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Indian Treaties and the Removal Act of 1830
As the American settlers traveled westward they saw the Indians tribes as an obstacle and threat to the westward expansion. They made treaties with the tribes to relocate them. If the tribe was unwilling to move the US used brute force to remove them. -
The Amistad Case, 1839
In the Amistad Case the United States found itself with an explosive legal and diplomatic case that would ruin the American system’s ability to provide justice for everyone involved. Officers of the United States survey ship Washington found the Amistad in chaos. 53 Africans and the two Spaniards who purchased them as slaves in Cuba. The Africans had mutinied, and attempted to have the Spanish owners sail them back to Africa. -
Webster-Ashburton Treaty, 1842
The treaty resolved the conflict between the US and the northeastern borders. -
The Treaty of Wangxia, 1844
The treaty was the American counterpart to the Anglo-Chinese Treaty of Nanjing that ended the First Opium War in 1842. -
The Oregon Territory, 1846
The increase of American immigration on the Oregon Trail to the Territory made the border an issue in Congress. President James Polk, a supporter of Manifest Destiny, was eager to settle the boundary of the Oregon Territory and proposed a settlement on the 49 degree line to Great Britain.
The final decision was made on June 18, 1846. They decided that Vancouver Island would go to Canada, and Great Britain agreed to Polk’s suggestion. -
Founding of Liberia, 1847
Liberia declared independence from the American Colonization Society in order to establish a sovereign state and create its own laws governing commerce. -
The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, 1848
In the treaty Mexico ceded to the United States approximately 525,000 square miles, in exchange for a $15 million lump sum payment, and the assumption by the U.S. Government of up to $3.25 million worth of debts owed by Mexico to U.S. citizens. -
United States Maritime Expansion across the Pacific
The initial motivation to expand over the pacific ocean was to establish a strong presence on the west coast of the US and the profits we could earn from trading with China. -
The United States and the Opening to Japan, 1853
There were many reasons why the US decide to open to Japan. The combination of the opening of Chinese ports to regular trade and the annexation of California, creating an American port on the Pacific, ensured that there would be a steady stream of maritime traffic between North America and Asia. -
Gadsden Purchase,1854
The agreement was between the United States and Mexico, and finalized in 1854. In the agreement the United States agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for a 29,670 square mile portion of Mexico that later became part of Arizona and New Mexico. The purchase provided the land necessary for a southern transcontinental railroad and attempted to resolve conflicts that lingered after the Mexican-American War. -
The Treaty of Tianjin, 1858
The US and Europe disobeyed their treaties made in the 1840's, which started a second opium war. The new treaties gave Western powers a number of rights and privileges. The number of treaty ports increased, with new ports opened to Western trade along the Chinese coast, on the islands of Taiwan and Hainan, and along the Yangtze River in the interior. -
U.S. in Central America and Cuba
During the years between the Mexican-American War and the Civil War, the United States became interested in Central America and the Caribbean. While US attempted to acquire territorial possessions in Central America and the Caribbean. They organized armed expeditions to various places in Mexico, Central America, and Cuba. Filibustering and official U.S. diplomacy were both unsuccessful in gaining permanent and significant territories.