America, the land of opportunity, a country that stretches from sea to sea. What if America stayed within its borders? the Appalachians to the east? Would America be the country it is and has been for the last 100 years? Westward expansion is why America is as unique and diverse as it is today; it gave hope to thousands of Americans and is why the American Dream or “Manifest Destiny” remains a reality even today. The westward expansion encouraged by Lewis and Clark that led to the Oregon Trail and was later supplemented by the California Gold Rush exemplifies the American Dream as people took the risk of leaving the East to seek new opportunities and/or wealth in the West, which helped make America the most important country. country that it is today. Lewis and Clark's journal accounts illustrate the American dream by describing beauty and conveying their enthusiasm for the new frontier. One of Lewis and Clark's accounts of their journey west was a visual observation as they looked "upon the top of these high lands the country is desert and open as far as can be seen" (Pendergast , 110). In the East and in Europe, most of the territory was at that time occupied by numerous civilizations and peoples who did not constitute a border. Their sighting atop the hill conveys the American dream of an open land where opportunity awaited those who dared. Lewis stated in his journals that he "promised the nation that I would inform his grandfather, the President of the United States, and that he would have them supplied with goods, and that he would mention in what manner they would be supplied” (Pendergast, 15). Lewis and Clark's journey across America would provide new resources such as crops and fuel to countless Am...... middle of paper ......gold rush One source primary History of the search for gold in California. New York: Rosen Publishing Group, 2001. Print. Karam, P. Andrew. “American Wild West: The Lewis and Clark Expedition.” Science and its times. Ed. Neil Schlager and Josh Lauer. Flight. 5: 1800 to 1899. Detroit: Gale, 2000. 9-12. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Internet. April 6, 2014. Lawson, Russell. “From The Oregon Trail (1846, by Francis Parkman).” Dictionary of American History. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. 3rd ed. Flight. 9. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. 222-224. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Internet. April 18, 2014. “Oregon Trail.” UXL Encyclopedia of United States History. Sonia Benson, Daniel E. Brannen, Jr. and Rebecca Valentine. Flight. 6. Detroit: UXL, 2009. 1185-1189. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Internet. April 10, 2014.Pendergast,Tom. Primary sources of westward expansion. Detroit: UXL, 2001. Print.