The Oregon Trail

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The Oregon Trail

• Hardships
• Smallpox, Native American attacks, cholera,
  dysentery
• Many died on voyage
• Annex U.S. added Oregon without bloodshed
• Became a state in 1859
• Travelers attracted by free land (up to 640
  acres)
• 1840-1859
• 52,000 emigrants moved to Oregon

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Death on the Oregon Trail

• Cholera

• Dysentery

• a bacterial infection of the small intestine

• an inflammatory disorder of the intestine,
  especially of the colon, that results in severe
  diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the
  feces with fever and abdominal pain. If left
  untreated, dysentery can be fatal.

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Fifty-four Forty or Fight!

• Campaign slogan of democrat James K. Polk
• Promised to extend the Northern Border of the
  U.S. to 5440 N or fight for it
• Southerners in Congress made it clear that they
  would not risk war with Britain over Oregon.
• British leaders did not want to jeopardize
  economic relationship US.
• In June 1846, the Senate - Oregon Treaty with
  Britain, setting the boundary at the 49th
  parallel

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The Mormons

• Mormon or Latter Day Saint follower of the
  Church of the Latter Day Saints
• Founded by Joseph Smith
• Holy Books - Book of Mormon and Bible

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Joseph Smith

• Farmer in upstate New York
• 1820s had a vision to start a new Christian
  religious group
• Published The Book of Mormon

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Journey into the Desert

• Under constant persecution, the Mormons moved
  from New York to Ohio to Missouri to Illinois
• 1844 A mob attacked and killed Smith (while in
  Jail)
• Smiths successor Brigham Young, led the Mormons
  to safety in Utah
• 15,000 followed him

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Brigham Young

• 1850 became the Governor of Utah
• By 1860 30,000 Mormons lived in Utah
• 1896 Utah becomes the forty-fifth state

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Mormonism Basic Beliefs

• Mormon Church restoration of the Christian
  Church
• God has a physical body, is married, and can have
  children
• Strongly focused on traditional family life and
  values

• Oppose abortion, homosexuality, gambling,
  tobacco, coffee, tea, and use of drugs
• Polygamy the practice of having more than one
  wife
• This practice was discontinued over a century ago

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Stephen F. Austin

• Most successful empresario
• Issued 297 land grants later known as Old Three
  Hundred
• Each received
• 177 acres of farmland
• 4428 acres for stock grazing
• 10 year exemption from paying taxes

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Polk Wants War

• Believed war with Mexico would bring in New
  Mexico and California
• Supported claim that Texass border stopped at
  Rio Grande river, Mexico said it stopped at
  Neuces River

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War Begins

• General Zachary Taylor sent to Texas to protect
  southern border
• Mexico attacks
• Killed 9 Americans
• Captured 55 others
• Taylor asks Polk to declare war
• War Begins April 1846

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The U.S. Mexican War is the very first war
the U.S. fought outside of its own territory
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as well as the first major event captured by
photographs
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Some Americans confuse this war with the Texas
Revolution (1835 1836).
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Other Americans confuse this war with the
Spanish - American War (1898).
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Another reason most Americans know little of this
conflict is that the Civil War overshadowed it 13
years later.
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Consequently, many critics of the time period
referred to the conflict as Mr. Polks War.
11th POTUS (1845 1849)
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For Mexicans, the war is simply the North
American Invasion (La Intervención
Norteamericana).
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Opposition

• Many anti-slavery Americans challenged the war
• Included Abraham Lincoln
• The North did not want another slave state
  entering the Union Wilmot Proviso

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Kearny Marches West

• Colonel Stephen Kearny and troops march from
  Kansas to New Mexico
• The Long Marcher
• New Mexico falls to US

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The Bear Flag Republic

• The 500 citizens of California revolt against
  Mexican rulers in 1846
• Create the Bear Flag Republic
• Mexico surrenders California in 1847

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The War in Mexico

• American troops easily overpowered Mexican troops
  
• US troops led by Captain Robert E. Lee and
  Ulysses S. Grant
• Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott

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Making Peace

• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1848
• Mexico gave up all of California and New Mexico
• Also known as Mexican Cession
• Included California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah,
  and most of Arizona

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Taylors Election in 1848

• Democrats- Lewis Cass
• Free-Soil Party- Van Buren
• Whig Party- Zachary Taylor

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Gadsden Purchase

• 1853
• US purchased land for 10 million dollars
• The continental U.S. is now complete

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Gold Rush

• Gold discovered on January 24, 1848
• Forty-niners gold seekers who went to
  California in 1849
• Over 300,000 people traveled to California in
  search of gold!

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Effects of the Gold Rush

• Many Native Americans died from disease and
  genocide
• 150,000 in 1840
• 30,000 in 1870
• One in twelve forty-niners died
• death and crime rates during the Gold Rush were
  extraordinarily high
• Environmental Damage
• gravel, silt and toxic chemicals from prospecting
  operations killed fish and destroyed habitats
• California became a state (1850)
• Eurkea (I Have Found It) became State Motto
• The Golden State
• Development of Transcontinental Railroad

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Gold Today

• The high price of gold is due to its rare amount.
  Only three parts out of every billion
  (0.000000003) in the Earth's crust is gold.
• May 9, 2014 - 1293 per ounce