Rivalry in the Northwest
1. In the early 1800s, four nations claimed the vast, rugged land known as the Oregon County.
2. The United States based its claim on Robert Gray's discovery of the Columbia River in 1792 and the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Adams-Onis Treaty
1 In 1819 Secretary of State John Quincy Adams got Spain to approve the Adams-Onis Treaty.
2. The Spanish agreed to set the limits of their territory at what is now California's northern border and to give up all claims to Oregon.
Mountain Men in Oregon
1. At first the fur merchants traded with the Native Americans. Gradually others joined the trade.
2. These tough, independent men spent most of their time in the Rocky Mountains and were known as mountain men.
3. Over time, the mountain men could no longer make a living be trapping.
Question: What did America gain from the Aams-Onis Treaty?
Answer: Control on Oregon to have access to the Pacific Ocean.
Oregon and Manifest- Marcus and Narcissa Whitman
1. Among the first settlers were Dr. Marcus Whitman and his wife, Narcissa. They were missionaries who went to Oregon in 1836 and built a mission among the Cayuse people near the present site of Walla Walla, Washington.
2. The new settlers brought measles. The Native Americans had never been exposed to this disease. An epidemic killed many of the Cayuse children. The Cayuse blamed the Whitmans. They attacked the mission in November 1847 and killed the Whitmans and 11 others.
Along the Oregon Trail
1.The Whitman massacre was a shocking event, but it did little to stop the flood of pioneers on their way to Oregon.
2. In 1843 about a thousand emigrants made the journey. Tens of thousands more would follow in the years ahead.
3. Gathering in Independence or other towns in Missouri, the pioneers followed the Oregon Trail across the Great Plains, along the Platte, and though the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains.
America Seeks Its Manifest Destiny
1. Since colonial times, many Americans had believed their nation's mission should be to serve as a model of freedom and democracy. In the 1800s that vision changed.
2. Many believed the nation's mission was to spread freedom by settling the entire continent.
3. O'Sullivan declared it was America's "Manifest Destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us." O'Sullivan meant that the United States was clearly destined--set apart for a special purpose--by God to extend its boundaries all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
Fifty-Four Forty or Fight
1. Democrats used the slogan "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight," referring to the line of latitude they believed should be the nation's northern border in Oregon.
2. Polk's Whig opponent, Henry Clay, did not make a strong position on the Oregon issue. Polk won the election because Whig support was not united behind Clay.
3. A firm believe in Manifest Destiny, Polk was forced on acquiring Oregon.
Question: How did Polk's views differ from Clay's in the 1844 election?
Answer: Clay did not take a strong position on the Oregon issue, also Polk had the Whig's support and Clay did not.
LESSON #2
Statehood for Florida and Texas
Question: How did Florida become a state?
Answer: Spain transferred Florida to the United States on July 17, 1821
Florida
1. Florida had an appointed territorial governor, a territorial legislature, and a nonvoting delegate to the United States Congress.
2. Tallahassee became the states territorial capital in 1824.
3. Many planters from other states left their old plantations for new land in Florida.
The Territory Grows
1. In 1837 the census for the territory of Florida reported 48,000 people lived there.
2. Florida had a desire to enter the Union as a slave state and that caused difficulty.
Statehood for Florida
1. With the question of slavery removed, President John Tyler signed the Florida statehood bill.
2. Florida became the 27th state in the United States on March 3, 1845.
QUESTION: What caused the population of Florida to grow?
ANSWER:
Texas
1. In 1821 Mexico won independence from Spain. Mexico controlled the land that is now Texas.
2. At first Mexico encouraged Americans to settle in Texas. But soon after the Americans over populated the tejanos.
3. Texans built a small barricade inside a mission building called the Alamo.
The Alamo
1. The Texans had only 180 soldiers to take on Santa Anna's army of several thousand.
2. For 13 days, through several attacks, the defenders of the Alamo kept Santa Anna's army at bay with riffle fire.
3. Santa Anna hoped the fall of the Alamo would show the Texans their cause was hopeless. Instead, Texans rallied to the cry "Remember the Alamo!"
Texas Declares Its Independence
1. On March 2, 1836-four days before the fall of the Alamo-they declared independence from Mexico.
2. On April 21, the Texans launched a surprise attack, shouting, "Remember the Alamo!"
The Lone Star Republic
1. In September 1836, Texans elected Sam Houston as their president.
2. Houston sent a delegation to Washington D.C., to ask the United States to annex, or take control of, Texas.
Texas Becomes a State
1. Many Texans wanted to join the United States.
2. In 1845 Texas joined the Union.
Lesson #3
War with Mexico
Question: How did the Santa Fe Trail benefit the New Mexico Territory?
Answer: It helped them with trading and increase trading.
The New Mexico Territory
1. In the early 1800s, the land called New Mexico was a vast region between the Texas and California territories.
2. Mexico-including New Mexico-won its independence from Spain in 1821.
3. The Santa Fe Trail became a busy route.
Question: How did William Becknell influence the American settlement of New Mexico?
Answer: He was trading with the Spanish.
California's Spanish Culture
1. Spanish explorers and missionaries from Mexico settled California in the 1700s.
2. The missions aimed to convert Native Americans to Christianity and the Spanish way of life.
Conflict Begins
1. President James K. Polk was determined to get the California and New Mexico territories from Mexico.
2. After Mexico refused to sell the lands, Polk planned to gain them through war.
3. To justify a war, Polk hoped to get Mexico to strike first.
A War Plan
1. Polk planned to defeat Mexico be accomplishing three goals.
- First, drive Mexican forces out of Texas.
- Second, it would seize New Mexico and California.
- Finally, American forces would advance into Mexico and capture the capitol, Mexico City.
2. By 1847, Zachary Taylor had accomplished the first goal. His army captured all the important towns in the border area between Mexico and Texas.
California's Uprising
1. Even before war with Mexico officially began, American settlers in northern California had begun an uprising.
2. On June 14, 1846, the Americans declared California independent.
Peace Terms
1. Defeated on February 2, 1848, Mexico's leaders signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
2. Mexico gave the United States more then 500,000 sq. mi. of territory.
Question: What did America gain from the Mexican War?
Answer: 500,000 sq. mi. of land from the Mexicans.
Lesson #4
California and Utah
Question: How did the discovery of gold help California?
Answer:
California Gold Rush
1. Gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in 1848, people from all over the world traveled to California when it was discovered.
2. Many of those people made up the large population of many different cultures. But it was established as California's Chinese American community.
The Californios
1. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war with Mexico and made Californios-Mexicans living in California-citizens of the United States.
The Life of a Forty-Niner
1. As people rushed for gold, they built new communities.
2. Most forty-niners had no experience in mining.
Gold Rush Society
1. Mining camps contained men of all backgrounds but very few women.
Economic and Political Progress
1. Rapid growth brought the need for better government.
Question: How did the California Gold Rush lead to the expansion of cities?
Answer: Rapid growth brought the need for better government.
A Religous Refuge in Utah
1. While the Gold Rush was transforming California, change was also taking place in nearby Utah.
The Mormons Move On
1. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was among a number of religious movements that sprang up during the religious awakening of the 1830s and 1840s.
2. Smith published The Book of Mormon that year, announcing that it was a translation of words written on gold plates that he had received from an angel.
3. Still, the Mormons continued to suffer persecution, or mistreatment because of beliefs.
A Haven in the Desert
1. The Mormon migration began in 1846.
2. In 1847 the Morons finally reached the Great Salt Lake.
3. By 1860 there were many Mormon communities, but Utah was not easily incorporated into the United States.
Question: Why did the Mormons have to keep moving from one place to another?
Answer: People were trying to kill them because of their beliefs.