1. By Adyson Holt & Matt Pence

2. -The Americans moved west because of a hat. The High Hatmade of water-repellent beaver fur. It was popular in the U.S.and in Europe.-John Jacob Aster created one of the largest fur businesses,the American Fur Company, after the High Hat was made.-Mountain Men were fur traders and trappers. They traveledby canoes, flat boats, horseback, and by riding trains.-There was a yearly meeting called Revendouswhere fur trappers sold there fur to fur-companyagents.-Easterners poured into Oregon County in the1840s. 3. The Oregon Trail was The Mormon trail is 1,300 miles longThe Santa Fe Trail was about 780 miles 2,000 miles long and it and it took 536 days to make the initial trip.and it usually took about 6 weeks to usually took 4-6 months travel. to travel.In 1830, Joseph Smith founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Western NewIt led from Independence, Missouri, toThe cost was about $600 per family of York. The members were knows as Mormons.Santa Fe,four, which was high at the time whenNew Mexico.a typical worker usually made $1.50The book of religious teachings were called theper day. Book of MormonAmerican traders loaded their wagon An anti-mormon mob murdered Smith in 1844. trains withThey gathered in wagon trains , there Brigham Young took his place.cloth and other manufactured goods tocould be as many as 10 wagons or as Young chose Utah for the Mormons new home.exchange for horses, mules, and silvermany as several dozen in a wagon fromtrain. The wagons were pulled by Mexican traders in Santa Fe.oxen, mules or horses. Pioneers oftenwalked to save there animals strength. The U.S. government helped protect traders by Sending troops to ensure that Native Americans were not a threat. The Old Spanish Trail was 2,700 miles long and usually took 180-225 days.The trail to California which has become known asthe Old Spanish Trail apparently was not openeduntil 1829. The misnomer arose from the fact thatparties going from New Mexico to California by thenorthern route naturally traveled as far as theColorado River along the Old Spanish Trail, andwere, therefore, said to have goneto California by way of that trail. The name thusbecame applied to the entire trail to Californiainstead of just to the first portion of it. 4. In September 1810,Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Mexican priest,led a rebellion of about 80,000 poor Indians and Mestizos, or people ofIndian and Spanish ancestry.Hidalgos revolt failed, but the rebellion he started grew.In 1821 Mexico became independent.At the time empresarios were called agents.In 1822, one young agent, Stephen F. Austin, started a colony on thelower Colorado River. The first 300 families became known as the oldthree hundred.Mexicos general was Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. He soonsuspended Mexicos republican constitution and turned his attention tothe growing unrest in Texas. 5. On March 2,1836, Texansdeclared theirindependencefrom Mexico.Texas electedtheir ownpresident, DavidBurnet, andLorenzo deZavala as vicepresident.Sam Houstonwas head of 6. -Jackson did recognize Texas In the Battle of San as in Independent nation.Jacinto, the Texans France did so in 1839. captured Santa Britain in 1940. Anna and forcedhim to sign a treatygiving Texas itsindependence. Alamo; an abandoned mission near San Antoniothat became an important battle site in the Texas Revolution.-Volunteers from the U.S, including frontiersman Davy Crockett andColonel Jim Bowie, joined the Alamos defense.-Mexican Army overcame the Texans 7. Acquiring NewManifest Territory Destiny, or In 1846, Great Britain obvious fate, and the United States to settle signed a treaty that gave the United land all the States all Oregon way to theland south of the Pacific Ocean forty-ninth parallel. in order to This treaty drew the spreadborder that still democracy.exists today. Oregon became an organized U.S. territory in February of 1848. 8. During early Spanish rule the mission system had dominated much of thepresent-day southwest.Some Native Americans were willing to the missions, others were not. Theywere not allowed to leave once they arrived. They had to adopt the clothing, food,and religion of the Spanish priests.In 1833, Mexico ended the mission system in California. Mission lands werebroken up, and huge grants were given to some of the wealthiest Californiasettlers, including Vallejo.They created vast ranchos, or ranches, with tens of thousands of acres of land.Vaqueros or cowboys, managed the large herds of cattle and sheep. 9. California only had about , colonistsby the early 1820s. They were calledCalifornios.Mariano Guadalupe VallegoHe was the richest man in California,owning enormous amounts of land andlivestock.Vallego served at the stateconstitutional convention, as well as inthe first state senate. 10. General Taylor led troops to Rio Grande Mexican commandertold Taylor to withdraw from Mexican territory. Taylor refused. Two sides clashed and several U.S. soldiers werekilled. Two days later, congress declared war on Mexico. Thepresident at the time was James k. polk . August 18, General Stephen Kearney, took Santa Fe, the capital city, without a fight. He claimed New Mexico for the United States. 11. Bear Flag Revolt, the Americans declared California to be an independentnation.Above town, rebels made a flag with a grizzly bear facing a red star.John C. Fremont, U.S. army captain, joined American settlers in there revoltagainst Californios.During revolt, Californios were taken prisoner. Mariano Vallego was. Afterrelease wrote a history of California, that included his time as a bear flagprisoner.Bear Flag was quick to fall.In August, U.S. Navy commodore Robert Stockman claimed California for theU.S. 12. Battle of Buena Vista- 2day battle, American armyIn February 1848, The U.S and Mexico signedgained control of northern the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which officially ended the war and forced Mexico toMexico.turn over much of its Northern territory to the U.S. known as the Mexican Cession, this land included California, Nevada, and Utah, and some of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming. U.S. also won area claimed by Texas north of the Rio Grande. Mexican Cession increased size of U.S. by 25%. 13. Gadsden Purchase was when the U.S. government paid mexico$10 million.. In exchange the U.S. received the southern partsof what are now Arizona & New Mexico.With this purchase, the existing boundary with Mexico wasFinally fixed. 14. CULTURAL Water RightsSURGE OF AMERICANENCOUNTERSSETTLERS There was a lot ofBringham Young A lot of Americans trade with Indians. established a strictmoved southwest The Navajo createdcode for theafter the war. blankets to sell. Morman community. It was hard to get Americans, broughtfood.manufactured Sometimes Indian & goods and moneyAmericans fought to the southwest.over land. 15. When Mexicans controlled California they gave swiss immigrant John Sutterpermission to start a colony.-The Donner party was a group of western travelers who went to California but werestranded in the sierra Nevada mountains during winter.-Rescue party found the starving and freezing group in February 1o847. of theoriginal 87 travelers,42 died. 16. In January 1840,Sutter sent carpenter James Marshall to build asawmill beside a nearby river. He found gold. They agreed to keep it asecret. A native american found gold too. He was shouting oro (gold) Oro! Oro! In 1849, about 80,000 gold seekers came to California, hoping it to strike rich. These they were called 49-ers. It was hard to get to California. California had a huge population increase, by like 25,000 by 1850. 17. The 49-ers would be prospect, or search for gold,along the banks of streams or in shallow. The first person to arrive at a site would stake aclaim. Plaur miners used pans or other devices to washgold nuggets out of loose rock and gravel. To reach gold deposits buried in the hills minershad to dig shafts and tunnels. These tasks were usually pursued by miningcompanies rather than by individuals. In 1853 Californias yearly gold production peakedat more than $60 million. 18. Mining camps sprang up wherever enough people gathered to lookfor gold. These camps had colorful names, such as Hang man orPoker Flat. Miners in the caMps caMe froM Many cultures and backgrounds. Most miners were young, unmarried men in sedum of adventure ,only around 5% of gold-rush immigrants were women or children. 19. The lure of gold in California attracted miners from around the world.Many Chinese men came to California hoping to find wealth, them return home to China.They were known as gam, saan haak, or travelers to gold mountain.Chinese immigrants soon discovered that many Americans did not welcome them. In 1852, California forced immigrants to paya high monthly tax if they wanted to search for gold.Some Chinese men opened businesses, as well other foreigners.In 1849 alone, about 20,000 immigrants arrived in California. Most left, but some made businesses, like Levi Strauss, aGerman immigrant earned a fortune by making tough denim pants for miners known as Jeans. 20. IMPACT ON CALIFORNIA Californias booming California faced an obstacle topopulation made it eligible growth. The state has isolatedfrom the rest of the country. It wasfor statehood only 2 yearsdifficult to bring in and ship outafter being aquired by thegoods.U.S.. In 1850 California The answer to the isolationbecame the 31st state.problem was to bring the railroadall the way to California.Californians had to wait almost 20years for that. Completion of theTranscontinental railroad in 1869gave Californians the means togrow a stronger economy.