“from sea to shining sea”

Americans had that we should expand all the way to the Pacific
“from sea to shining sea.”

By 1844, this became government policy
From sea to shinning sea!
Pacific
Ocean
Atlantic
Ocean

•
Pictures of people moving
•
The desire to move west and expand

 The U.S. got land many different ways.

Through treaties

Through war Negotiations

Through agreements with other countries
 The United States already had the land in green from winning the
Revolutionary War with the British

 Louisiana Purchase – 1803 –
Thomas Jefferson purchased this land from the French for $15 million.
It doubled the size of the United
States

 Adams-Onis Treaty – 1819 –
Spain gave Florida to the United
States.
 U.S. paid $5 million as part of the treaty
Spain was having problems with the
Indians in Florida and gave up its claim.

 Originally Texas was owned by the
Spanish and was called Tejas.

 In 1821, Mexico gained its independence from Spain and Tejas became Mexico .
Stephen Austin began attracting
Americans to Tejas soon there were more
Americans in Tejas than Tejanos.


A rebellion began – Americans fought for independence from Mexico and won.

The Lone Star Republic was formed

 Texas Annexation – 1845 – President
James Polk added Texas to the United
States in 1845

To annex – to add
Problem : Mexico and the US disagreed on the Southern border of Texas
Rio Grande v. Nueces River
100 miles difference

 Oregon Territory – 1846 – the
United States and Britain agreed to divide the Oregon territory in half.
 This serves as the border between the US and Canada

 As a result of the Texas border dispute , Mexico and America went to war.
 In Feb. 1848, the war officially ended with the signing of the
Treaty of
Guadalupe
Hidalgo


Mexican Cession – 1848 – Mexico ceded (gave up) this land to the U.S. as part of the treaty after the war.
 U.S. would pay $15 million to Mexico


Area includes present-day California, Nevada,
Utah, parts of New Mexico and Arizona
Mexico also agreed that the Rio Grande would be the southern border of Texas.


Gadsden Purchase – 1853 –
Mexico sold this land to the U.S. for $10 million . It is the last piece to complete the U.S.
 The U.S. wanted it for the railroad – to avoid the Rocky Mtns.

The Whole Map
5
6
7
4
2
1
3

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
United States from Rev. War 1783
Louisiana Purchase 1803
Florida 1819
Texas Annexation
Oregon Territory
1845
1846
Mexican Cession
Gadsden Purchase
1848
1853

 Once all this new land and territory was gained, people began to move west.

1.
2.
3.
4.
Reasons people moved west:
Land speculators bought huge amounts of land hoping to make money
In search of new markets to sell goods
In search of gold and wealth
Religious reasons

•People in New Mexico were eager for new merchandise
•Many traveled the Santa
Fe Trail to Santa Fe New
Mexico in search of new markets for goods .
•Tales of Oregon’s great land and climate tempted people to travel there.
•Many traveled the Oregon Trail to head northwest and begin new lives.

•While most pioneers went in search of wealth, the Mormons went for religious reasons.
• Mormons traveled to
Salt Lake City on the
Mormon Trail and settled in Utah.
• Brigham Young , the Mormon leader, moved his people to Utah hoping his people would be left to follow their faith in peace.
•Not all agreed with the Mormon teachings.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxaJY8U
Zxn4

 John Sutter , a Swiss immigrant, bought
50,000 acres in California
 James Marshall , a carpenter, was building a sawmill on Sutter’s Mill when “my eye caught a glimpse of something shining…
I reached my hand down and picked it up; for I was certain it was gold !”

 Thousands of Americans raced to California in hopes of finding gold themselves

This became known as the California Gold Rush
 A forty-niner became known as someone who went to California in 1849 to seek gold.

 The gold rush was over by 1852.


1.
2.
3.
While it lasted 250,000 people
(mostly men) flooded to California in search of gold
Effects of the gold rush:
This huge migration of people cause economic growth that changed California forever.
Native Americans died from disease and were pushed off land.
California applied for statehood.

Where do historians get their information??

Where??
Historians use a wide variety of sources to answer questions about the past. In their research, history scholars use both
primary sources and secondary sources

What is a primary source?
Primary sources are actual records that have survived from the past.
Examples include:
– letters
– documents
– photographs/posters
– articles of clothing
– original speeches written by actual people

Primary sources are actual records that have survived from the past.
Declaration of
Independence
An original slave reward poster
Washington’s handwritten farewell address
An actual drawing from
Meriwether Lewis from his journal

What is a secondary source?
Secondary sources are accounts of the past created by people writing about events sometime after they happened. Examples include:
– history textbook
– Books written about famous people in history (biographies)
– A conversation with someone about famous people in history

Secondary sources are accounts of the past created by people writing about events sometime after they happened.
A conversation about Thomas
Jefferson with Thomas
Jefferson’s great-great-great granddaughter
A book written about George
Washington (a biography)

Cede- To officially give, as a territory from one country to another
Annexation- the formal of one political region to another
Manifest Destiny- the belief many Americans had that we should expand all the way to the Pacific
“from sea to shining sea.”
– By 1844, this became government policy