Americans who favored territorial growth across North America were called expansionists.
Explanation:
Territorial expansion is one of the most important characteristics of the historical development of the United States. In its first hundred years of life the American nation experienced an impressive territorial growth. The Thirteen original Colonies expanded to become a country trapped by two oceans. This was a complex process that occurred through the annexation, purchase and conquest of new territories
, that was favored by a large part of the society.
It is necessary to clarify that the American territorial expansion was something more than a simple process of territorial growth, since it was associated with cultural, political, ideological, racial and strategic elements. Expansionism is a vital element in the history of the United States, present from the very moment of the founding of the first British colonies in North America. This was considered an essential element in the first hundred years of the history of the United States as an independent nation, since it was seen not only as something economically and geopolitically necessary, but also as an expression of the American national essence.
We must not forget that the foundation of the thirteen colonies that gave life to the United States was part of a broader historical process: the European expansion of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. During that period the main nations of western Europe set out to explore and conquer shaping vast empires in Asia and America. One of those nations was England, the metropolis of the thirteen North American colonies. That is why American expansionism can be considered, to some extent, an extension of English imperialism.
