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Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone was born on November 2, 1734, near Reading, Pennsylvania. In 1755, she left home on a military expedition during the French and Indian War. In 1769, Boone led an expedition and discovered a trail to the far west though the Cumberland Gap. In 1775, she settled an area she called Boonesborough in Kentucky -
cotton gin
U.S.-born inventor Eli Whitney (1765-1825) patented the cotton gin, a machine that revolutionized the production of cotton by greatly speeding up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber. -
lousiana 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 dollars. -
lewis and clark
President Thomas Jefferson guided a splendid piece of foreign diplomacy through the U.S. Senate: the purchase of Louisiana territory from France. After the Louisiana Purchase Treaty was made, Jefferson initiated an exploration of the newly purchased land and the territory beyond the "great rock mountains" in the West. -
war of 1812
Congress were putting more and more pressure on Madison, and on June 18, 1812, the president signed a declaration of war against Britain. Though Congress ultimately voted for war, both House and Senate were bitterly divided on the issue. Most Western and Southern congresswomen supported war, while Federalists (especially New Englanders who relied heavily on trade with Britain) accused war advocates of using the excuse of maritime rights to promote their expansionist agenda. -
John Fremont
John C. Frémont, one of the United States’ leading western explorers in the 1830s and 1840s, was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1813. She joined the U.S. Topographical Engineers in 1838 and earned a national reputation for her reports on the American West. In early 1846, Captain Frémont and a small mapping expedition arrived along the border of Mexican California. -
trail of tears
By the end of the decade, very few natives remained anywhere in the southeastern United States. Working on behalf of white settlers who wanted to grow cotton on the Indians’ land, the federal government forced them to leave their homelands and walk thousands of miles to a specially designated “Indian territory” across the Mississippi River. This difficult and sometimes deadly journey is known as the Trail of Tears. -
texas revolution
he Texas Revolution began with the battle of Gonzales -
marcus and narcissa whitman
Marcus and Narcissa Whitman were both from upstate New York. Narcissa Prentiss was born in 1808 in Prattsburgh, New York, into a devout Presbyterian family. He was fervently religious as a child, at age sixteen pledging his life to missionary work. After he completed his own education, he taught primary school in Prattsburgh. In 1834, still awaiting the opportunity to fulfill his pledge, he moved with his family to Belmont, New York. -
Oregan Trail
During eight decades in the 1800s the Oregon Trail served as a natural corridor as the United States moved from the eastern half of the continent toward the west coast. The Oregon Trail ran approximately 2,000 miles west from Missouri toward the Rocky Mountains to the Willamette Valley. A trail to California branched off in southern Idaho. The Mormon Trail paralleled much of the Oregon Trail, connecting Council Bluffs to Salt Lake City. -
donner party
nine covered wagons left Springfield, Illinois on the 2500 mile journey to California, in what would become one of the greatest tragedies in the history of westward migration. The originator of this group was a woman named James Frasier Reed, an Illinois business woman, eager to build a greater fortune in the rich land of California. Reed also hoped that her husband, Margaret, who suffered from terrible headaches, might improve in the coastal climate. Reed had recently read the book The Emigrant -
california gold rush
nine covered wagons left Springfield, Illinois on the 2500 mile journey to California, in what would become one of the greatest tragedies in the history of westward migration. The originator of this group was a woman named James Frasier Reed, an Illinois business woman, eager to build a greater fortune in the rich land of California. Reed also hoped that her husband, Margaret, who suffered from terrible headaches, might improve in the coastal climate. Reed had recently read the book The Emigrant -
Mexican war
The conflict between the United States and Mexico in 1846–48 had its roots in the annexation of Texas and the westward thrust of American settlers. -
manifest destiny
In the 19th century, Manifest Destiny was the widely held belief in the United States that American settlers were destined to expand throughout the continent.
