Westward Movement

By: Gavin Felts

Jacob Yoder became the first person to travel

down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers in 1782. It happened at the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and became very important to other people at that time. He did this to encourage other people to go there and encourage people to ride on flatboats.it is amazing that someone could ride a flatboat at the Mississippi and Ohio rivers in that time. These are a few facts about the flatboat.

Flatboats

In April of 1803, Thomas Jefferson and the USA

made a deal with the leader of Paris, France ,Napoleon, to purchase the Louisiana Territory. Jefferson and Napoleon agreed with this and we got 800,000 square miles of land. The United States got territory all the way to the Rocky Mountains. Our land and population expanded greatly too. These are a few facts about the Louisiana Purchase.

Louisiana Purchase

On May of 1804, Lewis and Clark were exploring

the Louisiana Territory and that’s where the Westward Indians live. Sacagawea saw Lewis and Clark in trouble and she helped them. She knew that they would get killed by her own kind so she helped them by communicating and translating for them. She also helped them by leading them through the land because she knew the territory better than them . These are a few facts about Lewis, Clark, and Sacagawea.

Lewis, Clark, and Sacagawea

President Madison wanted to keep the USA neutral. He hoped

Americans could continue trading with Britain and France, but conflicts made them enemies. On June 18, 1812, Americans decided to drive Britain out of Canada. This started a big war and it was a very bad time. During the war, Native Americans teamed up with Britain. As the war continued, Americans won more and more battles. Some Creek and Cherokee tribes joined up with America. After they teamed up, Britain got mad. They went way too far. They attacked the White House and First lady Doley Madison escaped quickly with a few of their belongings and fled. At the end of the war, the USA won and inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star Spangled Banner”. These are a few facts about the War of 1812.

The War Of 1812

On September 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key

wrote a poem that would later become our national anthem entitled; “The Star Spangled Banner.” British Soldiers attacked Fort McHenry near Baltimore. During this battle, Francis saw our flag waving in the distance. He knew that the flag belonged to the USA and inspired him to write the poem. This poem became our national anthem.

The Star Spangled Banner

In 1821, Mexico passed a law saying that the

settlers can’t move to Texas any longer. Mexico didn’t want any more settlers to settle on the Texas Territory so they fought for the territory. The US won the territory and congress decided to annex Texas. After this, people thought that the US would spread all over North America.

Texas Revolution

In Georgia of 1830, Americans wanted land

that the Indians were on and forced them to move west. The Americans kept on making the Indians move west until the Indians barley had any land left. This event was called The Trail of Tears or The Indian Removal Act because this was a sad time in our history. These are a few facts about the Indian Removal Act and Trail of

Tears.

Trail of Tears/ Indian Removal Act

In 1832, James Monroe was the current

president and lead us very well. One day, he got worried that Europe would invade or take over us. He and congress discussed this and decided to send a letter asking them not to invade or take over us. After this, James Monroe decided to make a doctrine called the Monroe Doctrine that warned people to stay out of the USA. These are a few facts about the Monroe Doctrine.

Monroe Doctrine

On May 13, 1846, Mexico declared war over a

border. Mexico wanted the border by a river, but the USA wanted it farther so they could get more land. They both disagreed with each other and Mexico wanted to use their idea but the US wanted to use theirs. We fought over it and we got our way. These are a few facts about The Mexican War.

The Mexican War

In 1849, a group of miners found a ton of gold

in the hills of California. It happened because the miners were digging for gold and found it in California. When the miners found the gold, word spread every where within 2 weeks to everybody, but the miners wanted to keep it a secret. Everyone wanted to start mining for gold when they heard. These are a few facts about the Gold Rush of 1849.

Gold Rush of 1849