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Louisiana Purchase
President Thomas Jefferson buys the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million. This doubles the size of the United States and provides a large area to the west of the country for expansion. -
Lewis and Clark reach the Pacific Ocean
Explorers Lewis and Clark map out areas of the Louisiana Purchase and eventually reach the Pacific Ocean. -
Indian Removal Act
Congress passes a law to move Native Americans from the Southeast to the west of the Mississippi River. -
Alamo
During the Texas Rebellion, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's Mexican force of 4,000 troops laid siege to the town of San Antonio, where 200 Texans resisted, retreating to an abandoned mission, the Alamo. -
Oregon Trail
People begin to travel west in wagon trains on the Oregon Trail. Around 300,000 people would take the trail over the next 20 years. -
Gold Rush begins
James Marshall discovers gold at Sutter's Mill. Soon word is out and people rush to California to strike it rich -
The Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a major effort at quieting sectional conflict in pre-Civil War American politics. In terms of expansion, its most important clauses were those admitting California to statehood as a free state and dividing the remainder of the Mexican cession after the Mexican War into two sections, New Mexico and Utah, neither of which would be subject to restrictions on slavery. -
Transcontinental Railroad
Transcontinental Railroad - On May 10, 1869, the first transcontinental railroad was completed when the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads joined their tracks at Promontory Point, Utah. The railroad rapidly affected the ease of western settlement, shortening the journey from coast to coast, which took six to eight months by wagon, to a mere one week's trip. -
The U.S. Government
announces that the Western lands have been explored.