From Forgotten Continent to British Dominance After Columbus reached the Caribbean and Spain and Portugal split the non‑Christian world, Spain seized the gold‑ and people‑rich south while largely ignoring North America. England eventually established Jamestown and Plymouth as the French claimed the interior, and settlers multiplied along the Atlantic coast. The French and Indian War ended with Britain taking Canada and the eastern half of Louisiana while having spent heavily and turning to new colonial taxes. Resistance escalated into revolution, independence was declared in 1776, and victory secured it five years later.
Constitution, Louisiana, and the March to the Pacific A failing confederation gave way to the Constitution and Washington’s presidency, yet the United States remained small beside Spanish domains. Napoleon’s sale of Louisiana for $15 million doubled U.S. territory and secured Mississippi trade as the population surged westward. The U.S. bought Florida and encountered a newly independent Mexico whose sparse north drew settlers, leading to an independent Texas. Texas joined the Union, war with Mexico delivered the Southwest and the later Gadsden Purchase, and a deal with Britain fixed the Oregon boundary. In roughly fifty years, the United States spanned from sea to sea.
Westward Boom and the Reckoning Over Slavery Gold in California and free farmland in Oregon spurred rapid growth once the nation reached the Pacific, leaving no external frontier to claim. A deep divide over slavery set a free North against a slaveholding South, and Lincoln’s 1860 election triggered secession. The Civil War killed many, freed the slaves, and reunited the country. Soon after, the United States bought Alaska, adding another vast expanse.
Islands, Canal, and the Rise to World Power Debate over Hawaii’s fate and Cuba’s war for independence tested isolation as a mysterious U.S. warship explosion preceded war with Spain. The United States quickly captured Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, and during the war annexed Hawaii as an important naval base. After the president was shot, Theodore Roosevelt expanded naval power, failed to secure a canal deal with Colombia, and instead obtained permission from Panama. Completion of the Panama Canal in 1914 let the U.S. Navy shift swiftly between oceans, marking America’s emergence as a world power as World War I began.