of many states admissions, as well as a number of "compromises (of 1820 for example)" that allowed one state in as a slave state and another as a free state to keep an even balance of pro-slavery and anti-slavery votes..

Answer 2

From Wikipedia: "American Old West
Major settlement of the western territories by migrants from the states in the east developed rapidly in the 1840s, largely ... through the Oregon Trail and the California gold rush of 1849; California experienced such a rapid growth in a few short months that it was admitted to statehood in 1850 without the normal transitory phase of becoming an official territory. The largest migration in American history occurred in the 1840s as the LDS people left the midwest for the safety of the West. The 1850s were marked by political controversies which were part of the national issues leading to the Civil War, though California had been established as a non-slave state in the Compromise of 1850; California played little role in the war itself due to its geographical distance from major campaigns. In the aftermath of the Civil War, many former Confederate partisans migrated to California during the end of the Reconstruction period."

It seems that there is a different story for each state and how it became a state. Territories were becoming states from 1787. eg.Nevada, 1864; Kansas 1861; Oregon 1859; etc.

Answer 3

Westward expansion began before the Civil War, somewhere around 1840 i do believe. They werent states because they were so far away from the center of the government, which isnt a problem now but think that they had no phones or any other way of communicating that didnt take months to arrive to its destination. I'm also not sure if we truly owned all the territory at that point.

Answer 4

there were area that people lived but until after the civil war and more and more people started migrating towards the west none of the specific states were formed. As people settled in the areas then they started forming cities, states, and towns.

Answer 5

Travelling west was a means to get to California and gold until the railways opened up the west. Until the railways, few people settled west of the Mississippi. The railway companies were paid, in part, by land grants along their rights of way, so it was in their interests for settlers to come and take up that land. Without the railways there was no easy way to get produce east.

The railway companies made a few minor exaggerations to get people to settle.

Answer 6

the west was there before the civil war . my opion?