U.S. Expansion Part II
Use the map on page 387 to find the trails west. Use a red pencil,
pen, marker, and crayon, to trace the trail west on the map. Be
sure to use a regular pencil before finally tracing the trail in red.
Captions with trails in them are starred and the trail is underlined.
1807 – Robert Fulton successfully tested his steam powered boat, the Clermont, on
the Hudson River in New York City opening the door to a new age of steam power.
*1810 – An expedition outfitted by John Jacob Astor of the American Fur Company,
sought to find an overland supply and trade route from Missouri west to the Oregon
Territory. The route took them along the Snake and Columbia Rivers, passing
through the Teton Range using Teton Pass. This route becomes the Oregon Trail.
The trail ends at Fort Astoria where present day Astoria, Oregon is located.
1811 – Construction began on the National Road that was to connect the Baltimore
and other eastern towns with the west past the Ohio River.
1816 – James Monroe is elected the Fifth President of the United States
*1816 – Indiana becomes the 19th state
1817 – Construction began on the Erie Canal in western New York State.
*1817 – Mississippi becomes the 20th state
1818 – Construction of the National Road was completed as far as Wheeling Virginia
on the Ohio River.
*1818 – Illinois becomes the 21st state
*1819 – After the Seminole Wars of 1818 President James Monroe and Secretary of
State, John Quincy Adams sent Spain an ultimatum; get control of Florida or get out.
This resulted in the Adams – Onis Treaty that ceded Florida to the United States and
established boundaries along the Louisiana Purchase and Oregon Territory.
*1819 – Alabama becomes the 22nd state
*1820 - The Missouri Compromise was a federal law in the United States that
regulated slavery in the country's western territories. The pro-slavery and antislavery factions in the United States Congress agreed to the compromise, devised by
Henry Clay. It prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory north of the
parallel 36°30′ north, except within the boundaries of the proposed state of
Missouri. February 18 (Draw the Compromise line at the 36th latitude.)
*1820 – Maine becomes the 23rd state
*1821 – Missouri becomes the 24th state
1821 – Mexico gains independence from Spain
*1821 – A Missouri trader named William Becknell opened up a 1200-mile trail
from Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico that became known as the
Santa Fe Trail. Millions of dollars in trade goods crossed the trail before the railroad
was built in the late 19th Century.
1823 – President Monroe issued the Monroe Document, which told European
powers the Americas were closed to colonization especially for the purpose of
oppressing or controlling their destiny.
*1823 – The newly formed Mexican government approved the colony started by
Stephen Austin in Mexican territory called Coahuila y Tejas better known as Texas
1824 – John Quincy Adams is elected the Sixth President of the United States
*1825 – Construction was completed on the Erie Canal, which connected Lake Erie
at Buffalo New York with the Hudson River at Albany New York, by joining the canal
with the Mohawk River.
1827 – The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company was incorporated and
construction began on a railroad that would cross the Appalachians.
1828 – Andrew Jackson is elected the Seventh President of the United States
1828 – Congress passes the Tariff of 1828 that allowed New England manufacturers
to raise prices while still outselling foreign goods. South Carolina resented the Tariff
and threatened to secede from the Union.
1829 – The first steam locomotive was tested along the newly completed tracks of
the Delaware and Hudson Railroad Company ushering in a new type of
transportation. August 8
1830 – The Mexican government, worried that too many Americans were
immigrating to Texas, passed an anti-American immigration law prohibiting
Americans from immigrating to Texas or Mexico and placing a tariff on American
goods. The law also prohibited slavery in Mexican territory.
1830 – Congress passes the Indian Removal Act. The law authorized the president
to negotiate with Indian tribes in the Southern United States for their removal to
federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their ancestral
homelands. May 28
1832 – Chief Black Hawk, leader of the Sauk and Fox tribes, refused to stay in Iowa
where the tribes were removed. He and his followers went back to Illinois territory,
which in turn resulted in a massacre of the Indians and Black Hawk being jailed.
May 14
1832 – President Andrew Jackson is elected to a second term
*1833 – Benjamin Bonneville while leading an expedition along the Snake River in
present day Idaho enlisted mountain man Joseph Walker to find a route to
California. Walker found a path that went through the northeastern portion of the
Great Basin and the crossed the Sierra Nevada Range and entered the Sacramento
Valley in California. This trail became known as the California Trail
1833 – Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was elected as president of Mexico. April 1
1833 – Stephen Austin gets the immigration laws changed but also gets arrested by
the Mexican authorities in Mexico City for urging Texas independence from Mexico
1835 – The Seminoles of Florida led by Chief Osceola fought a fierce war against the
American army. The war lasted seven years. Some Seminoles were captured and
sent to Indian Territory but most hid in the swamps of Florida where their
descendants still live to this day.
1835 – In November a Texas delegation made Samuel Houston, ex-governor of
Tennessee, major general of the Texan army.
*1836 – Arkansas becomes the 25th state
*1836 – Samuel Houston signed the Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico
and Houston is made Commander and Chief of Texas. March 2
*1836 – As Sam Houston tried to organize an army near Gonzales a small company
of 180 men, held out against Santa Anna’s army of 1,500 men at a small Spanish
mission at San Antonio de Bexar called the Alamo. Commanded by Colonel William
Travis and Colonel James Bowie the small group of Texicans, Tejanas, and 65
Tennesseans led by United States Congressman and army Colonel David Crockett,
held out for thirteen days hoping for reinforcements from Colonel James Fannin’s
force of 300 at Goliad. The reinforcements never came. Santa Anna attacked in
force and massacred everyone in the Alamo including Travis, Bowie and Davy
Crockett. March 6
*1836 – General Sam Houston and his army, now nearly 1,300 strong, lured Santa
Anna and his army into a trap. Cutting off any chance of retreat for the Mexican
army, Houston turned his army around and began an assault on the Mexicans who
were setting up camp. The Texans charged the camp hollering, “Remember the
Alamo!!” The Battle of San Jacinto happened quickly but resulted in over 2,000
casualties for Santa Anna’s army. Even Santa Anna himself was captured, resulting
in the Treaties of Velasco, which gave Texas independence and set the border
between Texas and Mexico at the Rio Grande. April 21
1836 – Martin Van Buren is elected the Eighth President of the United States
*1837 – Michigan becomes the 26th state
*1837 – The United States officially recognizes the Republic of Texas as a sovereign
nation. March 3
*1838 – The Cherokee Indian Nation was forced to leave their land in the southeast
United States for Indian Territory in present day Oklahoma. The forced relocation
and trek resulted in the “Trail of Tears,” which saw the relocation of over 16,000
Cherokee and the death of over 4,000 more.
1840 – William Henry Harrison is elected the Ninth President of the United States
1841 – John Tyler becomes the Tenth President of the United States after the death
of President Harrison a month after Inauguration Day
*1842 – Army officer and explorer John C. Fremont along with mountain man Kit
Carson set out from Missouri on their first expedition. They explored and mapped
Kansas by going up the Great Platt River. They ventured into Wyoming and crossed
the Continental Divide at South Pass. Fremont published his exploits and became an
instant celebrity.
*1843 – Fremont and Carson’s second expedition mapped the Oregon Trail from
South Pass to Oregon Country by using the Snake and Columbia Rivers. Once in
Oregon Country they mapped Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens. They turned south
and followed the Sierra Nevada Range to Lake Tahoe becoming the first white men
to see the lake. Once there they followed the San Joaquin Valley then turning east
through the Tehachapi Pass through Las Vegas and the across the Great Basin to Salt
Lake and then onto the Mormon Trail back to South Pass.
1844 – James Polk is elected the Eleventh President of the United States
*1845 – Florida becomes the 27th state
*1845 – John Fremont and Kit Carson’s third expedition set out from St. Louis,
Missouri across Missouri and into Kansas to link up with the Arkansas River. They
went through Colorado and Utah on the Colorado River then across Nevada near Las
Vegas and into the Sacramento Valley and ending at Monterey, California. The
Mexican government was not pleased with Fremont and his armed American force
in California and sent troops to discourage them from traveling farther in California.
1845 – John O’Sullivan, a New York City newspaper editor, coined the term; Manifest
Destiny, which meant it, was the United States fate to spread across the continent.
*1845 – Texas becomes the 28th state
*1846 – The Mormons, also known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
had been persecuted for their beliefs in the east. Their leader, Joseph Smith,
brought the Mormons west and established the town of Nauvoo in Illinois Territory
in 1839 where they could worship in peace. However, Smith was killed by an angry
mob in 1844. The new leader of the Mormons, Brigham Young, sought to find a
better place to worship out west. In 1846 Young and his followers left Nauvoo for
the Great Salt Lake in present day Utah. The route they took became known as the
Mormon Trail. The trail starts in Nauvoo and passes through Council Bluffs, Iowa
then picks up the Oregon Trail until it reaches Fort Bridger. There it veers
southwest towards the Great Salt Lake.
*1846 – The Mexican government charged the border between Texas (now part of
the United States) and Mexico was not at the Rio Grande as stipulated in the Treaty
of Velasco but at the Nueces River further north. Furthermore, all the western
territory of Texas was in dispute between the United States and Mexico. The United
States refused to vacate forts on the Rio Grande. Mexican soldiers fired on American
soldiers in late April killing 16 Americans. After some debate the United States
Congress declared war on Mexico. May 13
*1846 – Americans in California seized control Mexican government garrison in
Sonoma. They raised a flag with a star and a brown bear on it. This was the
beginning of the Bear Flag Republic. June 14
*1846 – The United States and Great Britain agreed to divide the Oregon Territory at
the 49th parallel, which became the border between the United States and Canada.
All of Vancouver Island was to go to Britain. June 15
*1846 – The Bear Flaggers, as they were called, combined with a battalion of
American soldiers led by John C. Fremont in Yerba Buena (San Francisco) July 5
*1846 – American warships arrived in San Francisco Bay. Over 70 sailors and
marines seized control of the Mexican government building and raised the American
flag over it. July 9
*1846 – Colonel Stephen Kearny of the United States Army fought his way across
New Mexico and Arizona to link up with American and Californian forces in
California. November – December
*1846 – Iowa becomes the 29th state
*1847 – Through out the remainder of 1846 battles were fought from San Luis
Obispo to Los Angeles. Finally after hard fighting led by Commodore Robert
Stockton of the United States Navy, the Mexican government surrendered at
Cahuenga Pass in present day North Hollywood ending the fighting in California.
January 12
*1847 – After landing at Veracruz, Mexico General Winfield Scott marched on and
captured Mexico City. The seizure of the Mexican capital gave the United States a
decisive victory. September 6
*1848 – A worker at John Sutter’s trading post on the American River in present day
Sacramento lifted a handful of sand from the riverbed that contained flakes of gold.
This is the beginning of the California Gold Rush. January 24
*1848 – The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave the United States more than 500,000
square miles or 3.2 billion acres of land to be added to the nation. This included the
rest of Texas, all of California, New Mexico Territory including present day Arizona,
Utah Territory including Nevada, Utah, parts of Colorado and Wyoming. It all
became part of the United States in what was known as the Mexican Cession; thus
fulfilling Manifest Destiny. February 2
*1848 – Wisconsin becomes the 30th state
1848 – Zachary Taylor is elected the Twelfth President of the United States
*1849 – At the height of the gold rush 80,000 gold prospectors, known as 49ers,
came into California to seek fortune. Most never found a speck of gold but many
found fortune elsewhere in California.
*1850 – California becomes the 31st state