Westward Expansion Unit

US Territorial Expansion

How did the US acquire all the territory it has today?

Answering our Essential Question:

The idea that it was America’s destiny to control all of the land from the Atlantic to the Pacific

-this idea drives US expansion in this period (the 1800s) and is a major theme in US history

Yet this idea ends up working like an excuse for what happens to groups of people like Native Americans and Mexicans.

Manifest Destiny

American Progress by John Gast 1872

1803 Louisiana Purchase-President Thomas Jefferson buys almost 1 million square miles of land for $15 million from France

1819 US purchases Florida from Spain

1846 the Oregon Treaty settled the border at the 49th parallel in the Pacific Northwest with Great Britain

Territorial Expansions

Louisiana Purchase

1845 annexation of Texas(annexation: taking control of a territory and adding it to a country)

-Americans settled in Mexican owned Texas territory in the 1820s and on-Once they outnumbered Mexicans, the Americans rebelled and became independent

- After much debate however, they are eventually annexed by the U.S. as a new state, which leads to the…

Territorial Expansion

1846 Mexican War-When Texas was annexedby the US they claimedthe border with Mexico was the Rio Grande River,and Mexico disagreed not only with the annexation, but also the borders. President Polk sent troopsto occupy the contested landand eventually in May war broke out.

Territorial Expansion

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo settles southern US border along the Rio Grande River,

Mexico formally recognizes the annexation of Texas

MEXICAN CESSION: Mexico cedes or gives up to the US the region from Texas to California and in exchange the US pays Mexico $15 million

Results of the Mexican-American War

1853 Gadsen Purchase: the agreement with Mexico where the US bought parts of present-day Arizona and New Mexico for $10 million

Territorial Expansion Continued

Territorial Expansion Continued

1867 US purchases Alaska from Russia for 7.2 million dollars!

BUT WAIT!!!WE FORGOT ONE PLACE…

HAWAII

The Hawaiian Islands•The Hawaiian Islands had been linked with the US economically since the 1790s:- merchant ships used it as a stop before they sailed to Asia. •Christian missionaries had schools and churches on the islands.

•Many American businessmen established themselves on the island with the Sugar cane plantations.

•Americans convinced the King in 1887 to amend Hawaii’s constitution to include voting rights—but they were limited to wealthy landowners.

•In 1891 Queen Liliuokalani abolished the constitution in an attempt to correct things, but she was overthrown in 1893 by the American planters.

The president at the time, President Harrison, signed the treaty of annexationBut the next president, President Cleveland, ordered a full investigation of the situation- which revealed that the people of Hawaii did not approve!

Cleveland refused to approve the annexation and apologized.

However, the US still had strong business interests and the next President McKinley favored annexation and during the Spanish American War in 1898, Congress proclaimed it an American Territory.

Hawaii continued

http://www.sprocketworks.com/shockwave/load.asp?SprMovie=ustimemapweb

Interactive Map/Timeline of US territory