2. By Jonathan Points

3.  The belief of America to expand from sea to sea and shore to shore.  John O’L Sullivan wrote this in 1845.

4.  It was a giant piece of land located between the pacific ocean and the Rocky mountains north of California.  Washington, Oregon Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming formed from this land.  This land was obtained by a treaty formed with Great Britain.  The Oregon trail was 2,000 miles long it started at the Missippi river  Snake river, Colombian river, and the Platte river.  James K Polk came up with a slogan called 54 degrees latitude 40 minutes n and fight or also known as 54 40 fight this was Polk’s slogan campaign.

5.  The first battle was in October 1835 when the Mexicans tried to take a cannon from the Texans.  Stephen F Austin was the man who helped populate the Mexican territory. And so getting his name as the father of Texas.  In 1830 the Mexican government decreed that stopped all immigration from the United States and cutting off trade. This angered the Texans.  In 1833 General Lopez de Santa Anna became president of Mexico.  In 1836 a small force of Texans battled off Mexican forces as they bombarded the Alamo.  On March 6, 1836 the Mexican forces smashed the Alamo’s walls in with cannon fire and attacked and killed all men at the Alamo.  March 2, 1836 4 days before the Attack of the Alamo Texas declared independence from Mexico.  Sam Houston later became Commander and Chief of What would become the victorious Texan Army.  James K Polk became president and on December 29, 1845 Texas officially became a state of the United States of America.

6.  The Mexican territory included the present day states of Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah.  The Santa Fe Trail was a route taken by William Becknell the first American trader reach Santa Fe. This trail crossed the Missouri river, Arkansas river, and the Rocky Mountains.  As trade increased more and more Americans began to settle in the region.  Spanish culture started to settle in as they built missions and began to convert the Natives to Christianity to settle California.  In the 1840s John C. Fremont had wrote about how the regions climate was Mild, Beautiful, with an abundance of resources.  Americans thought that expanding the nation was a great idea so that way the nation could be bordered by sea and not foreign powers.  America insisted that the border of Texas was the Rio Grande.  While Mexico thought it was the Nueces River.  President Polk called an emergency cabinet meeting because he had a three part plan for war with Mexico.  The flag for California was star and a bear.  Polk gave Winfield Scott direct orders to capture the City of Mexico.  Finally Mexico called for a peace treaty called the Guadalupe Hidalgo treaty in February of 1848.  The Border of Texas became the Rio Grande.  California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and Nevada formed from the territory.  In 1853 we received the Gadsden purchase and the Mexican Cession.  We formed California from the Mexican Cession.  From the Gadsden Purchase we formed New Mexico and Arizona.

7.  In 1849 there was the best thing that happened in the new territory and that was the Gold Rush. Present Day Sanfrancisco man claimed to have found gold. People that came to seek their fortune were called the Forty- Niners.  For more to get to the gold they would have to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.  Mexico, South America, Europe, an Australia sent this gold seekers to California.  20,000 boomtowns were built over night.  While people were mining violence and robberies were taking place so people got together these people were called vigilantes they took the law into their hands and formed new systems of law.  Levi Strauss he was a Jewish immigrant that created new pants made of denim these pants would be known as Levi’s.  In Utah a religious group called Mormons took refuge.  Joseph Smith founded this religion in 1830.  In 1844 a mob killed Smith and Brigham Young took over as head of the church.  They resettled in the Great Salt Lake in present day Utah.  Utah didn’t become a state until 1896.

8. Causes  Americans accept Manifest Destiny.  As the East becomes more crowded, Americans want more land.  The West contains furs, lumber, and precious metals. Effects Native Americans are forced off their lands. The United States wars with Mexico. The U.S. extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

9.  Sources  The Social Studies book  U.S history.org