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Period: to
Westward Expansion
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Louisiana Purchase
With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the United States purchased approximately 828,000,000 square miles of territory from France, thereby doubling the size of the young republic. What was known as Louisiana Territory stretched from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west and from the Gulf of Mexico in the south to the Canadian border in the north. -
British Cession
Also known as the “Convention respecting fisheries, boundary and the restoration of slaves,” the Treaty secured fishing rights for U.S. fishermen along Newfoundland and Labrador, provided for joint control of Oregon territory, and marked the beginning of better relations between Britain and the U.S.. It also paved the way for smooth relations between the U.S. and Canada. -
Adams-Onis Treaty
It fixed the western boundary of the Louisiana Purchase as beginning at the mouth of the Sabine River and running along its south and west bank to the thirty-second parallel and thence directly north to the Río Rojo. -
Texas Annexation
These events brought within the control of the United States the future states of Texas, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Washington, and Oregon, as well as portions of what would later become Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming, and Montana. -
Mexican Cession
The Mexican Cession included land that would later become California, Nevada, and Utah, as well as portions of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. -
Oregon Territory (British)
The Oregon Territory stretched from the Pacific coast to the Rocky Mountains, encompassing the area including present-day Oregon, Washington, and most of British Columbia. -
Gadsden Purchase
The purchase included lands south of the Gila River and west of the Rio Grande; it was largely for the purpose that the US might construct a transcontinental railroad along a deep southern route. It also aimed to reconcile outstanding border issues between the US and Mexico following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican–American War of 1846–48.
