MANIFEST DESTINY:
MATCHER AND CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
WORKSHEETS
Use the slides in order to figure
out how to arrange the events
listed in chronological order.
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
Lewis and Clark and the Corps of
Discovery explored this region from
1804 – 1806, claiming all of the land
along the Missouri River for the United
States, and making an American claim to
the Oregon Country as well. Against his
own “strict constructionist” principles,
Thomas Jefferson had bought the
territory from Napoleon. Americans
were not the only nation to claim the
land: Russia, Spain, England, and all of
the Native American tribes of the Great
Northwest did as well.
THE GADSDEN PURCHASE - 1853
In 1853, the United States
purchased this tiny stretch of land
in present day Arizona and New
Mexico as part of an arrangement
to construct a railroad.
THE TREATY OF PARIS OF 1783
From its very foundation, the United
States always had more land than it
could occupy. The treaty which gave the
nation its independence also granted the
United States all of the territory to the
Mississippi River. From the beginning in
the United States, the west signified the
future!
THE TREATY OF GUADALUPE-HIDALGO
This Treaty ended the Mexican-American
War when it was agreed to by both
sides in 1848. It established the
southern boundary of the United States
with Mexico at the Rio Grande River,
and it forced Mexico to sell most of its
northern territory – the Mexican Cession
– to the United States for $20 Million.
THE ANNEXATION OF TEXAS
BY THE UNITED STATES, 1845
Americans refused to bring this state into
the Union when it first applied for
statehood in the 1830s, because they
were fearful that the state would tilt the
balance of power in the Senate to the
slaveholding states. But in 1840s, while
pro-slavery President John Tyler was in
power, and the ambitiously pro-slavery
President James K. Polk was Presidentelect, a treaty was signed to bring Texas
into the United States. It would become
a state later in the year.
THE OREGON TREATY
Even though he had run for President in
1844 with the campaign slogan “54°
40’ or Fight!,” President Polk decided to
negotiate a treaty with England over this
territory. The United States took the
Southern portion of the territory;
England took the northern reaches. The
line of demarcation was set between the
United States at England at the 49° N
Latitude line. The Oregon Treaty was
signed by both England and the United
States just before the outbreak of war
between the US and Mexico.
THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE OF 1820 -21
Maine became a free state. The
following year, Missouri became a slave
state. A line starting at the
southernmost boundary of Missouri was
measured going West. To the south of
the boundary line at 36° 30’, slavery
would be legal. To the north of the line,
slavery would be forbidden. The
Missouri Compromise was the law of the
land until it was superseded by two
future laws: The Compromise of 1850
and the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
CALIFORNIA
STATEHOOD – THE
COMPROMISE OF 1850
After gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill
in 1848, hundreds of thousands of
speculators flooded into the West. These
so called 49ers were joined by Chinese,
Japanese, and Filipino immigrants who
were also hoping to strike it rich in
America. Formal status within the United
States was achieved as a part of the
Compromise of 1850.
DESERET – THE MORMONS
Just before the start of the Mexican-American War
(and before the signing of the Oregon Treaty in
1846), members of the Mormon faith created this
community in modern day Utah. They were led to
the Great Salt Lake Basin by Brigham Young –
after the founder of the faith, Joseph Smith – had
been lynched by an angry mob in Nauvoo, IL. At
the time, the Mormons still practiced polygamy.
Later in history, the United States would claim the
land which Mormons had sought for themselves, and
a standoff ensued between Americans and
Mormons. In the late 1850s, under James
Buchanan, armed conflict took place in the Utah
Territory.
Sam Houston forced Santa Anna to sign a treaty giving up his northern provinces
after capturing him at the 1836 Battle of San Jacinto. For the next nine years, the
Lone Star Republic existed as an independent nation. Later, it would be annexed
by the United States of America. Mexico believe that Texas’ independence and
later the annexation of Texas by the United States were illegitimate. They still
claimed Texas when it was taken over by the United States, and would fight a war
over the boundaries of the region they formerly controlled from 1846 – 1848.
INDEPENDENCE
FOR TEXAS,1836