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Original United States - Treaty of Paris 1783
Treaty terms included British recognition of American independence; American fishermen’s right of access to Newfoundland's Grand Banks and other Canadian waters; and Britain's cessation of all territory between the Allegheny Mountains and the Mississippi River, doubling the size of the new nation. The US agreed to try to end the persecution of Loyalists and restore their property confiscated during the war. Both countries agreed to not block creditors seeking to recover debts owed. -
Louisiana Purchase Treaty
United States purchased 828,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million. For roughly 4 cents an acre, the United States doubled its size, expanding the nation westward and obtained the valuable port of New Orleans. -
Florida - Adam-Onis Treaty
A treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819 that ceded Florida to the U.S. and defined the boundary between the U.S. and New Spain. It settled a standing border dispute between the two countries and was considered a triumph of American diplomacy. It came in the midst of increasing tensions related to Spain's territorial boundaries in North America against the United States and Great Britain in the aftermath of the American Revolution. -
Texas Annexation
In 1844, Congress finally agreed to annex the territory of Texas. On December 29, 1845, Texas entered the United States as a slave state, broadening the irrepressible differences in the United States over the issue of slavery and setting off the Mexican-American War. -
Oregon Treaty
President Polk reasserted his campaign promise to support the 54° 40' line and announced American intent to terminate the joint occupancy agreement. Shouts of "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight!" made it clear that the US wanted Oregon, but both countries were adverse to conflict. In June 1846, the Senate, preoccupied with war against Mexico, quickly approved the Oregon Treaty with Britain, setting the boundary at the 49th parallel. -
Mexican Cession - Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The “Mexican Cession" refers to lands surrendered, or ceded, to the United States by Mexico at the end of the Mexican War. The terms of this transfer were spelled out in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848. To the United States, this massive land grab was significant because the question of extending slavery into newly acquired territories had become the leading national political issue. -
Gadsden Purchase (Treaty)
The agreement between the United States and Mexico finalized that the United States agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for a 29,670 square mile portion of Mexico, later part of Arizona and New Mexico. Gadsden Purchase provided the land necessary for a southern transcontinental railroad and attempted to resolve conflicts that lingered after the Mexican-American War. -
Indian Territory
Indian country describes a land area set aside for the relocation of American Indians; however, this territory was often an unorganized territory whose general borders were initially set by the Indian Intercourse Act of 1834 and reduced in size as various territories were created by the US Government. The 1907 Oklahoma Enabling Act created the single state of Oklahoma by combining Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory, ending the existence of an Indian Territory.
