-
Louisiana Purchase
The Land was originally owned by Spain and Spain then sold it to France. Thomas Jefferson said that we needed the port off the coast of New Orleans because the US needed access to the Mississippi River to get tot the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. France, however, would not only sell New Orleans. They would only sell the entire land piece of land and Jefferson ended up buying the land in its entirety. -
Lewis and Clark's Expedition
After purchasing the Louisiana territory, Thomas Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis to lead an expedition to map out the new land. Lewis brought his second in command, William Clark. -
Texas Won Their Independence
A group of the Texans did not like the laws put in place by the President of Mexico. So the Texans went to war and fought for their independence. -
Texas Becomes a State
Texas soon realized after gaining their independence that it was too difficult to govern themselves and asked to be a part of the United States. -
Oregon Territory becomes a part of the U.S.
We once shared the area with England but we reached an agreement saying that below the 49th parallel would be declared belonging to America. -
Mexican War
A dispute between America and Mexico based on the border lines of Texas and Mexico. We thought that the border should be the Rio Grande and the Mexicans thought it should be the Nueces River. Today our border is the Rio Grade, we won the war. -
California becomes a state
The California gold rush lead to a large increase in population in that territory and because of this it was then allowed to become a state. -
Gadsen Purchase
A strip of land along the southern edge of present day Arizona and New Mexico. It was bought so that our country could be its perfect shape.
