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Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was a land deal between the United States and France, in which the U.S. acquired approximately 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million. -
Thomas Jefferson
President Thomas Jefferson purchased the territory of Louisiana from the French government for $15 million. -
Lewis and Clark / Sacagawea
The Lewis and Clark Expedition was the first American expedition to cross the western portion of the United States. It began near St. Louis, and passed through the continental divide to reach the Pacific coast. Sacagawea was a Lemhi Shoshone woman who helped the Lewis and Clark Expedition achieve their mission objectives exploring the Louisiana Purchase. During the journey, she established cultural contacts with Native American populations, and researched natural history. -
Adams Onis Treaty
The Adams–Onís Treaty, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty, the Florida Purchase Treaty, or the Florida Treaty, was a treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819 that ceded Florida to the U.S. and defined the boundary between the U.S. and New Spain. -
"Remeber the Alamo"
The Battle of the Alamo was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Mexican troops launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near modern-day San Antonio, killing all of the Texian defenders. This inspired many Texas settlers and adventurers from the United State to join the Texian Army. Eager for revenge, the Texians defeated the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836, ending the revolution. -
Santa Anna
Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón was an American-born Spaniard who fought to defend royalist New Spain and then for Mexican independence. He served as a Mexican politician and general. -
Webster Ashburton Treaty
The Webster–Ashburton Treaty, signed August 9, 1842, was a treaty resolving several border issues between the United States and the British North American colonies. It resolved the Aroostook War, which was a nonviolent disagreement over the location of the Maine–New Brunswick border. -
Fifty Four Forty or Fight
The 1844 Democratic presidential candidate James K. Polk ran on a platform of taking control over the entire Oregon Territory and used the famous campaign slogan, "Fifty-four Forty or Fight!" (after the line of latitude serving as the northern boundary of Oregon at 54°40'). -
President Polk
James K. Polk (1795-1849) was the eleventh president of the United States. His name is perhaps most closely associated with Manifest Destiny, as the term was coined by a fellow Democrat in 1843, the year before he began his presidency. -
Texas Annexation
The Texas annexation was the incorporation of the Republic of Texas into the United States of America, which was admitted to the Union as the 28th state on December 29, 1845. -
War with Mexico
The Mexican–American War, also known as the Mexican War, the U.S.–Mexican War or the Invasion of Mexico, was an armed conflict between the United States of America and the United Mexican States from 1846 to 1848. -
Oregon Territory
The Oregon boundary dispute between the U.S. and Britain was settled with the signing of the Oregon Treaty. The British gained 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. -
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, is the peace treaty signed on February 2, 1848, in the Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo -
Mexican Cession
The Mexican Cession of 1848 is a historical name in the United States for the region of the modern day southwestern United States that Mexico ceded to the U.S. in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848.The Mexican Cession (529,000 sq. miles) was the third largest acquisition of territory in US history. -
Zachary Taylor
General Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) commanded the northern campaign in the Mexican-American War and later became the twelfth president of the United States -
Winfield Scott
General Winfield Scott (1786-1866) was a prominent military figure through three wars and the unsuccessful Whig candidate for president in 1852. General Winfield Scott was among the most celebrated American soldiers of his day ... that cost him the primary field command in the ensuing U.S.-Mexican War. -
Gadsen Purchase
The Gadsden Purchase is a 29,670-square-mile region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that the United States purchased via a treaty signed on December 30, 1853 by James Gadsden, American ambassador to Mexico at that time. -
Rio Grande
The river serves as part of the natural border between the U.S. state of Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas. A very short stretch of the river serves as part of the boundary between the U.S. states of Texas and New Mexico.