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The United States paid 15 million dollars to acquire the territory of Louisiana, which extended west from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, from the French First Republic. Napoleon, the leader of France, was in financial trouble due to the war, so he was willing to sell a large amount of land for a small price.
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Lewis and Clark, co-leaders of this expedition, set out to begin exploring America's newly acquired Louisiana territory.
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The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and Great Britain over the impressment of American sailors by the British navy, along with disagreements over westward expansion, trade, and Native American policy. The war ended inconclusively after three years of fighting.
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The Erie canal, also known as "The Nation's First Superhighway", was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. It reduced the costs of transporting people and goods across the Appalachians. The canal accelerated the westward expansion of the United States along with the settlement of the Great Lakes region.
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Construction of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad began. This was the first public railroad created in the United States. It was a major factor in westward expansion. It made trade easier, quicker, and less expansive. This was the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
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Gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill located in California. The word that gold had been discovered was spread around the world. When Americans heard this news, thousands of people quickly moved to California, leaving everything behind, in hopes of becoming rich from gold,
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The Gadsen Purchase was a 29,640 square-mile region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. The United States acquired this land from Mexico for 10 million dollars by the Treaty of Mesilla.
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The Civil War was a major conflict between the North and the South, or the Union and the Confederacy. The war began over the expansion of slavery in the western states and the preservation of the Union. The war ended when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
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Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest and most remembered presidents in America, was elected in 1860 just before and during the Civil War. Soon after he was elected, South Carolina seceded from the Union and then followed by the Civil War.
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Eleven states had seceded from the United States, forming the confederate states. One day later, Jefferson Davis was elected as president of these states.
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President Lincoln was shot while attending a play at the Ford's Theater by John Wilkes Booth. He was marked as the first president of the United States to be assassinated.