13) Key Events and Issues Related to Westward Migration

Question 1

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark Expedition

Answer 1

• After the U.S. purchased the Louisiana Territory from France in 180s, Jefferson appointed Lewis and Clark to explore it
• Sacagawea was a local guide
• Expedition went all the way to the Pacific Ocean

Question 2

Texas as new territory

Answer 2

• Texas annexed in 1845
• Was an independent republic from 1836-1845
• Jackson/country was divided over the issue of admitting another slave state into the Union

Question 3

Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana as new territories

Answer 3

• Ceded to U.S. by Spain in 1819

Question 4

Oregon as a new territory

Answer 4

• Land was under dispute between US and Great Britain

- US and GB reached a compromise that established the northern boundary of Oregon at the 49th parallel

Question 5

49th Parallel

Answer 5

• Line where US and GB established boundary of Oregon

Question 6

Mexican War (1846 - 1848)

Answer 6

• Polk justified the Mexican war by claiming that Mexican troops had illegally crossed American territory
• Lincoln, Henry David Thoreau, Whigs opposed the war
• Ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
• US gained CA and NM (including present-day NV, UT, AZ, parts of CO, WY)
• Recognized the Rio Grande as southern boundary of TX

Question 7

Why did farmers move west?

Answer 7

• Cotton had become most important to South
• Industrial Revolution drove increase in demand for textiles/cotton
• Eli Whitney’s cotton gine made cotton more efficient
• Farmers needed to move west to utilize fertile soil

Question 8

Who else moved west besides farmers?

Answer 8

• Trappers, miners, merchants, ranchers, others seeking fortunes
• CA gold rush (1848)

Question 9

Manifest Destiny

Answer 9

• The belief that the US was destined to control all the land between the two oceans
• Expansion was inevitable
• Coined by John O’Sullivan
• Used to gain public support for American territorial expansion