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Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone is one of the most widely known American frontiersmen. Boone’s fame stems from his exploits during the exploration and settlement of Kentucky. -
Eli Whitney & the Cotton Gin
By the mid-19th century, cotton had become America’s leading export. Despite its success, the gin made little money for Whitney due to patent-infringement issues. -
The Louisianna Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase (1803) was a land deal between the United States and France, in which the U.S. acquired approximately 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million dollars. -
Lewis & Clark Expedition
In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson guided a splendid piece of foreign diplomacy through the U.S. Senate: the purchase of Louisiana territory from France. -
War of 1812
James Madison is considered to be the "Father of the Constitution," but it was the War of 1812 that ultimately defined his presidency. -
Indian Removal/Trail of Tears
By the mid-19th century, cotton had become America’s leading export. Despite its success, the gin made little money for Whitney due to patent-infringement issues. -
Marcus and Narcissa Whitman
In 1836, American missionary Narcissa Whitman (1808–1847) became the first woman of European heritage to cross the Rocky Mountains into the western United States. -
The Texas Revolution
The Texas Revolution, also known as the Texas War of Independence, was the military conflict between the government of Mexico and Texas colonists that began October 2, 1835, and resulted in the establishment of the Republic of Texas after the final battle on April 21, 1836. -
The Orgeon Trail
The Oregon-California trail was a 2,170 mile route from Missouri to Oregon and California that enabled the migrating of the early pioneers to the western United States. -
John Fremont
Thirty-one year old Second Lieutenant John Charles Frémont's second Topographical Expedition left Missouri in June of 1843, and, mapping the Oregon Trail, had traveled to Fort Vancouver. -
Manifest Destiny
The term manifest destiny originated in the 1840s. It expressed the belief that it was Anglo-Saxon Americans’ providential mission to expand their civilization and institutions across the breadth of North America. -
The Donner Party
In the spring of 1846, a group of nearly 90 emigrants left Springfield, Illinois, and headed west. -
The Mexican War
War between Mexico and the United States mainly caused by American expansionism. A belief in the 'Manifest Destiny' of the United States to expand across the entire continent led to resentment of Mexican control of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona but the main flash point was Texas, independent since 1836, which in 1845 joined the United States. -
The California Gold Rush
As news spread of the discovery, thousands of prospective gold miners traveled by sea or over land to San Francisco and the surrounding area; by the end of 1849, the non-native population of the California territory was some 100,000 (compared with the pre-1848 figure of less than 1,000).
