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Missions Thrive in California
1760's:
The Spanish extend their territory West by colonizing the California Coast. Spanish leaders began converting Indians to Christianity. The Missions in California were more successful than the Missions in New Mexico or Texas. By 1821, when the Spanish rule ended, there were more then 18,000 Native American converts living in the 20 different missions. Many died from disease but were always replaced with new Indians being recruited by the Spanish. -
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail was a major route that people took when migrating to the western part of the United States. Between 1841 and 1869, hundreds of thousands of people traveled westward on the trail. Many of them traveled in large wagon trains using covered wagons to carry their belongings. The trail was popular until the transcontinental railroad connected the east to the west in 1869. In 1978, the U.S. Congress officially named the trail the Oregon National Historic Trail. -
John C. Fremont Expedition
John Charles Frémont (1813-1890) was an American explorer, politician, and soldier. Through his explorations in the West he encouraged the American desire to own that region. In 1842 Frémont was sent to explore the Wind River chain of the Rockies and to make a scientific exploration of the Oregon Trail. In 1843 Frémont headed an expedition that explored South Pass, the Columbia River, and the Oregon country, returning by way of Sutter's Fort in Mexican California. -
The Mexican-American War
Mexico claimed the Nueces River as its northeastern border, while the U.S. claimed the Rio Grande River, and the day that both troops met at the Rio Grande and the Mexican army opened fire, on April 25, 1846, the Mexican American War began. On May 13, Congress declared war but no official declaration of war ever came from Mexico. *On Feb. 2, 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, establishing the Rio Grande and not the Nueces River as the U.S.-Mexican border. -
Period: to
The Mexican-American War
Link for more information about the Mexican-American War. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/379134/Mexican-American-War -
California Seeks Statehood- Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 had laws that:
-Admitted California as a free state
-Created Utah and New Mexico territories with the question of slavery in each to be determined by popular sovereignty
-Settled a Texas-New Mexico boundary dispute in the former’s favor
-Ended the slave trade in Washington, D.C., and made it easier for southerners to recover fugitive slaves.