Warm up

Question:Why was the Underground Railroad so

important? Name one person who helped operate the Underground Railroad.

Answer:

• It served as a sense of hope for slaves.• It also served as an escape route for slaves in

the South.

• Harriet Tubman

Chapter 13

The West

Section 1

What was “The West”? (See page 445 in book)

• America’s idea of The West changed as we began to expand further towards the Pacific Ocean.– The Great Plains-the unsettled area between the

Mississippi River and the Rocky Mts. Many people considered this nothing more than a passage to the far west. (Green)

– The Northwest-the land that would eventually become Oregon and Washington. Four nations claimed this land; the U.S., Great Britain, Russia, and Spain. (Orange)

– The Southwest-mostly Mexican settlements, this land was known as New Spain. (Purple)

Mexican Settlements• Settlers who lived in New Spain could only trade

with Spain. • Many groups started to intermarry and have kids

in New Spain. (Natives, Spanish, Africans)• Many of the Spanish missionaries, such as

Junipero Serro in California, forced the Natives to convert to Catholicism and forced labor.

• In 1821, Mexico won its independence from Spain. The government and the Native Americans soon fought over the land.

Manifest Destiny• From the start of the United States, Americans

believed that they had the right to expand beyond its borders.

• Thomas Jefferson even said that we needed to make room for the expanding population.

• John O’Sullivan used the term manifest destiny in a New York newspaper saying:

“it is manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us.”

Warm up

Question:What was Manifest Destiny?

Answer:

From the start of the United States, Americans believed that they had the right to expand beyond its borders.

Section 2

Trails to the West

The Santa Fe Trail• Once Mexico gained its independence it started to

allow Americans to cut through on their way to the Pacific Ocean.

• In 1821, Captain William Becknell led a wagon train filled with merchandise from Missouri to Santa Fe.

• This became a very busy international trading route.

•Fur traders were the first Americans to reach the Oregon territory.•John Jacob Astor (a German immigrant) set up an American fur-trading company in Oregon. $$$$$

The Oregon Fur Trade

•Mountain men were people who spent most of their time on the Rocky Mountains.•They trapped fur to make money

Mountain Man

The Oregon Trail

The Oregon Trail was the easiest passage west

The path started in Independence, Missouri, Went across the Great Plains,

Along the Platte River,

Through the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains and into the Oregon Territory.

•Many missionaries used this trail.•Marcus & Narcissa Whitman set up a mission to help the Cayuse Indians. •After some interactions with whites the tribe broke out in measles and blamed and killed the Whitmans.

Drove wagons, tended to the animals, and hunted.

Cared for children, cooked, and watched fires.

Native Americans: often wars broke out between the natives and the settlers. Sometimes Chinese (miners) also got involved in the conflicts.

Warm up

Question: What were the two trails that we discussed in class yesterday?

Name one important fact about each of them.

Answer:Sante Fe Trail-In 1821, Captain William Becknell led a wagon train

filled with merchandise from Missouri to Santa Fe. This became a very busy international trading route.

The Oregon Trail-Many missionaries used this trail.The Whitmans set up a mission to help the Cayuse

Indians. Many attacks by Native Americans along the trail.

Section 3

Conflict with Mexico

Stephen F. Austin organized an American colony…and settled along the Brazos and Colorado Rivers.More Americans would follow Austin's lead and live in TexasHis group later becomes known as the Old 300Problem:Pro slavery and NOT Catholic

American settlers wanted more representation within the Mexican legislature. But these hopes were dashed when General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna became president of Mexico. He quickly created a dictatorship.At the urging of Stephen Austin the Texans revolted and declared independence.They created the Republic of Texas…an independent country. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

•Santa Anna responded with force. •His troops attacked a Texan mission called the Alamo.•Thousands of Mexican troops surrounded the fort.

VS.

William B. Travis and 150 brave volunteers were held up inside the Alamo.

The tough Texan volunteers held Santa Anna off for 12 days, until finally the Mexicans stormed the fortress and

killed all the defenders leaving only a few women and children to tell the story.

Response to the Alamo…• After the Alamo many Americans became

inspired…hundreds of them joined the Texan army to help them fight against Santa Anna.

• Sam Houston (leader of the Texas Army) led an attack against Santa Anna and his troops at San Jacinto.

• Within 18 minutes the Texans had captured Santa Anna.

Sam Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto

Two major battles of the Texas War for Independence

Santa Anna signed a treaty that recognized the independence of Texas. Sam Houston became the

president of Texas. He wanted to become part of the U.S.

The painting "Surrender of Santa Anna“ shows the Mexican strong-man surrendering to a wounded Sam Houston

Once independent, Texas wanted to become part of the United States, but Andrew Jackson refused to let them.

Jackson didn’t want to stir up the issue of adding a slave state or risk war with Mexico themselves! Next

President, Martin Van Buren agreed with Jackson.

Texas operated as its own country for 9 years! (1836 – 1845)

The issue of annexing Texas became an issue in the Election of 1844.

• Democratic candidate

• Used the slogan 54’40’ or fight.

• The slogan referred to the line of latitude that the democrats believed should be the nation’s border

• Whig candidate• Did not take a strong position on the border.

•Texas became a state during James K. Polk’s presidency (election promise). On December 29th 1845, he admitted Texas into the United States.

•However, this upset Mexico…since they had never officially recognized Texas as an independent nation.

•A border dispute ensued and Polk offered $ to settle the dispute

Side note: Polk negotiated a treaty with Britain to divide the Oregon territory at 49* N.

The Mexican-American War

After Mexico Refuses Polk’s offer, General Zachary Taylor marches his soldiers across the disputed border.

Between the Nueces and Rio Grade River, troops build a fort that later gets attacked by Mexican soldiers

HOW DID CALIFORNIA BECOME A REPUBLIC?

California became a republic after a small group of farmers seized the town of Sonoma and started the republic of California! (1846)

The farmers’ new country was called the Bear Flag Republic because their flag showed a bear on it! John C. Fremont led

the territory.

As the fighting in California was winding down, the advancement on the southern portions of Mexico began to

heat up!

Scott devised a brilliant campaign that would bring the war to a speedy conclusion.

Was given the task of capturing Mexico City.

By March 1847 Scott’s Troops reached Mexico City and by mid-September they had taken it.

Mexico gave up its claims to Texas.

Mexico agreed to the Rio Grande border between Texas and Mexico.

After the U.S. had taken Mexico City, Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in February 1848. This treaty ended the Mexican-American War.

The Treaty said…

The Mexican Cession said that Mexico ceded its provinces of California and New Mexico.

WE ALSO MADE A 10 MILLION DOLLAR PURCHASE!!

It was called the Gadsden

Purchase!

Warm up

Question: Why was it so important for the United States

to win the Mexican-American

War?(What did they get

out of the win?)

Answer:

It allowed the United States to gain a HUGE chunk of land and expand to the Pacific Ocean (using many routes.) This helped advance our ideas of Manifest Destiny.

Section 4

A Rush to the West

As a result of the war with Mexico, the U.S. gained lands known as the Mexican Cession and Americans began to settle in this region.

Utah and the Mormons• Among the most notable

groups were the Mormons.• The Mormons (part of the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) were founded by Joseph Smith.

• The church grew very quickly but often Mormon ideas led to conflicts with non-Mormons. Smith was killed by an angry mob.

• They decided to move West.

Nauvoo, IL-A reconstruction of the Mormon’s Temple. The

original one was destroyed by a mob in 1846

• Lead the Mormons west to the Great Salt Lake in Utah.

• 12,000 Mormons made the largest single migration in U.S. history.

• The Mormons made the desert flourish with hard work and determination.

• Utah would not become a state until 1896 after war almost broke out between the Mormons and United States Army

Brigham Young

• California had been ceded to the United States as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.•At the time only about 10,000 people lived there and a few rich families owned most of the land.•However, a major event soon lured people to California!

California

That major event was the discovery of Gold. This led to the …

The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when

gold was discovered by

James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill, in

Coloma, California.

News of the discovery soon

spread, resulting in some

300,000 men, women, and

children coming to California from the rest of the United

States and abroad.

Although the total number of migrants during the gold rush years is uncertain, the non-Indian population in California increased from 14,000 in 1848 to 223,856 by 1852.

Settlers who came to California during this time were called Forty-niners

They came by sea and through the Sierra Nevada mountain range, building new communities called boomtowns almost overnight. These boomtowns

were very diverse.

San Francisco (1851) grew fast and stayed strong even after the gold rush ended .

An unusual mix of people• Chinese-About 45,000 Chinese traveled to the U.S. in

hopes of finding fortune. Many ended up doing menial jobs.

• African Americans-There was no slavery in California. Africans had good lives, but still didn’t have equal rights to whites.

• Native Americans-About 100,000 Native Americans died during the gold rush. Their land was stolen.

• Californios- (Mexicans) Most of these men were part of the old wealthy…many lost land because of the new CA laws.

Port cities, such as San Francisco grew from tiny villages to large cities very rapidly!

The vigilantes were people that took the law into their own hands!

Many people who had come looking for gold stayed in the area to farm or run a business.

Levi StraussSome of the towns didn’t survive and turned into Ghost towns like Sierra Nevada, California.

Warm up

Question: Who was Brigham Young and what did he do?

Brigham Young

Answer

• He led the Mormons to establish the city of Salt Lake City in Utah.

• He helped expand the Mormon religion.