Rivalry in the Northwest
- The Oregon Country was a huge area located north of California, between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains.
- In the early 1800's, four nations claimed the vast, rugged land known as the Oregon Country.
Adams-Onis Treaty
- Many Americans wanted control of Oregon in order to gain access to the Pacific Ocean.
- In 1818 Adams worked out an agreement with Britain for joint occupation.
Mountain Men in Oregon
- Fur traders had been the first Americans to take up the challenge of living in the Oregon Country.
- These tough, independent men spent most of their time in the Rocky Mountains.
- Over time, the Mountain Men could no longer make a living farming.
What did America gain from the Adams-Onis Treaty?
We gained control of Oregon.
Oregon and Manifest Destiny
- Among the first settlers were Dr. Marcus Whitman and his Wife, Narcissa.
- The new settlers unknowingly brought measles to the mission
Along the Oregon Trail
- In 1842 about a thousand made the journey.
- Tens of thousands would follow in the years ahead.
- The settlers would pack their belongings into wagons called prairie schooners.
America Seeks its Manifest Destiny
- Many people believed that the nation's mission was to spread freedom by settling the entire continent
- In 1819 John Quincy Adams expressed what many Americans were thinking when he said expansion to the Pacific was as certain as the Mississippi River flowing to the sea
- In the 1840's, New York newspaper editor John O'Sullivan expressed in more specific words the idea of a national mission
"Fifty-Four Forty or Fight"
- Many Americans wanted the United States to take over all of Oregon.
- In the 1844 presidential election, James K. Polk, the democratic nominee, supported this desire.
- In 1846, Britain and America compromised. They set the border at 49 degrees N latitude
How did Polk's views differ from Clay's in the 1844 election?
Polk won the election because Whig support was not united with Clay
Statehood for Florida and Texas
How did Florida become a State?
Spain transferred Florida to the United States.
Florida
- Spain Transferred Florida to the United States on July 17, 1821.
- Tallahassee became the territorial capital in 1824.
- Many Planters from Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas had left their old plantations to farm in Florida.
The Territory Grows
- In 1837 the census for the territory of Florida reported that 48,000 people lived there
- Enslaved people made up about one-half of Florida's population
- Only white men over 21 years old voted in the election.
Statehood of Florida
- Florida became the 27th state in the United States on March 3, 1845
What caused the population of Florida grow?
Farmers left their own plantations to farm in the rich soil of Florida.
Texas
- In 1821 Mexico won independence from Spain.
- At the time, the non-Native American population was about 3000
- Tensions with Mexico developed when Americans refused to follow Mexico's rules
Texas Declares Its Independence
- In 1821 Mexico won independence from Spain.
- Mexico controlled the area of what is now Texas.
The Alamo
- The Texans had only about 180 soldiers to take on Santa Anna's army of several thousand
- For 13 long days, through several attacks, the defenders of the Alamo kept Santa Anna's army at bay.
- On March 6, 1836, Mexican cannon fire smashed the Alamo's walls
Texas Declares Independence
- During the siege at the Alamo, Texan leaders met at the town of Washington-on-the-Brazos.
- On March 2, 1836--four days before the fall of the Alamo--Texas declared independence
The Lone Star Republic
- In September 1836, Texans elected Sam Houston as their president.
- Mirabeau Lamar served as vice president.
Texas Becomes a State
- Many Texans wanted to join the United States
- John Tyler supported Texas annexation
Why did it take a long time for the United States to annex Texas?
President Martin Van Buren did not want to inflame the slavery issue or risk war with Mexico so he put off the question of annexing Texas.
War With Mexico
How did the Santa Fe trial benefit the New Mexico Territory?
The Santa Fe Trial became a busy trade route.
The New Mexico Territory
- In the early 1800s, the land called New Mexico was a vast region between the Texas and California territories.
- Spanish conquistadors arrived in the late 1500's
- Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821
How did William Becknell influence the American settlement of New Mexico?
He made a trail that was flat so he could pull wagons along it.
California's Spanish Culture
- Spanish explorers and missionaries settled California in the 1700s.
- After Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, California became a Mexican State.
Conflict Begins
- America and Mexico disagreed where the Texaco border was.
- Mexico refused the $30 million dollar offer for the border to be on the Rio Grande river.
- Polk ordered General Zachery Taylor to lead U.S. forces into disputed area on the Rio Grande.
A War Plan
- Zachary Taylor had captured all the important towns in the Texico border
- Zachary Taylor captured New Mexico's capital, Santa Fe, in 1846 after the Mexican governor fled.
California's Uprising
- On June 14, 1846, the Americans declared California independent.
- In September 1847, six months after Scott's forces landed in Veracruz, they captured Mexico's capital.
Peace Terms
- On February 2, 1848, Mexico's leaders signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
- Mexico gave the United States more than 500,000 square miles of territory
What did America gain from the Mexican War?
America gained the land that is now California, Nevada, and Utah, as well as most of Arizona and New Mexico and parts of Colorado and Wyoming.
California and Utah
How did the discovery of gold help California?
A bunch of people migrated to California to try and get rich by finding gold.
California Gold Rush
- When gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in 1848, people from all over the world traveled to California in search of riches.
- Americans made up about 80 percent of the forty-niners.
The Californios
- The Land Law of 1851 established a group of reviewers who examined the Californios' land rights.
The Life of a Fourty-Niner
- San Francisco became a boomtown, growing quickly from a tiny village to a city of about 20,000 people.
- The California Gold Rush more than doubled the world's supply of gold.
Gold Rush Society
- Many men spent their free hours drinking, gambling, and fighting.
Economic and Political Progress
- In 1849, Californians applied for statehood and wrote a constitution.
How did the California Gold Rush lead to the expansion of cities?
When someone found gold somewhere, a bunch of people flock to that spot and a city forms
A Religious Refuge in Utah
- While the Gold Rush was transforming California, change was also taking place in nearby Utah
The Mormons Move On
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was among a number of religious movements that sprang up during the religious awakenings of the 1830s and 1840s.
- The founder of the Mormon Church was Joseph Smith, a New Englander living in western New York.
- Smith published The Book of Mormon that year, announcing that it was a translation of words written on golden plates that he had received from an angel.
A Haven in the Desert
- The Mormon migration began in 1846
- About 12,000 Mormons made the trek in the largest single migration in American history.
- In 1847 the Mormons finally reached the Great Salt Lake.
Why did the Mormons have to keep moving from one place to another?
They were trying to find religious freedom.