G U I D E T O G E O G R A P H Y C H A L L E N G E

Manifest Destiny and the Growing Nation 1 © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute

kilometers

U.S. Territorial Acquisitions, 1803–1853

140°W

B R I T I S H C A N A D A

130°W

Portland

OREGON COUNTRY

Boston

Sacramento

San Francisco

MEXICAN CESSION

Fort Hall Sout

h Pass

LOUISIANA TERRITORY

Tr

UNITED STATES, 1800

Independence

St. Louis

New York

Los Angeles Santa Fe

GADSDEN PURCHASE

TEXAS

New Orleans

FLORIDA, 1819

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

PACIFI

C OCEAN

M E X I CO G u l f o f M e x i c o

120°W

00

0 400

400 110°W

800 miles

880000 kilometers

80°W

Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area Projection 100°W 90°W

G U I D E T O G E O G R A P H Y C H A L L E N G E

Manifest Destiny and the Growing Nation 2 © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute

Geography Skills

Score 1 point for each correct answer. Use the

map on the previous page to check shading

and labeling.

1. Adding the Louisiana Territory in 1803 about

doubled the size of the United States.

2. Texas was added in 1845 and the Mexican

Cession in 1848. The Gadsden Purchase

was the other territory acquired from

Mexico.

3. The Oregon Trail crossed the Louisiana

Territory on the way to Portland. The Santa

Fe Trail crossed it on the way to Santa Fe.

The California Trail crossed it on the way

to Sacramento.

4. The United States added Oregon Country

in 1846.

5. The western end of the Old Spanish Trail was

Los Angeles.

6. Following the Santa Fe and Old Spanish trails

to California required settlers to cross the

Arkansas River, Rio Grande, and Colorado

River as well as the Rocky Mountains and

Sierra Nevada. (Note: Students may not be

certain about the Arkansas River.)

7. The California Trail left the Oregon Trail at

Fort Hall.

8. The Mormon, California, and Oregon trails

crossed the Rocky Mountains at South

Pass.

Critical Thinking

Questions may have more than one correct

answer. Score 1 to 3 points for each reasonable

answer, depending on the strength of students’

geographic reasoning. Possible answers are

given here.

9. By following rivers, the trails provided

travelers with a source of water along much

of their journey.

10. Moving wagons over mountains, and with

snow and cold weather, would have been slower

than riding over flat land.

11. Had the Louisiana Territory not become part

of the United States, Americans traveling to

Oregon and California would have had to

cross land that belonged to another nation.

This might have discouraged Americans from

settling in these regions.