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Manifest Destiny
The widely held belief in the United States that American settlers were destined to expand throughout the continent. There were three themes to Manifest Destiny. One was special virtues of the American people and thier institutions. A second was America's mission to redeem and remake the west in the image of agrarian Aerica. A third, was to accomplish this essential duty as a destiny. -
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Westward Expansion
Westward Expansion was the great migration of Euro-American people to areas west of the Mississippi. Theese areas included: Louisianna Purchase Territory, Oregon Territory, Oklahoma Territory, California, and other areas of land west west of the Mississippi River. This time was the beginning of large populations of Euro-Americans in the west. Many of theese travelers traveled west together in groups and on trails, in wagons pulled by oxen. -
Congress Passes a Measure to Anex Texas
Congress agrees to annex Texas. When this measure is passed the new president of the United States, James K Polk, agrees to watch and oversee Texas' admision into the Union. Suprisingly, the majority of Texan citizens were in support of the United States annexing Texas. However, Democrats and Whigs were against bringing Texas into the Union because they felt that it would be a bad idea to introduce a slave region into the existing conflict of Pro and Anti-Slave states in congress. -
Texas enters the Union
Texas officially becomes the twenty-eighth state of the United States. After annexation of Texas by the United States, the vast majority of Texan people were in favor of becoming part of the Union. As a result, the people of Texas accepted the annexation, and within six months officially joined the Union. However, one thing that many politicians feared was that if Texas was added to the United States, that this would cause a war with Mexico. -
Donner Party Snowbound
The Donner Party reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains. There they became trapped by an early and nasty snow storm. Because they were trapped their food supply became dangerously low. Since there were very low amounts of food and they were trapped in a winter snowstorm, the Donner Party turned to cannibalism. Of the 87 members of the Party, only 48 survived to reach California. The deaths of the Donner Party is remembered as very tragic, brutal, and terrifying. -
California Gold Rush
Tens of thousands of settlers moved to California, after gold is found at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. About half of the people moving to California came by sea, and the other half came from the east on wagon trails. Of the people moving west many miners, called "fourty-niners", moved to California as they saw hopes of making a fortune from mining. From this, small towns in California grew into large cities and California as a whole became very populated and developed. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was what ended the Mexican War and added an area of more than one million square miles to the United States. Mexico signed the treaty because it's army had been crushed by the United States and it's capital had fallen. The treaty called for the $15 million to Mexico. -
Compromise of 1850
First, The Fugitive Slave Act was passed which assigned federal magistrates to the task of returning runaway slaves. Second, California became known as a free state. Third, it resolved a boundary dispute between Texas and New Mexico in favor of New Mexico. Fourth, slave trade was abolished in the District of Columbia. Finally, it organized the rest of the lands into the territories of New Mexico and Utah and left the decision on slavery to be decided by popular sovereignty. -
Gadsen Purchase
The United States purchased a 29,640 square mile of southern Arizonia and southwestern New Mexico. The treaty agreement for the United States to buy this land from Mexico was signed by James Gardsen, the American ambassador to Mexico. This purchase was the final big purchase of land to the continental United States. The treaty was ratified and signed by President Franklin Pierce on April 25, 1854, and then approved by Mexico on June 8, 1854. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. This replaced the Missouri Compromise of 1820 because it allowed male white settlerst to determine popular sovereignty whether they owned slaves or not in those territories. Also, it opened new vast amounts of land for settlement and farming. The initail plan for this was to open up the Transcontinental Railroad to the Midwest. -
Pony Express
The pony express was a mail service that delivered messages, newspapers, mail, and small packages from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. This delivery was done on horseback, and used a series of relay stations. This system of mail delivery was very effective as it reduced time for messages to travel between coasts from several months to about 10 days. It soon became the most direct means of exchanging mail between the east and west.
