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Rail Lines replace the canal building projects.
Railroads start to emerge as American's largest industry as they required lots of money and labor which gave rise to companies and organizations. -
Mexaco wants settlers to farm Texas
After Mexico won its independance from Spain, they wanted settlers to come farm its northern frontier of Texas. Moses Austin obtained a large land grant which his son, Stephen Austin succeeded with bringing 300 families into Texas and beginning a steady migration of settlers. -
Friction between Americans and Mexicans
When Mexico outlawed slavery and required all immigrants to convert to Roman Catholicism, Americans were upset. When Americans refused to obey Mexico's laws, they closed Texas to additional settlers. Many Americans ignored the prohibiton and streamed into Texas by the thousands. -
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Territorial and Economic Expansion
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Whale Boom
Demand for whale oil to light the homes of Americans caused a whale boom where New England Merchants took the lead. -
The populationof Americans is more than Mexicans
The population of Americans (white and black) were more numerous than the Mexacans in Texas by three to one. -
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Preemption Acts
They gave squatters the right to settle public lands and purchase them for low prices once the government put them up for sale. -
A Change in Mexico's Government
General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna made himself dictator of Mexico and abolished the nation's federal system of government. -
Revolt for Texas
Santa Anna insisted on enforcing Mexico's laws in Texas so a group of American settlers led by Sam Houston revolted and declared Texas to be an independant republic. -
Revolts and Independence
Santa Anna led an army to capture the town of Goliad and to attack the Alamo in San Antonio. They killed every defender in the Alamo but after the Battle of San Jacinto River, Santa Anna was captured by an army under Sam Houston. Santa Anna signed a treaty that granted Texas' Independance and granted a new republic north of the Rio Grande. When news of this reached Mexico City, the Mexican legislature rejected the treaty. -
Diplomatic Issues over the Boundary Lines of New Brunswick
Canada was still under the British rule and Americans still regarded Great Britain as their worst enemy. A conflict arose between rival groups of lumbermen on the Maine-Canadian border erupted into fighting. The conflict was resolved in a treaty negotiated by Secretary of State Daniel Webster and the British ambassador, Lord Alexander Ashburton. -
Protestant missionaries and farmers settled in the Willamette Valley
This caused 5,000 Americans to catch "Oregon Fever" and travel 2,000 miles over the Oregon trail to settle in the south of the Columbia River. -
Industrialization spreading
Industrialization had spread rapidly to the other states of the Northeast. -
John Tyler becomes President of the United States
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Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842
This treaty was signed so that the disputed territory was split between Maine and British Canada. This treaty also settled the boundary of the Minnesota territory. -
Americans want all of Oregon and to annex the Republic of Texas
Americans believe that it is their manifest destiny to control all of Oregon and annex the Republic of Texas and to try to pursuade Mexico to give up its province on the West Coast-California. -
The Election of 1844
Martin Van Buren opposed immediate annexation so John C. Calhoun challenged him. The dispute caused the democratic convention to deadlock the Democratic convention to deadlock until they finally nominated a dark horse, James K. Polk of Tennessee. -
New technology
An electric telegraph was demonstrated by Samuel F.B. Morse went in hand with the growth of railroads in speeding up communication and transportation across the country. -
President John Tyler's term is up
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Mexican California had a small Spanish-Mexican population of some 7,000
With the Mexicans were a larger number of Native Americans but American emigrants were arriving in sufficient numbers. -
Treaty Between Great Britain and the U.S. is submitted for ratification
Polk decided to compromise with Britain and back down with his campaign so he was willing to settle for just half of it. Because war had already broken out with Mexico at this time, Senate opponents of the treaty reluctantly voted for it. -
Proposal of Bill to forbid slavery in any of the new territories.
Pennsylvania congressman David Wilmot proposed that an appropriations bill be amended to forbid slavery in any of the new territories acquired from Mexico. This was called the Wilmot Proviso and it was the first round in an escalating political conflict that led to the civil war. -
John C. Fremont overthrows Mexican rule in northern California
He proclaims California to be an independant republic and bear on its flag---the so-called bear flag republic. -
The British claim Oregon territory because of the Hudson Fur Company
There were fewer than a thousand Britishers living north of the Columbia River. -
Zachary Taylor's force drives the Mexican army from Texas
Zachary Taylor led a force of 6,000 men to defeat the Mexican army by crossing the Rio Grande and having a victory at Buena Vista. -
Capture of Mexico City
Scott's army of 14,000 successfully took the city of Vera Cruz and then captured Mexico City. -
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo--Mexican Cession
This treaty was negotiated in Mexico by American diplomat Nicholas Trist which provided that Mexico would recognize the Rio Grande as the northern border of Texas and that the U.S. would take possesion of the former Mexican provinces of California and New Mexico by paying $15 million dollars. -
Discovery of Gold
Discovering gold in California set off the first of many migrations to the mineral-rich mountains of the west. -
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California's population soared from 14,000 to 380,000
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The Gold Rush in California
Gold rush in California later brought the gold and silver rushes in Colorado, Nevada, the Dakotas, and other western territories. it brought tens of thousands of men into the western mountains for the mining boom. -
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty
To keep keep each other frombuilding a canal through Central America, Britain and the U.S. signed the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. -
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Great American Desert
Immigrants passed over this vast and dry region to reach lands of the west coast. -
Grant for the Illinios Central railroad.
First federal land grant that granted 2.6 million acres of land to build the railroad from Lake Michigan to the Gulf of Mexico. -
Ostend Manifesto
After Franklin Pierce was elected president, he dispatched three American diplomats to Ostend, Belgium to secretly negotiate to buy cuba from Spain, but when it was leaked to antislavery members of congress, the president was forced to drop the scheme. -
Walker Expedition #1
William Walker tried unsuccessfully to take Baja California from Mexico. -
Gadsden Purchase
Mexico agreed to seel thousands of acres of semidesert land to the U.S. for $10 million. This land now forms New Mexico and Arizona. -
Trade with Japan
Commodore Matthew C. Perry convinced Japan's government to agree to a treay that opened two Japanese ports to U.S. trading vessels. -
Walker Expedition #2
Walker took over Nicaragua. -
Walker Expedition #3
Walker's regimed gained recognition from the U.S. when he developed a proslavery Central American empired which collapsed when a coalition of Central American countries invaded and defeated him. -
Panic of 1857
It caused serious drop in prices and increased unemployment in northern cities. Since southernors were mainly unaffected, this caused them to believe that plantation life was superior and that union with the northern economy was not needed. -
William Walker is executed by Honduran authorities.
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Traveling West
By the 1860s, hundreds of thousands had reached their westward goal by following the Oregon, California, Santa Fe, and Mormon trails.