Western Expansion
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Oregon Country (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Montana)
o Claimed by the US, Great Britain, Russia, and Spain
o 1818, the US and Great Britain agreed to occupy it jointly. Since Spain and Russia had few
settlers in the area, they dropped their claim. (especially after the Monroe Doctrine)
Mountain Men
Missionaries
o Marcus and Narcissa Whitman were among the 1st missionaries to reach Oregon. Narcissa was
one of the 1st white women to cross the Rocky Mts.
o Why did they go to Oregon?
 To teach the Native Americans the following things: Christianity, read, write, and to
be civilized – like the white man
o What happened to them?
 They were killed by Cayuse Indians and some died of diseases.
Oregon Trail – Independence, Missouri
o Prairie Schooners
o Independence, Missouri
o Hardships ----Diseases, weather (heat or snow), swollen rivers, lack of food, Native Americans
Lone Star Republic
o Tejanos – people of Mexican heritage who consider Texas their home
o Empresarios – people who agreed to recruit settlers
o Fight for Independence
 Lexington of Texas
 Alamo
 Battle of San Jacinto
o Annexing Texas
Manifest Destiny – expansion across the continent
o Idea that the US should reach all the way across to the Pacific Ocean. “from sea to shining
sea”
New Mexico Territory and California
o Santa Fe Trail
Election of 1844 – James Polk
Mexican War
-didn’t accept that the US annexed Texas
- Mexico was standing in the US’ way of Manifest Destiny
- US gained control of California
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; Gadsden Purchase
o Treaty – Mexico ceded all of CA and NM Territory to US for $15 million and to respect the
people there
o GP – US paid Mexico $10 million for that strip of land
Mormons
o Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; Joseph Smith; Brigham Young
o Settled in Utah; beliefs – owning land in common and polygamy
Gold Rush
o Sutter’s Mill – where the 1st piece of gold was found in 1848
o Forty-niners – what the people who came to California in 1849
California admitted as a state.
o Free state, admitted in 1850; Gold Rush changed California.
Western Expansion,
The Reform Movement,
And
Two Ways of Life
The Reform Movement
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American Colonization Society – wanted to set up a colony in Africa for Free Blacks. In 1822,
President Monroe helped them establish Liberia.
o This insulted former slaves. Why would this be a problem? Why would these people
wanted to go somewhere else?
Abolition movement
o Abolition – to end something (like slavery)
o Freedom’s Journal – antislavery newspaper by Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm
o Frederick Douglass – Best known Black leader; born in to slavery; taught himself to read;
abolitionist; escaped from slavery
o William Lloyd Garrison – most outspoken white abolitionist; owned a newspaper named the
Liberator
o Underground Railroad –
 Secret network of abolitionists that worked together to help runaway slaves reach
freedom
 Harriet Tubman
Escaped slave who returned 19 times to help free slaves
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o Nat Turner’s Revolt
Women’s Rights Movement –
o Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Held national convention for women’s rights
o Grimke Sisters
Among the 1st to speak out for women’s rights; powerful speakers with 1st hand knowledge
of slavery
o Sojourner Truth
Born Isabella Baumfree, a runaway slave that took the name Sojourner Truth because God
sent her to tell the truth about slavery; spellbinding speaker
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o Susan B. Anthony
o Seneca Falls Convention
Declaration of Sentiments listed the rights of women. Convention for women’s rights
o Emma Willard and Mary Lyon established Mount Holyoke in 1837 (Massachusetts). It was the
1st women’s college in America.
o Elizabeth Blackwell – 1st Female doctor
o Dorothea Dix – tried to improve care for mentally ill and prison reform
Education Movement –
o Horace Mann
Led fight for public schools in Massachusetts
o Reverend Thomas Gallaudet set up a school for the deaf in Hartford, CT.
o Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe directed 1st school for the blind and he invented Braille.
Temperance Movement – campaign against drinking
o Several states banned the sale of alcohol.