-
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
The Northwest Ordinance chartered a government for the Northwest territories. It provided the method of admitting new states from the territory, and creating a Bill of Rights for the territory. The Bill of Rights protected religious freedom, the right to a writ of habeas corpus, the benefit of trial by jury, and other individual rights. Also, the ordinance encouraged education and forbade slavery. -
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was a deal over land between the United States and France. The United States acquired 827,000 square meters of land west of the Mississipi River. The cost for all of this land was $15 million, ¢3 per acre. -
Lewis and Clark expedition
The United States purchased Louisiana from France. The huge part of the land west of the Mississippi River was completely unknown to Americans and needed to be explored first before it could be settled. President Jefferson decided to send an exploratory expedition west so he appointed his own private secretary, Lewis as a Commander in charge of the expedition. William Clark was his co-commander. -
War of 1812
The War of 1812 lasted for two and a half years, fought by the U.S. against Great Britian and Ireland, its North American colonies and its Native American allies. -
Purchase of Florida from Spain
The Spanish first began to settle in Florida in 1565. Spains hold on Florida though was very weak later on. After years of negotiations, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams achieved the signing of the Florida Purchase Treaty, which officially put Florida into U.S. hands. Florida was organized as a U.S. territory in 1822 and was admitted into the Union as a slave state in 1845. -
Missouri Compromise
Congress passed a bill granting Missouri to be a slave state under condition that slavery was forever prohibited in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase north of the 36th parallel, which runs along the southern border of Missouri. -
Mormon Movement
Mormon Movement, commonly called "Latter Day Saint Movement" was led and created by Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith founded a collection of Independent Church Groups in the late 1820's. The vast majority of followers belonged to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Their theology was Mormonism. This movement started when Joseph Smith said he saw a "vision" and wrote the Book of Mormons. This was a complement to the Bible. -
Eerie Canal
The Eerie Canal opens in 1825, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean; through the Hudson River. At this time there was no railroads, so shipping goods was costly and tedious. The effect of this canal was a new migration of settlers. Settlers poured into western New York, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin. -
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed by congress during Andrew Jackson's presidency. This authorized the president to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders.The five major tribes affected were the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole. A few tribes went peacefully, but many resisted the relocation policy. The following Winter, 4,000 Cherokee's died on a forced march by the United States government. (Trail of Tears) -
Trail of Tears
The Trail of Tears was caused by Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal act/policy. The Cherokee nation was forced to give up their land east of the Mississippi River and migrate to an area of present day Oklahoma. This time in history got it's name from its devastating effects. -
Annexation of Texas
The Annexation of Texas was when Texas was introduced as a state in 1845. This state was admitted to the Union as the 28th state. -
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush was a period of American history which gold was discovered by James Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. This news brought 300,000 gold seekers called the "forty-niners" to California. Although most of these seekers were from other parts of America, some came from Latin America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was a peace treaty between the United States and the Mexican Republic. This entitled peace, friendship, limits and settlements between the two countries. This ended the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848. -
Gadsden Purchase
The Gadsden Purchase can be seen as a treaty between the United States and Mexico. Others see it as a deal, or purchase, because the United States agreed to pay $10 million for a 29,670 square mile of land, which was a part of Mexico. Now, it is New Mexico and Arizona. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This act allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. In objection to this, Missouri would become a free state. To summarize this act, the more northern territory would oppose slavery while the more southern one would permit it. -
Oregon Territory
Originally inhabited by Native Americans, the region known as Oregon was first explored by Europeans by sea. The region was known for its fur trade. The Territory of Oregon existed from August 1848 until February 1859. That period ended when Oregon became an American State on February 14, 1859. -
Homestead Act
Homestead Act singed into law by Abraham Lincoln in 1862, this opened up settlement in the United States, allowing any American or freed slave to put claim on 160 acres of federal land. -
Transcontinental Railroad
A transcontinental railroad is a trail of rail lines connecting a location in the U.S. Pacific coast with one or more of the other railroads in the U.S. This operates between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and the U.S. Atlantic coast. The world's first railroad was built between 1863 and 1869 to join the eastern and western sections of the United States. This began just before the American Civil War, it was known as one of the best inventions of the 19th century. -
The Dawes Act
On February 8, 1887, Congress passed The Dawes Act, named for its author Senator Henry Dawes of Massachusetts. This act is also known as the General Allotment Act or Dawes Severaralty Act of 1887. This act authorzied the President of the United States to survey and keep track of Indian territory. This gave the President the right to divide the land for individual Indians. -
Spanish-American War
The Spanish-American War was a conflict between the United States and Spain that ended Spanish colonial rule in America and resulted in U.S. ownership of territories in the western Pacific and Latin America.
