Westward Expansion

1
Westward Expansion

• Chapter 13

2
The West

• The West was anywhere between the Mississippi
  River and the Pacific Ocean-That was the Western
  Frontier
• Because it was hard to farm in the Great Plains,
  the land was used for Transportation
• The Northwest had fertile lands

3
The West

• The Southwest was owned by Mexico, and was part
  of the Spanish Borderlands.
• People in these areas were only allowed to trade
  with Spain
• This area has a distinct culture

4
The West

• Spanish missionaries like Junipero Serro tried to
  turn Native Americans into Catholics
• Natives were forced to live and work at missions,
  may died from overwork or disease
• Buildings were and are still made with a similar
  look

5
(No Transcript)
6
The West

• In 1821, Mexico won their independence from Spain
• Mexico made land grants to rancheros and removed
  missionaries
• Because the land given often belonged to the
  Natives, the Indians raided ranches

7
The West

• America had been interested in Westward Expansion
• They began to believe in Manifest Destiny, which
  was the idea that the country should go from the
  Atlantic to the Pacific.

8
(No Transcript)
9
Trails to the West

• There were many trails to the west
• In 1821, Captain William Becknell led a wagon
  train from Missouri to New Mexico
• This was 800 miles long and was called the Santa
  Fe Trail, it was very popular

10
(No Transcript)
11
(No Transcript)
12
Trails to the West

• John Jacob Astor established the American Fur
  Company in 1808 in Oregon after he traveled there
• He used information the Lewis and Clark created

13
Trails to the West

• Mountain men became famous.
• They led isolated lives in the bitter cold,
  intense heat animal attacks
• Trappers would bring their furs to a rendezvous
  where the mountain men would come together and
  bargain for the prices of furs

14
(No Transcript)
15
Trails to the West

• The first people to built permanent homes in
  Oregon were missionaries
• Marcus and Narcissa Whitman tried to help the
  natives, but in reality land was simply stolen
  from the natives.
• When people heard there was good land, more
  settlers came
• This started Oregon Fever

16
Trails to the West

• Most settlers followed the Oregon Trail
• This trail was 2,000 miles from Missouri to
  Oregon, and it took 5 months to complete.
• Pioneers banded together for protection-Wagons
  carried supplies while the people walked
• People began to get rid of personal items to make
  the wagons lighter

17
(No Transcript)
18
Trails to the West

• Working with only hand tools, people had to clear
  land, plant crops and build shelters
• Diseases, accidents and natural disasters were
  common.
• Sine setters even gave up and returned east

19
Trails to the West

• Women worked with men to make their family farms
  successful
• Women also fought for the right to vote
• In 1869, the Wyoming territory was the first that
  let women vote

20
(No Transcript)
21
Trails to the West

• Natives had an uneasy peace with the whites
• After gold was discovered in Oregon in 1850,
  white and Chinese miners came into the area
• War broke out with the Natives

22
Conflict with Mexico

• Conflict between Mexico and the Americans in
  Texas
• Americans were moving to Texas, and they were
  Protestant, not Catholic
• The Americans were bringing slaves, which was
  outlawed in Mexico
• The Mexican democracy was overturned by Santa
  Anna, and he turned it to a dictatorship
• In 1836, the Texans declared independence from
  Mexico and created the Republic of Texas

23
(No Transcript)
24
Conflict with Mexico

• Santa Anna attacked the Alamo
• The Americans defended it for 12 days until the
  Mexicans took over
• A few months later, Sam Houston, led a small army
  to attack Santa Annas army
• They captured the leader and signed a treaty that
  gave Texas independence.

25
(No Transcript)
26
Conflict with Mexico

• Sam Houston became the President of the Republic
  of Texas
• He hoped that the United States would Annex Texas
• Initially they were not annexed because there was
  no free state to balance them

27
Conflict with Mexico

• President John Tyler asked congress to annex
  Texas 3 days before he left his presidency
• Although Santa Anna had signed a treaty, Mexico
  claimed that it was not truly a treaty

28
Conflict with Mexico

• President James K. Polk offered to pay Mexico for
  the border of Texas and to pay for California
• This angered Mexico
• This began a war with Mexico
• This was called the Mexican American War
• Most Americans supported the war
• But Northerners said it was about extending
  slavery

29
Conflict with Mexico

• Polk sent troops to New Mexico and to California
• Settlers in California declared themselves an
  independent republic
• They rose a grizzly bear flag
• Although Mexico tried to defend California and
  New Mexico, they did not have the troops

30
Conflict with Mexico

• General Zachary Taylor invaded Mexico, the
  Americans invaded and took over the capital
• The Americans had won the war

31
Conflict with Mexico

• The treaty that ended the war was the Treaty of
  Guadalupe Hidalgo
• They won the Mexican Cession which included
  California, Nevada and Utah as well as part of
  Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico
• They had also had the Gadsden Purchase which made
  Manifest Destiny complete

32
(No Transcript)
33
(No Transcript)
34
A Rush to the West

• People of the Mormon religion began to move west
  to Utah, eventually they founded the city of Salt
  Lake City
• The Church was founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith
• One thing that was controversial was that some
  people believed in polygamy
• The Mormons moved from New York to Ohio, then to
  Missouri, then Illinois where Smith was murdered
• Brigham Young moved the Mormons to Salt Lake City
  Utah.

35
A Rush to the West

• Mormons and the government of the United States
  had conflict for 3 reasons
• Mormon church controlled the election process in
  Utah
• The Church only supported businesses for people
  that were Mormon
• Polygamy

36
A Rush to the West

• It took 40 years to work out these issues, Utah
  became a state in 1896
• In 1848, James Marshall found a gold nugget in a
  ditch in California
• 80,000 forty-niners ran to California to search
  for gold
• There was both gold above ground and below ground
  and it the water

37
(No Transcript)
38
A Rush to the West

• People were fighting over water rights because
  the gold would move with the water
• Because of the people moving west, towns sprang
  up
• There were vigilantes in these towns
• The women who went to California mined, ran and
  worked in boarding houses, hotels, restaurants,
  laundries and stores

39
A Rush to the West

• There was gold found in Idaho, Montana, Colorado,
  Arizona and Nevada
• All different types of people went to California
• People from Europe, Asia, Australia and South
  America

40
(No Transcript)
41
(No Transcript)
42
(No Transcript)
43
A Rush to the West

• Men from China came to America in hopes that they
  could send home money
• They faced prejudice
• They could not get jobs in mines, they had to
  cook or do laundry, work on railroads or farms

44
A Rush to the West

• Thousands of free African Americans moved to
  California
• They had their own churches, and news papers
• They ran their own businesses
• But they did not have equal rights

45
A Rush to the West

• Natives had their lands stolen
• Nearly 2/3 of the Natives that lived in
  California died during the Gold rush