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Period: to
Westward Expansion
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The Indian Removal Act
Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830, this was because Euro-Americans demanded to move further west into Indian territories which led to relocating the Indians. -
The Trail of Tears
In the winter of 1831, under threat of invasion by the U.S. Army, the Cherokee was forced to walk to the new Indian territory without any help from the government. Thousands of people died on the way there. -
Manifest Destiny
In 1845, Newspaper editor John O’Sullivan coined the term Manifest Destiny which refers to the idea of expanding toward the West to develop land for Americans. The underlying ideas of it though were racial superiority to the lands of Native Americans and Mexicans. Most who believed in this had the belief that America was destined to expand from coast to coast. -
Texas Annexation
On December 27, 1845, US president James K. Polk signed the annexation bill and formally recognized Texas as the 28th state of the Union. It took awhile for Texas to join the union because of 2 major reasons, the debate about the extension of slavery and war with Mexico. In 1844, senate rejected the treaty to unite Texas and US. But President John Tyler arranged for congress to vote once more in a joint resolution that would bring Texas into the Union. -
The Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail was a 2,170 mile route that connected from Missouri all the way to Oregon territory, over 268,000 pioneers used it. -
The Oregon Treaty
The Oregon Treaty was an agreement reached between Britain and the U.S. It made the border between United States and British in the North west of the Rocky Mountains. -
The California Gold Rush
Gold was found by James W. Marshall in California. The news of gold brought 300,000 people to California in hopes of becoming rich. -
The Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 had several parts to it, first was the borders of Texas being settled with new areas within it becoming territories of New Mexico and Utah. Second was California becoming officially recognized as a free state. -
The Gadsden Purchase
The Gadsden Purchase was agreement reached by US and Mexico, because Mexico and US both claimed the Mesilla Valley as part of their own country, so the US agreed to pay $10 million for a 29,670 square mile portion of Mexico for the US to make space for southern transcontinental railroad. Later it became part of New Mexico and Arizona. -
The Homestead Act
Provided that any adult citizen or intended citizens, who had never was in the confederacy or was against the U.S. government could claim 160 acres of surveyed government land in the west, it led to the effect of more people moving west and improving the land around it.