Instructional Focus Document Notes Grade 8/Social Studies

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Instructional Focus Document NotesGrade 8/Social
Studies

• UNIT 08 TITLE Manifest Destiny
• Part 1 New Land and the Northwest Ordinance

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New Land

• Since the End of the American Revolution, the
  United States had been acquiring new land.
• Congress needed to come up with a system for
  organizing all the new land that the United
  States had acquired from the Treaty of Paris
  1783.
• The Land Ordinance of 1785- divided the land into
  six mile square plots. These were called
  townships and the area became known as the
  Northwest Territory.

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Northwest Territory
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Northwest Ordinance of 1787

• This determined how the Northwest Territory would
  be governed.
• 1. When the population reached 60,000, the
  territory could apply to become a state.
• 2. Slavery in the Northwest Territory would be
  outlawed
• 3. Rivers for navigation would be open for all.
• 4. Freedom of religion and trial by jury.

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Northwest Ordinance of 1787

• The Northwest Ordinance set a pattern for orderly
  growth that the United States continued to use
  throughout the years. It provided procedures for
  establishing territories and creating states. As
  the nation grew, it used the same principles.

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• Part 2 Westward Expansion

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Lure of Oregon

• By the 1820s white settlers had occupied much of
  the land east of the Mississippi River.
• The plains were considered too dry, so farmers
  and settlers began heading to the far west

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Oregon Territory

• Americans knew about the enormous territory of
  Oregon west of the Rocky Mountains
• The region included the present day areas of
  Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and
  parts of Canada

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Oregon Territory

• The Geography of Oregon is varied. Along the
  Pacific coast, the soil is fertile. Temperatures
  are mild year round and rainfall is plentiful.
  Settlers found fine farmland.
• Farther inland, dense forests are found. Mountain
  men and fur trappers found plenty of game and fur
  bearing animals.

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Oregon Territory

• The Mountain Men and hunters were the first
  whites in the area.

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Claims to Oregon

• In the early 1800s, four countries claimed
  Oregon Russia, Spain, Britain, and the United
  States.
• In 1818, the U.S. and Britain agree to jointly
  occupy Oregon

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Oregon Trail

• As Oregon fever spread, pioneers clogged the
  trails west.
• Many traveled on the Oregon Trail

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Oregon Trail

• Beginning in 1843, wagon trains left every spring
  for Oregon. Families planning to go west would
  meet at Independence Missouri.
• They had to leave by early May

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Journey West

• Timing was important. They needed to be in Oregon
  before the heavy snowfalls in the mountains.
• All the trails west faced the hazard of crossing
  the mountains
• This meant that they had to cover 2,000 miles in
  5 months. In the 1840s, traveling 15 miles a day
  was making good time

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Conestoga Wagons
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Journey West

• Between 1840 and 1860 more than 50,000 people had
  reached Oregon

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Americans in Texas

• Spain had given Moses Austin a land grant in
  order to bring settlers into Texas.
• After his death, his son, Stephen F. Austin took
  over the land grant

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Americans in Texas

• Mexico had won its Independence from Spain, so
  Stephen Austin had to deal with the new Mexican
  government.
• Mexico wanted the settlers to develop the land
  and handle the Native Americans on the frontier
• Starting in 1821, Austin brought in 300 families
  known as The Old Three Hundred

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Americans in Texas

• Many of the Old 300 came from the South and
  started cotton plantations in Texas
• Many had brought the institution of slavery with
  them
• By 1830, about 20,000 Americans lived in Texas

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Conflict between Texans and the Mexican Government

• In 1830, Mexico barred American immigration
• Mexico began to enforce laws that had previously
  been ignored
• One law required all Texans to be Catholic
• Another law banned slavery in Texas
• Then Santa Anna threw out the Constitution of 1824

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Texans Take Action

• These laws angered the Texans and when the
  Mexican government sent in troops to enforce the
  laws, tension between the Mexican government and
  the Texans increased
• With Santa Anna in power in Mexico, Americans
  living in Texas felt it was time to take action

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Four Major Occurrences in the Texas Revolution

• Battle of the Gonzales
• The Alamo
• Goliad
• The decisive battle at San Jacinto

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Texas Annexation

• Texas became an independent country in September
  of 1836
• Sam Houston became the Republics first President
  and the Texas Constitution closely resembled the
  American Constitution

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Texas Annexation

• The new Republic faced many problems
• The Mexican government till refused to recognize
  the treaty that Santa Anna signed
• Mexicans still believed Texas was a part of
  Mexico
• Texas was nearly bankrupt
• Comanche and other Indian tribes threatened small
  Texas communities

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Texas Annexation

• Many people believed that the best way to solve
  Texass problems would be annexation by the
  United States
• The annexation of Texas became the argument
  between the North and South with slavery being
  the main issue
• Northerners were opposed to the idea, but
  Southerners were in favor of annexation

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Texas Annexation

• Northerners feared that Texas would be admitted
  into the Union as a slave state
• There were also concerns that annexation of Texas
  could lead to conflict with Mexico
• Because of the controversy, Congress refused to
  annex Texas.
• For the next 9 years, Texas worked to get
  immigrants from the United States to come to
  Texas. They even offered free land

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Texas Annexation

• During the Panic of 1837, thousands of Americans
  moved to Texas.
• Immigrants from Germany and Switzerland also
  moved to Texas
• By 1840, about 140,000 people lived in Texas.
  Most were American

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New Mexico Territory

• In the Early 1840s, most of the Southwest was
  known as the New Mexico Territory.
• This included present day Arizona, New Mexico,
  Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado

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Manifest Destiny

• In the mid-1840s, only about 700 people lived in
  California.
• Every year, however, more and more Americans
  began moving west.
• On several occasions the American government
  offered to buy California from the Mexican
  government.

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Manifest Destiny

• The United States was eager to get control of the
  Pacific ports of San Francisco and San Diego
• There were other reasons for wanting to obtain
  California
• President James K. Polk believed that the
  California territory would produce great riches
• Many Americans felt that since the American
  culture was superior to others and that democracy
  was the best form of government, then it was the
  duty of the United States to spread its culture
  and democracy across the entire continent of
  North America all the way to the Pacific Ocean

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Manifest Destiny

• This belief was called Manifest Destiny
• Manifest means clear or obvious
• Destiny means something that is sure to happen

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American Progress by John Gast
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Manifest Destiny

• Manifest Destiny did have a negative side
• Many Americans used the belief to justify taking
  land from cultures whom they considered inferior
  to the American culture (Mexican and Native
  American)
• Many settlers moved west to start a new life

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Mexican War

• The United States finally annexed Texas
• This enraged Mexico and now the Mexicans became
  worried about California
• Many Americans felt that Mexicos refusal to sell
  California stood in the way of Manifest Destiny

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Mexican war

• A border dispute between the United States and
  Mexico between the Nueces River and the Rio
  Grande erupted when Mexican soldiers crossed the
  Rio Grande and clashed with American soldiers.

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Mexican War

• The President of the United States at the time
  James Polk urged Congress to declare war on
  Mexico
• Congress did declare war

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Mexican War

• Many Americans did not approve of this war. They
  thought it was a plot to gain more slave states
• The famous writer Henry David Thoreau refused to
  pay his taxes as a protest to the war
• For this act of Civil Disobedience, we was
  arrested and put in jail

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Mexican War

• Still many more Americans supported the war.
  (mostly from the South)
• General Taylor and General Winfield Scott
  attacked Mexico from many fronts.
• A third Army led by Stephen Kearny, captured much
  of New Mexico and southern California
• John C. Fremont led a revolt in California and
  overthrew the Mexican officials there

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Mexican War

• Soon after, General Winfield Scott captured
  Mexico City bringing an end to the War.

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Mexican Cession

• In the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico
  had to cede all of California and the New Mexico
  Territory to the United States. This was the
  Mexican Cession.
• The United States agreed to pay 15 million for
  the land. A few years later, the United States
  needed to purchase land again from Mexico for a
  railroad. This was the Gadsden Purchase which
  filled in the present day borders of the
  continental United States.

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Mexican Cession
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Gadsden Purchase

• The Gadsden purchase provided a safer southern
  route to the west.

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Territorial Expansion

• Most territorial expansion occurred in the early
  19th century and it was all west of the
  Mississippi River

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Manifest Destiny Fulfilled
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Mormons and Westward Expansion

• Founded by Joseph Smith in 1830, the Mormon
  churched faced much persecution from their
  neighbors forcing them to relocate from New York
  to Ohio, then again to Missouri, and again to
  Illinois.

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Mormons and Westward Expansion

• After an angry mob killed founding member Joseph
  Smith, the new Mormon leader Brigham Young
  decided that the group should move far out to the
  newly acquired Mexican Cession territories

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Mormon Trail

• For years many Mormons moved out to Utah where
  the Mormons settled.
• The Mormons created a trail that others including
  non-Mormons would use in their journeys out west

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The Mormon Trail
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California Gold Rush

• In 1848, John Sutter discovered gold at his
  sawmill.
• He tried to keep it secret, but word eventually
  leaked out and soon hundreds of Californians
  rushed to Sutters Mill to find gold.

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California Gold Rush

• Gold Fever soon gripped the nation. Thousands
  of people flocked to California with dreams of
  striking it rich . More than 80,000 people made
  the long journey to California in 1849.
• They became known as the forty-niners

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California Gold Rush

• Californias population exploded almost
  overnight.
• Small camps grew quickly into thriving cities

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California Gold Rush

• Because of the greed for gold, many people turned
  to robbery and crime. Lawlessness soon became the
  way of the wild west.
• As crime grew, people turned to vigilantism to
  combat the violence and crime.

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California Gold Rush

• People from all over the world came to California
  as the news spread.
• A great number of Asian immigrants came to
  California
• Chinese immigrants arrived for the first time in
  California with dreams of finding gold.
• Instead they were run out of the mines by other
  miners

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California Gold Rush

• Many Chinese immigrants resorted to building
  railroads and other laborious tasks
• African Americans who came out west also faced
  discrimination
• Native Americans suffered the worst as they were
  pushed out of their lands.