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Louisiana Purchase
In 1803, the United States of America acquired 828,000,000 square miles of land after purchasing the Louisiana Purchase for only 15 million dollars. Thomas Jefferson spoke with France originally about only purchasing New Orleans, to open a new trading route. But France gave Jefferson the ultimate deal of purchasing a majority of their land on the continent for an inexpensive amount. This was the start to a bigger and more productive country. -
Lewis and Clark expedition
After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, President Jefferson sent a group of men to explore the new land the United States had acquired. The two leaders (Lewis and Clark) also brought Native, Sacajawea to lead them through the unknown territory. -
Acquisition of Florida
In 1819, Secretary of state ( at the time ), John Quincy Adams acquired the "diplomatic coup" with the signing of The Florida purchase treaty with Spain. This treaty officially put Florida in the United States' hands.They paid about five million for the state of Florida. The treaty became effective on February 22, 1821. -
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was when congress passed a bill giving the state of Missouri the statehood as a slave state, only under the condition that Maine was a free state. This compromise equaled out the slave states and the free states. This compromise was repealed in 1854 by the Kansas-Nebraska act. -
Battle of Alamo
In late 1835, Mexicans attacked the Alamo mission killing all but two Americans. -
Annexation of Texas
After Texas became independent from Mexico in 1836, they remained an independent country for nine years until they requested to be annexed into the United States. Both Jackson and VanBeuran denied the annexation originally. When John Tyler's presidency was coming to an end, he annexed Texas. He was only able to do this because when James Polk was running for president, he promised to annex Texas. This annexation lead to the Mexican-America war of 1846-1848 -
Acquisition of Oregon
In 1846, after months of disagreements with Britain, the United States decided to create and sign the Oregon Treaty. This treaty declared that Britain gains the sole possession of the land north of the 49th parallel and all of Vancouver Island, with the United States receiving the territory south of that line. -
Donner Party
In 1836, multiple different groups of families joined the infamous group called the "Donner party". This party was planning on travelling to California to settle and start a new life. But this trip evidently killed all but a few due to weather, lack of rations, and cannibalism. This tragic story did have survivors, they were children and many evidently lived great and inspiring lives. -
Discovery of gold in California
James Marshall discovered saw something shiny in Sutter Creek near Coloma, California. He had discovered gold unexpectedly while overseeing construction of a sawmill on the American River. Many Americans knew of there being gold in California but not one person had ever seen it before, this discovery led to the California gold rush from 1848-1855 -
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo
Following the defeat of the Mexican army and the fall of Mexico City, in September 1847, the Mexican government surrendered and peace negotiations began. The war officially ended with the February 2, 1848, signing in Mexico of the Treaty of Guadalupe -Hidalgo. The treaty added an additional 525,000 square miles to United States territory. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a group of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in 1850, which defused a four-year political confrontation between slave and free states on the status of territories acquired during the Mexican–American War. Senator Henry Clay introduced a series of resolutions on January 29, 1850, in an attempt to seek a compromise and avoid a war between North and South. -
Gadsden Purchase
This purchase also was somewhat a treaty, it was an agreement between the United States and Mexico, which was finalized in 1854, in which the United States agreed to pay Mexico ten million for a 29,670 square mile portion of Mexico that later became part of Arizona and New Mexico. -
Kansas - Nebraska act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by Congress on May 30, 1854. It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery or not within their borders. The Act also served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery north of latitude 36 30.
