Unit 7: Westward Expansion
Helpful Videos:
Helpful Videos:
Unit 7 Vocabulary:
Unit 7 Vocabulary:
Westward Expansion Vocabulary
- Monroe Doctrine - Policy created by President James Monroe in 1823, that stated the United States would not tolerate any European interventions in the Americas.
- Manifest Destiny – An idea held by a nineteenth-century Americans that the United States was destined to rule the continent, from the Atlantic the Pacific.
- Indian Removal Act - (1830) a congressional act that authorized the removal of Native Americans who lived east of the Mississippi River
- Trail of Tears - (1838-39) an 800-mile forced march made by the Cherokee from their homeland in Southeast to Indian Territory in Oklahoma; resulted in the deaths of almost one-fourth of the Cherokee people
- Andrew Jackson - 7th president known for signing the Indian removal act
- Homestead Act - 1862 - Provided free land in the West to anyone willing to settle there and develop it. Encouraged westward migration.
- Transcontinental Railroad - Railroad connecting the west and east coasts of the continental US
- Oregon Trail - 2,000 mile trail from Independence, Missouri to Oregon used by many pioneers during the 1840s
- Zebulon Pike - Explored the southern part of the Louisiana Territory
- Meriwether Lewis and William Clark -
- Sent on an expedition by Jefferson to gather information on the United States' new land and map a route to the Pacific. They kept very careful maps and records of this new land acquired from the Louisiana Purchase.
- Gadsden Purchase - Agreement w/ Mexico that gave the US parts of present-day New Mexico & Arizona in exchange for $10 million; needed to complete transcontinental railroad. all but completed the continental expansion envisioned by those who believed in Manifest Destiny.
- Mexican Cession - land ceded by Mexico as a result of the Mexican war; contained the southwest portion of the U.S.
- Adams-Onis Treaty - Agreement in which Spain gave up all of Florida to the United States
- Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo - Treaty that ended the Mexican War, granting the U.S. control of Texas, New Mexico, and California in exchange for $15 million
- California Gold Rush - Mass migration to California following the discovery of gold in 1848
- Battle of the Alamo - battle in which Mexican soldiers physically won and killed all but 2 Texan volunteers, inspired the Texans to fight for freedom
- Land Speculators - People who buy land in the hope that it will increase in value
- Brigham Young - A Mormon leader who urged the Mormons to move farther west. They settled at the edge of the lonely desert near the Great Salt Lake.
- Louisiana Purchase - 1803 purchase of the Louisiana territory from France. Made by Jefferson, this doubled the size of the US.