CALIFORNIA AND THE
SOUTHWEST
Page 356-359
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Caroline
Scott
Kayleigh
Schultz
Temonie
Butler
Chloe
Contreras
New Mexico Territory
The entire
southwest
belonged
to Mexico
in the
1840s.
New
Mexico
Territory
included
Arizona,
New
Mexico, all
of Nevada,
and Utah,
and parts
of
Colorado.
Santa
Fe
J u a n d e O n a te
c l a i me d t h e
te r r i to r y o f n e w
M ex i c o f o r
Spain in 1598.
Spain made
S a n t a Fe t h e
capital of New
M ex i c o
te r r i to r y. S p a i n
would not let
American’s
c r o s s i n to
S a n t a Fe u n t i l
a f te r M ex i c o
won
I n d e p e n d e nc e .
William
Becknell was
the first
A m e r i c a n to
travel in this
area. Soon
other
Americans
f o l l owe d h i s
r o u te w h i c h
was called the
S a n t a Fe Tr a i l .
Father Junipero
Serra
And
Captain Gaspar
de Portola.
Spanish
soldier s and
priests build
the fir st
permanent
European
settlements
in California .
In 1769
Captain
Gaspar de
Por tola led a
group of
soldier s and
missionaries
up the Pacific
coast. The
chief
Missionar y
was Father
Junipero
Serra. He
built His fir st
mission in
San Diego.
Fa t h e r J u n i p e r o
Serra built
mission in San
Diego. He went
to b u i l d e i g h t
others.
E v e n t u al l y,
t h e r e w e r e 21
Spanish
missions along
t h e C a l i fo r n i a
Coast. Each
mission
c l a i me d t h e
surrounding
land and soon
w a s a b l e to
t a ke c a r e o f a l l
its own needs.
S p a n i sh
soldiers built
forts near the
missions. The
missions
supplied meat,
grain, and
o t h e r f o o d s to
the fort.
Indians were
f o r c e d to w o r k
at the
m i s s i o n s . T h ey
herded sheep
and cattle and
raised crops for
the missions.
I n r e t u r n , t h ey
lived at the
mission and
learned about
t h e Ro m a n
C a to l ic r e l i g io n.
M a ny S p a n i s h
missionaries
were truly
concerned with
c o nv e r t i n g t h e
I n d i a n s to
C h r i s t ia n i t y.
H o w e v e r,
m i s s i o n l i fe
was hard.
Thousand of
native
Americans died
f r o m o v e r wo r k
and diseases.
Others simply
r a n a w ay.
Many people
believed
that
America
should own
California.
The phrase
Manifest
Destiny was
used by a
New York
newspaper
editor to
mean that
American
expansion
would
obviously
happened.
Manifest
means clear
or obvious.
During the time
o f M a n i fe s t
D e s t i ny t h e r e
was an
election. The
two running
presidents
were James K.
Po l k a n d H e n r y
C l ay.
Democrats
made a
c a m p a i g n to
win Oregon so
America could
expand it was
5 4 ’ 4 0 ’N o r
fight. James K.
Po l k s u p p o r te d
i t . L a te r o n
J a m e s K . Po l k
became the
1 1 th P r e s i d e n t
o f t h e U n i te d
S t a te s i n 1 8 4 4 .
THE END
Thanks for
watching.