Chapter 11: Expanding West
Essential Question: How did westward expansion transform
the nation?
❖ the “high hat” caused the
rush west.
Section 1: Trails
to the West
In the early 1800s, Americans
moved west into new territory.
❖ demand for beaver fur in the
U.S. and Europe.
❖ gradually killed off the beaver
pop.
❖ Most who traveled to the
Rockies and the Pacific
Northwest were fur traders
and trappers.
Beaver pelt “high hat”
American
Fur
Company
❖ John Jacob Astor-this company
bought skins from western fur
traders and trappers who
became known as mountain
men.
These men met once a year in the
mountains to trade and sell their
furs to fur-company agents.
❖ 1811 Astor founded a trading post called Astoria, at the mouth of
the columbia river.
❖ One of the first American settlements in Oregon Country.
❖ U.S. entered into treaties with Spain and Russia to claim the region
jointly with Britain.
1840s
❖ The fur trade in the Pacific
Northwest was drawing to a
close.
❖ demand for furs had fallen
because the fashions had
changed.
❖ Some mtn men gave up the
trade and returned east.
❖ Their stories and the treaties
made by the U.S. influenced
many other Americans to move
West.
The Oregon Trail
❖ 2,000-miles-long-stretched from places such as Independence, Missouri,
or Council Bluffs, Iowa, west into Oregon Country.
❖ Usually began after the rainy season in late spring and lasted about 6
months.
❖ Pioneers faced shortages of food, supplies, and water on the trail; rough
weather, geographic barriers (rivers and mtns.), forced large #’s to
abandon their wagons.
the Trail
Western Trails Scrapbooks
1. Students will work in groups of
three to create a scrapbook
that combines primary source
accounts and images to
illustrate recurring themes as
well as unique aspects of life on
the western trails.
2. You will use the library or other
resources to locate letters, diaries,
journals, and images about life on
the Oregon, California, and Santa
Fe trails.
3. Remember to focus on recurring
themes, problems, attitudes, and
moods found in the entries as well
as factors that varied along the
trail.
Scrapbook examples.
The Santa Fe Trail
❖Another important path west.
❖It led from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe, New
Mexico.
The Santa Fe
Trail
American traders loaded wagon
trains with cloth and other
manufactured goods to exchange
for horses, mules, and silver from
Mexican traders in Santa Fe.
Mormons Travel West
❖ Searching for religious freedom.
❖ 1830 Joseph Smith founded the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints in western New York.
❖ The members became known as Mormons.
❖ Smith told his followers that he found and translated a set of
golden tablets containing religious teachings-The Book of
Mormon.
❖ Early 1830s they
began to leave
New York.
❖ Many settled in
Ohio, then
Missouri, and
Illinois.
● These communities failed.
● Smith was murdered in 1844 by
an anti-Mormon mob.
● Brigham Young became the
new head of the Mormon
Church.
● He moved the group to Utah;
thousands of Mormons taking
the Mormon trail to the area
near the Great Salt Lake.
Section 2: The
Texas Revolution
American Settlers Move to Texas
❖ Long unprotected border
from Texas to California;
caused concern for Spanish
rulers.
❖ Mexican moved to overthrow
Spanish rule in the early
1800s.
❖ September 1810 Father
Miguel hidalgo y Costilla led a
rebellion of about 80,000
poor Indians and mestizos.
Hidalgo’s revolution fails...
❖ But his rebellion would grow.
❖ 1821 Mexico became independent.
❖ 1824 it adopted a republican constitution
that declared rights for all Mexicans.
❖ the new government hired empresarios,
or agents, to bring settlers to Texas. They
paid the agents in land.
❖ 1822 Stephen F. Austin started a
Texas colony on the lower
Colorado River.
❖ The first 300 families because
known as the Old Three Hundred.
❖ This attracted many other
American settlers and agents.
Americans who
settled there had
to obey Mexican
laws. But many
did not obey and
brought their
slaves even
though it was
illegal and
Mexico issued a
ban of further
American
settlement.
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
became the leader of Mexico. He
suspended the republican
constitution.
Texans Revolt against Mexico
❖ October 1835 the Mexican army tried to remove a cannon from the town
of Gonzales, Texas.
❖ the rebels stood next to it and their flag read, “Come and take it.”
❖ the rebels won the following battle.
❖ The Texas Revolution or the Texas War for Independence had begun.
Texas Independence
❖ March 2, 1836 Texans declared their independence from Mexico.
❖ The new Republic of Texas was born.
❖ The declaration and constitution were both modeled after U.S.
documents but Texas made slavery legal.
❖ They chose David Burnet as president and Lorenzo de Zavala as vice
president; Sam Houston was the head of the Texas army.
❖ Houston asked the U.S. for money and troops.
Battle of the Alamo
Texas declaring independence
made Santa Anna mad. He began
to assemble an army to stop the
rebellion.
Colonel William Travis had
a small force that took
the town of San Antonio.
They occupied the Alamo,
an abandoned mission
near San Antonio.
❖ Volunteers from
the U.S. included
Davy Crockett and
Colonel Jim Bowie
joined the Alamo’s
defense.
❖ the fewer than 200 volunteers hiped to
stall the huge Mexican army while a
larger Texas army assembled.
❖ for two weeks the Texans held out.
❖ March 6 the Mexican army attacked; the
Texans caused major losses but were
defeated.
❖ All the defenders of the Alamo were
killed.
❖ Following another battle Santa Anna
ordered the execution of 350 prisoners
who had surrendered.
the Battle of San Jacinto
❖ The Texans led by Sam
Houston fled east.
❖ Santa Anna’s army was
destroyed.
❖ They reorganized at the San
Jacinto River and took a stand.
❖ In the Battle of San Jacinto
Santa Anna was captured and
forced to sign a treaty giving
Texas its independence.
❖ April 21, 1836 Houston’s forces
attacked the Mexican camp,
shouting “Remember the
Alamo!”
An Independent Nation
❖ Sam Houston was a hero and he
was voted the president of the new
independent nation of Texas.
❖ Texas offered land grants to increase
population.
❖ Settlers came from nearby southern
states bringing their slaves.
❖ Many hoped the U.S. would annex or
take control of Texas.
❖ There were disagreements in
Congress over the slave/free state
issue with Texas.
❖ Texas was recognized as an independent
nation.
❖ Texas organized the Texas Rangers to
protect the borders and frontier from the
Mexicans that did not recognize Texas’s
independence.
❖ 1844 Texas and Mexico would finally sign a
peace treaty.
❖ American Indians also battled
Americans for property rights.
❖ Native Americans were soon
outnumbered.
❖ Settlers rarely respected Indian
holy places.
❖ Indians and settlers alike
attacked one another to protect
their interests.