1. Pioneers move west and make the nation grow.
Go West Young Man
Pioneers move west and make the nation grow.

2. The Original 13 Colonies

3. The 13 Colonies in 1776 New Hampshire Massachusetts Rhode Island
Connecticut
New York
Pennsylvania
Delaware
New Jersey
Maryland
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia

4. The American Revolution
The American Colonies fought for Independence from Great Britain. The American Revolution lasted from 1775 to 1783.

5. America Grows after the Revolution
After the American Revolution, new territories were added as part of the Treaty of Paris, Britain gave up its claim to all land south of Canada and east of the Mississippi River.

6. The US and its Territories-1783

7. Over the Mountains

8. Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains are a chain of several mountain ranges that run from the top of Georgia to New York and on to the bottom of Maine.

9. Crossing the Mountains
In the 1700s the only ways to travel were by boat, wagon, on horseback or on foot.
These mountains were too difficult to cross.

10. The Cumberland Gap
In 1750 Dr. Thomas Walker and some friends found a trail though a valley. It is called the Cumberland Gap
Later Daniel Boone and others would use the path to lead pioneers into the west.

11. Pioneers Head West

12. New States
Pioneers moved west and built villages and towns. Soon there would be new states in the Union.
Vermont 1791
Kentucky 1792
Tennessee 1796

13. The Mighty Mississippi

14. The Port of New Orleans
The Mississippi was like a water highway, connecting many rivers and communities.
New Orleans was a port city that connected the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.

15. The Louisiana Purchase
In 1801 Thomas Jefferson sent Robert Livingston to Paris in order to buy the city of New Orleans.

16. The Louisiana Purchase
France offered to sell all of land it held along with the city.
Livingston purchased the entire Louisiana Territory for $15,000,000.

17. Exploring the Country
President Jefferson then sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the land.
With the help of Sacagawea, they traveled to the Pacific Ocean and back.

18. Lewis & Clark Travel for Two Years

19. The USA and Territories in 1805

20. Traveling the American Rivers
As more people moved west, more goods and supplies needed to be sent west too. The best way was to send cargo on boats.

21. Portage: French word-to carry
Not all rivers connect to each other. Some rivers have dangerous rapids too. Boats would have to be unloaded, then the goods and boats were walked across the land.
Pioneers needed to travel across the Great Lakes too.

22. Building the Erie Canal
A plan was made to create a canal, a man-made-river, to connect the city of Albany to Buffalo in New York.
Flat-bottomed boats called barges, would be pulled along the canal by mules. The mules walked along a path next to the canal.

23. The Erie Canal The Erie Canal was completed in 1825.
The Eastern states were now connected to the Great Lakes and the Northwest Territories.

24. Travel by Barge on the Erie Canal
Boats filled with people and goods could travel across the Great Lakes and down rivers like the Wabash, Illinois, and Ohio then down to the Mississippi.

25. America in 1820 New States in the union: Indiana-1816 Mississippi-1817
Illinois-1818
Alabama-1819
Maine-1820
Missouri-1821

26. The United States in 1830

27. Beyond the Mississippi
America grows

28. Moving West

29. Missouri Missouri became the “Gateway” to the west.
The city of St. Louis is on the Mississippi River.
Settlers came down the Ohio River to the Mississippi and started the trip on land from St. Louis.
Pioneers would follow the Missouri River out into the west.

30. The Wagon Train
Pioneers could buy supplies in the town of Independence.
It was much safer to travel in groups with other families in wagon trains.
The wagon trains would follow a guide and the trails out into the west.

31. Oregon Territory Far in the west was the Oregon Territory.
Few people were living there before the 1840s.
Groups of people traveled together in wagon trains and began to move west. The path they followed was named the Oregon Trail.

32. The Changing Land
The center of the country is covered in flat, grassy land called the Great Plains.

33. New Sights
The land west of the Mississippi was very different for the pioneers.
There were fewer trees and flat lands full of tall grasses.

34. Where the Buffalo Roam

35. Life on the trail

36. The Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains run from New Mexico up into Canada.
Some mountains are more than 14,000 feet tall.

37. Crossing the Plains, Rivers and Mountains

38. The Oregon Trail
Starting in Independence, it could take more than 4 months to get to Oregon.

39. California Settlers followed the trail to Sacramento, California.
Gold was discovered in 1848 and thousands of new people headed west.

40. GOLD!

41. Wagon Trails West

42. The wagons are gone, but the ruts can still be seen today.

43. The End