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Period: to
1820-1850
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Missouri Compromise
stated that Maine would become a free state and Missouri would be a slave state to keep the balance in the government. Also it stated that all western territory West would be free. -
The Santa Fe trade
Commerce with Santa Fe had long been a goal of the American traders. Spain had forcefully resisted American penetration into their territories but when Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821, this exclusionary policy changed and American traders were now welcome in Santa Fe -
William Henry Ashley and the fur trade
In 1824, William Henry Ashley instituted the redezvous system, a yearly trade fair to which trappers brought their catch of furs which was modeled on traditional Indian trade gatherings. The event was a many-day affair characterized by trading, drinking and gambling. -
Oregon
The American settelement of Oregon provides an example of the stages of frontier development.The first contacts between the regions indian peoples and Europeans were commercial. these contacts and other initial contacts can be characterized as the "frontier of inclusion". In the settelement of Oregon this occured with the 1824 consolidation of the British fur trade at Fort Vancouver -
The Erie Canal
In order to open the country west of the Appalachian Mountains to settlers and to offer a cheap and safe way to carry produce to a market, the construction of a canal was proposed as early as 1768. However, those early proposals would connect the Hudson River with Lake Ontario near Oswego. It was not until 1808 that the state legislature funded a survey for a canal that would connect to Lake Erie. Finally, on July 4, 1817, Governor Dewitt Clinton broke ground for the construction of the canal. I -
Bank War
In 1833, Jackson moved to finish off the bank. Jackson ordered all federal deposits in the bank withdrawn. To do this, Jackson was forced to remove two secretaries of the treasury, eventually replacing Louis McLane and William J. Duane with the more agreeable Roger B. Taney. Despite the Senate's refusal to confirm Taney's appointment, during his nine months as acting Secretary, he carried out Jackson's orders. Jackson announced that effective October 1st, 1833, federal funds would no longer -
Nat Turner
Nat Turner started a slave rebellion on the night August 20, 1831. They killed 55. More than 40 blacks were executed including Nat Turner, and after the rebellion people began to fear that more rebellions would happen, which caused more force to be used to keep slaves in line. -
Samuel Morse and the telegraph
in 1832, Morse encountered Charles Thomas Jackson of Boston who was well schooled in electromagnetism. Witnessing various experiments with Jackson's electromagnet, Morse developed the concept of a single-wire telegraph. Which, changed American history, people could communicate within minutes or hours. -
the Republic of Texas
As the mexacin government restricted American immigration and outlawed slavery, American settelers discussed rebellion. In fall of 1835, war broke out and by may 14, 1836 Santa Anna signed a treatty recognizing the independence of the Republic of Texas. The mexican congress however, refuse to recognize Texas independence -
Manifest Destiny
After the panic of 1837, many politicians became convinced that the nations prosperity depended on continued westward expansion. Expansionism was deeply tied to politics.Most democrats supported westward expansion and whigs opposed it. -
Early American settelement
Johan Agustus Sutter, a Swiss who had settled in California in 1839 and became a Mexican citizen, would serve as a focal point of American settelement in the 1840s. the 1840s immigrants made no efforts to intermarry with the californios or to conform to Spanish ways.In June 1846 these Americans staged the Bear Flag revolt, declaring independence from Mexico. However the American takover of California wasnt final until 1848 -
Origins of war
In june 1845, Polk sent Zachary Taylor to texas and by october, a force of 3,500 Americans were on the Nueces River with orders to defend Texas in the event of Mexican invasion. Polk aslo secretly instructed the pacific naval squadron to seize the California ports in Mexico and declared war. -
Texas is annexed
Texas was annexed to the U.S. and caused people to worry about the balance of power of slave states vs. free states. This affects the years later by causing the war with Mexico which determined the U.S./Mexico border. -
Gold at Sutter's Mill
in January, 1848, James Marshall discovered gold flakes at Sutter's Mill. The east coast did not here about the discovery of gold until autumn 1848. thousands of people left their jobs and headed west to make a fortune. Known as "fourty-niners", they transformed a ranching paradise into a community in search of wealth. 80% of the fourty-niners were american. chinese immigrated to California in search of riches. -
Election of 1848
Lewis Cass was the democratic nominee for president in 1848. Cass proposed applying the doctrine of popular sovereignty to the slave-free issue. the doctrine of popular sovereignty simply shifted the issue from the national level to the state level and was deliberately vague about when and how a territory would determine its status as a free or slave territory. The whigs supported Zachary Taylor as their candidate, he was a slave owner from louisiana.
