1. American History One Unit 4 Expansion

2. EQ; How did the forces of expansion impact the nation 1801-1850?

3. Expansion is…… • Process of enlargement • Process of increasing, or increasing something in size, extent, scope, or number • Growth by land acquisition: the increase of a country’s size by the acquisition of new territory • Video Clip

4. Reasons for Westward migration

5. 1800 387,000 white settlers west of the Appalachian Mountains • 1820, 2.4 million • Settlers migrated West for: • Religious freedom • An opportunity to own land • Adventure • Women moved in hopes of better housing for families

6. John L. O’Sullivan/Manifest Destiny

7. 1845, John Louis O’Sullivan, magazine editor coined the term Manifest Destiny • God had given the continent to Americans and wanted them to settle western land

8. Squatters • First to arrive in the West took the fertile land on rich river bottom and fertile woodlands • Squatters settled land they did not own • The government wanted to survey the land and then sell off large parcels to real estate companies • Squatters wanted to buy directly from the government

9. The Preemption Act of 1830 • Under pressure Congress passed the Preemption Act in 1830 • A renewable law made permanent in 1841 • The law granted protection to squatters • Allowed them the right to claim land before it was surveyed and the right to buy up to 160 acres for $1.25 an acre

10. Jethro Wood and John Deere

11. Early farmers used wooden plows to break the sod and roots of the Mid-West • Jethro Wood patented an iron plow in 1819 • John Deere developed a plow with sharp steel-edged blades in 1837 • The new plows cut the labor in half required to prepare one acre for farming

12. Cyrus McCormick

13. Cyrus McCormick developed a mechanical reaper in 1834 • Grain now harvested with a machine instead of by hand with a sickle or scythe • The reaper was pulled by horses or mules • Allowed the harvest of more grain with less effort

14. Why were the Great Plains ignored?

15. Settlers who came later went to California or Oregon • Many believed the Great Plains contained poor soil unsuitable for farming • Called the “Great Desert”

16. The Division of Oregon

17. Other nations, Native Americans, and the United States claimed parts of Oregon and California • In Oregon the United States and Great Britain competed for ownership • An agreement in 1818 resulted in both jointly occupying Oregon and to settle the dispute at a later date

18. The impact of missionaries on Oregon

19. Late 1830s American missionaries went to Oregon to convert Native Americans • The missionaries spread the word about Oregon, wrote letters sent back East about the beauty of the territory • The missionaries had a great influence on the migration of easterners to the Willamette Valley

20. Efforts by Mexico to populate California • 1821, Mexico gains independence from Spain • Mexico controlled a large geographic area, including California • California far from the center of government in Mexico City • Local California government encouraged foreign settlement, could not attract emigrants from Mexico

21. 1839, to attract more settlers Governor Alvarado granted 50,000 acres to a German immigrant, John Sutter • Sutter built a trading post and cattle ranch • Sutter’s Fort the first stopping point for Americans when they reached California • 1845, 200 plus Americans settled in California

22. Trails West

23. The trails west started in the East and were very dangerous • The first trailblazers were “mountain men”, Kit Carson and Jim Bridger who trapped beaver in the Rocky Mountains, had knowledge of the territory and the Native Americans • 1840s, the mountain men found or created several passages through the mountains that would play and important role in the settlement of the west

24. The most popular routes • The Oregon Trail • The California Trail • The Santa Fe Trail • The Mormon Trail

26. Wagon Trains

27. The journey West made in covered wagons • Prior to the start of the journey, the wagon trains assembled at staging areas outside of frontier towns • Families traded information about the routes, bought supplies, trained oxen, and learned how to handle the wagons that were prone to roll over

28. First wagon trains hired mountain men as guides • After the trails were well worn, overlanders used guide books written by earlier migrants • On occasion the information in the books were incorrect • 1846 Donner Party was trapped in the Sierra Nevada Mountains due to snow

29. 41 died of starvation • Some that survived resorted to cannibalism • The trip West took 5-6 months • Covered about 15 miles a day • Men drove the wagons, hunted game, cared for the animals at night • Women tended the children, cooked, cleaned and washed clothes

30. Migrating Settlers and Native Americans

31. Early settlers feared Indian attack • Encounters with Native Americans rare • Between 1840-1860, 362 emigrants died at the hands of Native Americans and emigrants killed 426 Native Americans • Native Americans often provided emigrants with food, information about routes, edible plants , and water sources

32. Native Americans traded fresh horses for cotton clothing and ammunition

33. Migration as a threat to Native Americans

34. More settlers cross the Great Plains, Native Americans saw immigration as a threat to their way of life • The Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and other tribes depended on the buffalo for food, clothing, shelter, and tools • Native Americans afraid the flow of settlers across hunting grounds would disrupt the migration patterns of the buffalo herds

35. The Treaty of Fort Laramie, 1851

36. In order to bring peace in the West the government negotiated the Treaty of Ft. Laramie • Eight Native American tribes agreed to specific geographic boundaries • The government of the United States promised that these territories would belong to the Native Americans permanently

37. The Mormon Migration

38. The Mormons headed West to escape religious persecution • In effect they left the United States • 1844, after the murder of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young led his people West • Several thousand Mormons forged a path, became known as the Mormon Trail, a valuable trail West

39. 1847, the Mormons stopped at the Great Salt Lake in present day Utah • Young declared this was where the Mormons would build a new settlement • In the wilderness the Mormons staked a claim on the land they called Desert

40. Opening Texas to Americans • July 1821, Stephen Austin leaves Louisiana for Texas • The Spanish government promised a large tract of land to Moses Austin if he brought 300 American families • Moses Austin died before he reached Texas • Texas, part of the Spanish Empire • Mexican Independence in 1821, Texas under Mexican control

41. Tejanos, Spanish speaking inhabitants lived in settlements of San Antonio de Bexar and Hidalgo in Southern Texas • Few lived north of the settlements • Northern region inhabited by the Apache, Comanche and other Native American tribes • In order to settle the area, Mexico invited Americans and other foreigners to settle areas near the Native Americans

42. National Colonization Act • 1823-1825, Mexico passed three colonization laws • Offered cheap land • A 10 year exemption from paying taxes • Had to become Mexican citizens • Live under Mexican law • Convert to Catholicism • Some Americans went to Texas on their own

43. Most came due to efforts by empresarios (agents or contractors) • The National Colonization Act granted 26 empresarios large land grants in Texas • Had to fill land with specific number of settlers • Plots of land were assigned to each family • Empresarios governed the colonies they established

44. Stephen Austin founded Washington on the Brazos in mid 1830s • Austin convinced 1,500 American families to immigrate to Texas

45. Americanizing Texas • American immigrants accepted Mexican citizenship • Did not accept Mexican customs nor see Mexico as their own country • Spanish Catholic Church was strange to them • Most did not attempt to learn Spanish • Mexicans did not trust American immigrants because of their lifestyle and dismissal of Mexican ways

46. The Mexican response to Benjamin Edwards’ revolt • 1826, empresario Haden Edwards’ brother Benjamin Edwards led a rebellion against the Mexican authority • Disagreement over who controlled the area, the empresiaro or the Mexican government • Edwards declared the American settlements in Texas made up the independent nation of Fredonia

47. The revolt had little support • Stephen Austin led troops that allowed Mexico to put down the revolt • Few settlers answered the call for revolt • Mexican government was afraid the revolt signaled an American plot to take Texas • 1830, Mexico banned immigration of Americans

48. Banned the importation of slave labor • Mexico taxed imported goods, to discourage trade with the United States • New laws angered settlers • No immigration, settlements could not grow • Import tax, goods cost more that were purchased from the United States • The Mexican government was telling the settlers what they could or could not do

49. The settlers saw no need to follow directives from a government they did not accept as their own

50. Texan Demands • Settlers met at two conventions in the town of San Felipe in 1832 and 1833 • S. Austin chosen as president of the first convention, asked Mexico to reopen Texas to American immigration and loosen import taxes • At the second convention, asked that Texas become a new Mexican state