United States:

Early Development
and Globalization
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Explain how the United States acquired its

geographic boundaries.
2. Examine patterns of immigration to and
migration within the United States through the
period of westward settlement.
3. Examine urban growth and its connection to
development of new forms of transportation.
4. Explain which economic patterns helped the
United States become the world’s largest
economy.
5. Consider how the concept of the American
Dream has been exported globally.
Early Development Patterns

With abundant resources and

opportunity, the original thirteen
colonies prospered and expanded into
what became the fifty US states.
The political geography of this nation
was a product of various treaties and
acquisitions that eventually resulted in
the country extending from the Atlantic
to the Pacific Ocean.
Fueling the expansion was the concept
of Manifest Destiny: the belief of some
Americans that the new nation was
divinely predestined to expand across
the continent.

The United States negotiated with

France for the Louisiana Purchase in
1803, acquiring millions of acres in Figure 4.5 Geopolitical Map of
the Creation of the United
the central United States. See Fig 4.5 States from the Atlantic to the
Pacific
Florida was acquired from Spain in
1819, and Texas was annexed in
1845.

The British sold portions of the

Pacific Northwest to the United
States, and the exact northern
boundary between the United States
and Canada was settled in 1846.
Through conflicts with Mexico, large
portions of the West were ceded to the
United States in the mid-nineteenth
century. Alaska was purchased from the
Russians in 1867 for only $7.2 million.
Alaska and Hawaii were the last two
possessions to enter into statehood, which
they did in 1959.
Manifest Destiny

The concept of Manifest Destiny

came from the works of John
O’Sullivan in 1839. O’Sullivan
wrote,
The far-reaching, the boundless future will be the era of
American greatness. In its magnificent domain of space and
time, the nation of many nations is destined to manifest to
mankind the excellence of divine principles; to establish on earth
the noblest temple ever dedicated to the worship of the Most
High—the Sacred and the True. Its floor shall be a hemisphere—
its roof the firmament of the star-studded heavens, and its
congregation an Union of many Republics, comprising hundreds
of happy millions, calling, owning no man master, but governed
by God’s natural and moral law of equality, the law of
brotherhood—of “peace and good will amongst men” (John L.
O’Sullivan).
As the United States developed, it acquired external
colonial possessions. With victory over Spain in the
Spanish-American War of 1898, the US government
gained control of the Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico,
Guam, and various Pacific islands. Cuba and the
Philippines later became independent countries, but
Puerto Rico and Guam continue to be part of the United
States.
Westward Settlement Pattern and European
Immigration

The thirteen original colonies are

often grouped into three regions,
each with its own economic and
cultural patterns.
How did the 13 colonies become 50 states?

The United States was formed as a result of the

American Revolution when the thirteen
American colonies revolted against the rule of
Great Britain. After the war ended, the U.S.
Constitution formed a new government. These
thirteen colonies became the first 13 states as
each ratified the Constitution.
The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the
Thirteen British Colonies or the Thirteen
American Colonies, were a group of British
colonies on the Atlantic coast of North
America founded in the 17th and 18th
centuries which declared independence in
1776 and formed the United States of America
The original 13 colonies were
1. Delaware,
2. Pennsylvania,
3. New Jersey,
4. Georgia,
5. Connecticut,
6. Maryland,
7. South Carolina,
8. New Hampshire,
9. Virginia,
10. New York,
11. North Carolina,
12. Rhode Island and
13. Massachusetts
Industrial Development
and Urbanization
The Industrial Revolution that began
in Great Britain in the late
eighteenth century eventually
moved across the Atlantic and took
hold in the United States.

Rapid industrial growth emerged in

the nineteenth century and was
focused in the northeastern United
States around the Great Lakes in an
area called the Manufacturing Belt
The Rust Belt is a region of the Northeastern
and Midwestern United States that has been
experiencing industrial decline starting
around 1980. ... Causes include transfer of
manufacturing jobs overseas, increased
automation, and the decline of the US steel
and coal industries.

What Is the Rust Belt? ... The region

received the name Rust Belt in the late
1970s, after a sharp decline in industrial
work left many factories abandoned and
desolate, causing increased rust from
exposure to the elements. It is also referred
to as the Manufacturing Belt and the
Factory Belt.
Manufacturing took place in the cities
and towns of the Manufacturing Belt.
Not until the second half of the
twentieth century did manufacturing
move to rural areas; until then, it was
almost entirely an urban activity.

As the United States went through its

Industrial Revolution, its population
shifted from being almost entirely rural
to being mostly urban. In 1790, only about
5 percent of the US population lived in
urban areas; by 1920, about 50 percent
lived in cities.
 Percentage Population
Year
Urban in Millions
As the rural to urban shift took 1790 5.1 3.9
place, the function and form of US 1810 7.3 7.2
cities also changed.
Year 1830
Percentage Urban 8.8 12.9 Population in Millions

1790 1850 5.1 15.4 23.2 3.9

1810 1870 7.3 25.7 38.6 7.2

1830 1890 8.8 35.1 63 12.9
1850 1910 15.4 45.6 92.2 23.2
1870 1930 25.7 56.1 123.2 38.6
1950 60 151.3

1970 73.6 203.3

1990 75.2 248.7

2010 82.0 308

US Population and Percentage Urban

From the colonial era until the late
nineteenth century, US cities
were walking cities. Because most
Americans lived on farms, cities
were small, compact, and centrally
oriented: everything was located
within walking distance.
Only wealthy people had access to
transportation by horse, and city dwellers
needed to live within a short distance of
where they worked, shopped, and carried
out all their activities.
Economic Changes
In the agricultural regions of the United
States, such as the Midwest, the
migration pattern has been caused by
changes in farm technology.

Portions of the United States were

opened up for agriculture because of the
Homestead Act of 1862, where each
person could receive 160 acres from the
government to start a farm.
For the purpose of understanding economic
geography, all economic activities can be grouped
into one of four categories, each with its respective
terms, depending on the nature of what is being
produced:

1. Primary economic sector activities include everything that pertains to the

collection of raw materials, such as agriculture, forestry, fishing, and
mining—in other words, growing and extracting activities.
2. Secondary economic sector activities involve the processing of those raw
materials through manufacturing, which has been the mainstay of economic
growth for most developed countries.
3. Tertiary economic sector activities are those that produce services, not
physical products.
4. Quaternary economic sector activities are those that deal with information
collecting and processing, as well as management.
 The tertiary sector makes up more than
three quarters of the US economy, as
measured by its share of the gross
domestic product (GDP), which is the
total value of all goods and services
produced in a country in a given year.
Economic Sector GDP (%)
Table 4.2 US GDP by Sector (2010 Data)
Agriculture 1.2
Industry and mining Economic Sector GDP (%) 22.2
Services Agriculture 1.2 76.7

Industry and mining 22.2

Services 76.7

These figures show that the

United States has shifted to a
postindustrial service economy.
Migration Patterns

The United States has not only

undergone a massive rural-to-urban
shift in its population;
intermigration within the United
States from one region to another
has also been prevalent.
A Detailed Map of the Net Migration Flows
Americanism and
Globalization
The freedom of personal expression in the
United States has supported individual
ingenuity and creative ambition to create
the largest economy in the world. US
citizens have pushed American
corporations to become a major force in
the world markets.
Products and franchises from the
United States are being distributed
throughout the world.

The English language dominates

the Internet, which has been
heavily influenced by US
corporations.
Many people worry about the future of the
American Dream. American culture continues
to evolve as people face changing economic
and social conditions. Over the course of their
history, Americans have faced both difficult
and prosperous times, and now the future of
this vibrant country is in the hands of the
current generation.
The United States has developed
into one of the most powerful
countries on the planet.

Will the American Dream continue

to motivate people in the future?
Only time will tell.