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Northwest Ordinance of 1787
The ordinance created the Northwest Territory, from lands beyond the Appalachian Mountains, between British Canada and the Great Lakes to the north and the Ohio River to the south. The Northwest Ordinance was made to expand the USA. Mny people started moving west, farmers started buying land to grow crops in, city folk started buying more property from the moved out neighbors, and America began to expand and grow bigger with a higher population, -
Lewis and Clark Expedition
It was the first American expedition to cross what is now the western portion of the United States. The primary objective was to explore and map the newly acquired territory, find a practical route across the Western half of the continent, and establish this territory before European powers tried to claim it. This expedition explored the west and mapped the lands explored. -
Louisiana Purchase
Napoleon needed to concentrate on preparations for war with the British Empire and so the land was sold to the United States. This purchase more than doubled the area of the U.S., removed France entirely from North America, and secured access to New Orleans and transport along the Mississippi River. The area that was bought double the land towards the west. -
War of 1812
The U.S. fought against British colonial Canada, which allied Tecumseh, the Shawnee leader of a confederation of native tribes. The war unified the Canadians and is viewed with great patriotic pride to this day. In the end,the tribes were either restricted to ever-shrinking tribal lands or pushed further west, opening new lands for the United States’ westward expansion. -
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was a federal statute in the United States that regulated slavery in the country's western territories.It was passed by congress, under which states would be admitted in pairs, one slaveholding and one free. It was later repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act. -
Purchase of Florida from Spain
The purchase of Florida from Spain was between the United States and Spain in 1819 that gave Florida to the U.S. and set out a boundary between the U.S. and New Spain. This was caused by the rebellion taking place in Florida. This also expanded the U.S. -
Eerie Canal
The Erie Canal is a man-made waterway in New York state that completes a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. It helped American's have another route to trade from and to get to other lakes, canals, and ocean. The Eerie Canal led to the boom of New York and trade in America. -
Mormon Movement
The Mormon Movement started by vision made by Josephh Smith in the early 1820s. He was directed to a book made of golden plates by an angel and published it. The Mormon had been persecuted and were trying to find a place to centralize their religion.The Mormon Movement began in Western New York and led them all the way to Salt Lake City, Utah. This relates to westward expansion because the Mormons traveled to what was now Utah, but wasn't established at the time. -
Indian Removal Act
Indian Removal Act formally changed the course of U.S. policy toward the Native American tribes.It is generally acknowledged that this act spelled the end of Indian Rights. They were forced to assimilate and concede to US law or leave their homelands. The Indian Nations themselves were force to move and ended up in Oklahoma. -
Trail of Tears
After refusing to sign the treaties for the Indian Removal Act, the Cherokees were forced off of their lands. However they weren't the only ones to suffer on the trail of tears. The U.S. Army did not plan the removal well, resulting in delays, food shortages, and exposure to the elements, during the first phase of the tribe’s removal. More than 5,000 Cherokees died as a result of that journey. -
Annexation of Texas
"The Texas annexation was the 1845 incorporation into the United States of America of the Republic of Texas, which was admitted to the Union as the 28th state." "Texas entered the United States as a slave state, broadening the irrepressible differences in the United States over the issue of slavery and setting off the Mexican-American War." This, along with everything else, gave the U.S. more land. -
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush was when gold was found by James W. Marshall in California. When people had heard about the gold, they took this as an econimc chance. This is a perfect example of western expansion because people from the United States and abroad trave;ed to California. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, officially entitled the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits and Settlement between the United States of America and the Mexican Republic. The treaty added an additional 525,000 square miles to United States territory, whoch increased the size of the country by about 1/3. This, like many other factors, added more land onto the expanding U.S., allowing settlers more land to buy and claim. -
Oregon Territory
It was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon.The Oregon Territory took on renewed importance to America’s dream of Manifest Destiny. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the law that prohibited slavery in the old Louisiana Purchase. Territories would then have the right of popular sovereignty, with the settlers of those territories, determining if they would permit or prevent slavery within their borders. Settlers on both sides of the issue poured into the Kansas and Nebraska territories, swelling the population. -
Gadsden Purchase
The Gadsden Purchases a 29,640-square-mile region that was purchased by the United States in a treaty signed on December 30, 1853 by James Gadsden. It was an agreement between the United States and Mexico. This relates to western expansion because it gained land that allowed more citizens to move west. -
Homestead Act
The Homestead Acts were several United States federal laws that gave an ownership of land at little or no cost. The land was free except for a small registration fee. In total, about 10 percent of the U.S. was settled because of the Homestead Act. -
Transcontinental Railroad
It was contiguous railroad line constructed in the United States west of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers to connect the Pacific coast with the existing eastern U.S. rail network. This railraod expanded trading routes across the U.S. allowing more opportunities econimically. -
The Dawes Act
The Dawes Act authorized the President of the United States to survey American Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Indians.The stated objective of the Dawes Act was to stimulate assimilation of Indians into mainstream American society.The Dawes act claimed land from Indians and forced them to live on small reservations. This claimed land was seprated into smaller portions to live on. -
Spanish-American War
U.S. was there to purchase more territory,but the Mexican government refused to receive him. It started off to defend the disputed Texas border and put pressure on Mexican officials to work with Slidell. James Gadsden, the American minister to Mexico, arranged for the purchase of what is now part of southern Arizona and New Mexico for an additional $15 million.
