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Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was conducted by Thomas Jefferson in 1803. He purchased millions of acres of North American territory from the French, seeking to expand the size of the country preferably for agriculture. Many of this territory is part of the continental US today. -
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Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny was the belief that American settlers were duty-bound by God to expand from the eastern seaboard of the United States to the western seaboard. American settlers wanted to expand to alleviate crowding in the East. The time period is vague, beginning as early as the Louisiana Purchase, but it can originate from the end of the War of 1812 to the 1850s when California was acquired, or as late as 1867 when Alaska was purchased. -
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Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Meriwether Lewis and William Clark Expedition was an exploration conducted from 1804 to 1806. Commissioned by Thomas Jefferson, the expedition set off from around St. Louis, Missouri and reached Fort Clatsop, Oregon on the Columbia River before returning. The goal of the expedition was to explore and document the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase lands. -
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War of 1812
The War of 1812 lasted from 1812-1815. It occurred between the British and the Americans, originating from an escalating series of diplomatic crises between the two (specifically attacks on US trade ships and British impressment of American soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars.) The war was fought on American soil and in American waters. It ended with the 1815 Treaty of Ghent. -
Missouri Compromise of 1820
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a compromise authored by Henry Clay intended to satisfy the interests of Northern and Southern states. It had two terms: Missouri would be admitted as a slave state and Maine as a free state to maintain the balance of power, and that no further slave states would be admitted above the 36th Parallel (North). -
Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine is a foreign policy position first announced in 1823 by James Madison in his 1823 Address to Congress. It essentially states that all foreign intervention in the Americas would be seen as a threat to the Americas, and sought to guarantee that America would not be threatened by any foreign power in its hemisphere. -
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law on May 28, 1830 by President Andrew Jackson. It was an act meant to free up Native American land for American settlement. The president was to negotiate for Native American land, allowing natives to exchange it for territory west of the Mississippi; instead, Native Americans ended up being forced off their land. -
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Mexican-American War
The Mexican-American War was a conflict fought between Mexico and America from 1846-1848. The conflict was fought over Texas; the annexation of Texas by the United States angered Mexican officials, who felt that claim was illegitimate, as well as border disputes with Texas. -
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California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush occurred in the newly acquired territory of California. It started when gold was discovered by James W. Marshall, causing a wave of mass migration as approximately 300,000 people moved west in search of fortune. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a series of five laws authored by Henry Clay, published throughout September of 1850. The acts admitted California as a free state, provided a territorial government for Utah and New Mexico, abolished the slave trade in Washington DC, established Texas-United States borders, and created the Fugitive Slave Act, making all states responsible for runaway slaves, including free states. This was attempted as one of many compromises to solve the issue of slavery. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act, authored by Stephen Douglas on May 30, 1854, was one of many compromises to solve the problem of slavery. It admitted the new territories of Kansas and Nebraska into the United States and allowed them to vote for whether they would allow slavery within their borders. The act was signed into law by President Franklin Pierce. Kansas became a free state, and Nebraska a slave state. -
Homestead Act
The Homestead Act was an 1862 law passed by Abraham Lincoln meant to encourage Western settlement in the United States. It did so by providing 160 acres of land to anyone who would agree to farm it. This act was meant to encourage Western expansion.