-
The Louisiana Purchase
The Louisianna Purchase nearly doubled the size of the U.S. in 1803. Thomas Jefferson proposed to France a deal to buy the city of New Orleans so the U.S. could trade goods down through the Mississippi River. At the time Napoleon Bonapart was the leader of France. He was in debt because of the war that was going on in Europe so he said the U. S. couldn't buy just New Orleans but they could have the whole Louisianna Territory covering 828,000 square miles for only 15 million dollars! -
Period: to
Manifest Destiny
-
The Corps of Discovery Expedition
The Corps of Discovery was when Lewis and Clark took off from St. Louis, Missouri in hope to find a Northwest passage way that would let the U.S. trade with China. They set off traveling up the Missouri River, fighting the current. They met Sacagewea on the way and she was so helpful that at one time when a boat tip over she dove into the water and saved all of Lewis and Clarks journals. It took them 2 years to get to the Pacific Ocean and back. This was a very sucessful expedition. -
The War of 1812
The War of 1812 is known to be the "Forgotten War", or "The War of Bad Comunication". The War of 1812 started because America was trading with France who Britian was fighting at the time. They did not like this so they cut off trade routes and forced American sailors to become British solidiers. The British were also providing Indians weapons. The war ended in a stalemate when the Treaty of Ghent was signed. The bloodiest battle of the war was fought after the Treaty of Ghent. -
The Florida Territory
The Florida Territory was invaded by Andrew Jackson and his troops who disobeyed his orders to capture Siminole raiders and captured Spansh forts and even overthrew a govenor. After the invasion spanish was basically forced to sign the Adam-Onis Treaty which said that the United States would get Florida and Spain would get 5,000,000 dollars. -
The Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine said that European countries shall not interfear with countries in the Western Hemisphere. This was signed by President James Monroe. Latin countries did not like this because they thought the United States had too much power. -
The Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears
The Indian Removal Act was signed by Andrew Jackson in 1830. This stated that any Native Americans west of the Mississippi River were forced to move to Oklahoma. Most tribes went willingly to Oklahoma but one who didn't was The Seminole tribe. The U.S. and theb Seminoles had a battle and the U.S. won. Many tribes were part of the "Trail of Tears" which was a trail that the Native Americans went on and many people died along the way. -
Texas
Texas gained its independence from mexico in 1836 when Sam Houston lead an army and captured Santa Anna. Santa Anna was the President of Mexico at the time and he was a very mean man. The Texans forced Santa Anna to give Texas their freedom. Texas voted Sam Houston their presdent who proposed to become a part of the US. This was declined by the US because they were afraid it was going to make slavery unbalanced. A few years later however president James K Polk accepted Texas. -
The Oregon Territory
The Oregon Territory was wanted by many countries. The most dominate countries however were th U.S. and Great Britain. Thse two countries shared the land for over a decade and this did not work out. The president at the time was James K Polk and he demanded that we got all land south of the 54' 40 degree line of latitude. His famous slogan was "54'40 or fight". However, we did not get the land to that line, instead we got all the land to the south of the 49 degree line after we threatened war. -
The Mexican American War
The Mexican American War started in 1946 after Mexico attacked the troops who President James K. Polk sent to negotiate with Mexico. James K. Polk wanted to go to war with Mexico to begin with because he wanted their land. This gave him perfect reason to go to war. After many fierce battles, the war ended in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadelupe Hildago. This Treaty agreed that the U.S. got the southern lands which today are California, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada for $15 Million.
