Westward Expansion1776 -1867

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Examples of American Expansion

• Revolutionary War (1776) Proclamation of 1763• Louisiana Purchase (1803) from France – $15 million• War of 1812 designs on Canada and Florida• Monroe Doctrine (1823) Europe out of the Western Hemisphere• Indian Removal Act (1830) Trail of Tears, 1838• Texas Revolution (1836) Annexation of Texas, 1847• Mexican War (1846) a border dispute justified expansion• Mexican Session (1848) California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico,

Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah• Gadsden Purchase (1853) from Mexico – $10 million• Purchase of Alaska (1867) from Russia – $7 million

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CICERO © 2010

Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny was a term used in the 1840s to justify America’s Westward expansion into such

areas as Texas, Oregon, and California. There was a widely held belief that Americans, the chosen

people, had a divinely inspired mission to spread democracy to the less fortunate (usually meaning

American Indians and other non-Europeans).

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How does this painting explain the attitude of Americans about territorial expansion in

the mid-1800s?

Spirit of the Frontier/American Progress 1872 by John Gast (Westward Angel)

“Go West Young Man!”Horace Greeley-1845

Why did early settlers flood across the country during the mid-1800s?

The California Gold Rush began in 1848 with the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill on the California River.

Settlers flocked to Oregon searching for fertile farmland.

Ranchers moved into areas that buffalo previously inhabited and began raising cattle descended from Spanish herds.

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Trails West

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Conestoga Wagon“Prairie Schooner”

• The wagons were named for the Pennsylvania town where many were produced.

• Oxen or mules usually pulled these wagons, and they traveled in groups as wagon trains.

• They were known as “prairie schooners” because of their appearance moving across the grassy plains.

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CICERO © 2010

The Stagecoach

• Passenger coaches were a popular form of public transportation in the early 1800s.

• They received their name because the driver changed horses every fifteen miles, or stage.

• The person who rode next to the driver, “riding shotgun,” usually carried a shotgun to guard against hostile Indians or bandits.

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Steam Locomotive“Iron Horse”

• The first locomotive built in the United States was The Best Friend of Charleston. It began service in 1830.

• On July 1, 1862, President Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act, which authorized building the Transcontinental Railroad.

• The Transcontinental Railroad was completed on May 10, 1869, in Promontory Point, Utah.

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CICERO © 2010

Steamboat

• Robert Fulton built the first successful steamboat, the Clermont, in 1807.

• Settlers traveling to the West by boat faced an arduous journey of 18,000 miles around South America or sailing to the Isthmus of Panama, crossing overland, and sailing to California.

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