the idea that Americans were predestined to occupy the entire North American continent

Unit 5Westward Expansion

Topics and Key Terms

the idea that Americans were predestined to occupy the entire North American continent.

Manifest Destiny

Washington◦ 1st President◦ Took office- 1789◦ 8 years in office◦ Major Legislation Bill of Rights

Adams

◦ 2nd President◦ Took office -1797◦ 4 years in office◦ Major Legislation Alien and Sedition Acts

Early Presidents (Washington & Adams)

not helping or supporting either side in a conflict, disagreement, etc.; impartial.

neutral

conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state, open violence against the laws

Example: ◦ A series of laws known collectively as the ALIEN AND

SEDITION ACTS were passed by the Federalist Congress in 1798 and signed into law by President Adams. These laws included new powers to DEPORT foreigners as well as making it harder for new IMMIGRANTS to vote.

sedition

make legally null and void; invalidate.

Nullify

In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson orchestrated the purchase of the Louisiana territory from France. After the purchase was made, Jefferson initiated an exploration of the newly purchased land.

Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis & Clark Expedition

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark chosen to lead the expedition.

Their objectives were to study the area's plants, animal life, and geography, and to discover what natural resources were available

Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis & Clark Expedition (con’t)

The US took on Great Britain in this war. Causes of the war included British attempts to restrict U.S. trade, the Royal Navy's impressments of American seamen, and America's desire to expand its territory. The Treaty of Ghent ended the war on February 17, 1815, with a stalemate.

War of 1812

An official ban on trade or other commercial activity with a particular country.

embargo

The British Navy kidnapped American sailors and forced them to serve in the British Navy

impressment

Young Southerners and Westerners elected to the U.S. Congress in 1810, whose territorial ambitions in the Northwest and Florida inspired them to agitate for war with Great Britain. 

warhawks

A law passed in 1809 by the United States Congress to ban all commerce between Americans and the European nations of France and Great Britain.

Nonintercourse Act 1809

An act or means of sealing off a place to prevent goods or people from entering or leaving.

blockade

Indian removal was a 19th century policy of the government of the US to relocate Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River to lands west of the river.

American Indian Removal and Resettlement

Cultural assimilation is one type of assimilation, resulting in the loss of a group's native language and culture under pressure to adopt those of a dominant cultural group.

assimilation

The Indian Removal Act, was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 26, 1830

Provided for the resettlement of more than 100,000 Native Americans to what is now Oklahoma.

Indian Removal Act

a tract of public land set apart for a special purpose, as for the use of an Indian tribe.

reservation

The route along which the US government forced several tribes of Native Americans, to migrate to reservations west of the Mississippi River. Those on the march suffered disease and mistreatment.

Trail of Tears

The Mexican American War was a war between the US and Mexico from April 1846 to Feb.1848.

The war stemmed from the United States’ annexation of Texas from Mexico in 1845.

The US won the war and acquired more than 500,000 square miles of Mexican territory extending westward from the Rio Grande to the Pacific Ocean.

Mexican American War

to incorporate (a country or other territory) within the domain of a state.

The United States annexed Texas in 1845.

annex

give up (power or territory)◦ Modern day southwestern United

States that Mexico ceded to the U.S. in 1848

cede

The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought some 300,000 people to California from the rest of the US and abroad.

Gold Rush (California)

The gold-seekers, called "forty-niners" (as a reference to 1849), traveled by sailing ship and covered wagon and often faced substantial hardships.

While most of the newly arrived were Americans, the Gold Rush attracted tens of thousands from Latin America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

Forty-Niners

2,200-mile (3,500 km) historic east-west wagon route and emigrant trail that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. 

From the early to mid-1830s, the Oregon Trail and its many offshoots were used by about 400,000 settlers, ranchers, farmers, miners, and businessmen and their families.

Oregon Trail