Transcript Westward Expansion 3

From Colonies To A Continent
By Rebecca Hippert
Revised by: Margaret Shermer
 Why did the United States want to expand?
 How did we get the country we know about
today?
 Who’s land is this, really?
 Brainstorm some ideas for answers to
these questions before we go on.
 By the end of the Revolution, Americans wanted more
land.
 Why do you think they wanted more land?
 Remember why European countries wanted more
land?
 “The West” referred to anything
west of the 13 original colonies.
This interactive map will
show you how the United
States we know today came
to be.
Click on the flag!
http://www.eduplace.com/kids/socsci/books/applications/imaps/maps/g5s_u5/index.html
That’s huge!
 Who was involved?
 Thomas Jefferson bought this
territory from France.
 How much was spent?
 530 million acres
 $15 million (What a deal!)
 Why did we do it?
 Control of trade through New
Orleans and along
Mississippi.
 To limit French military threat
to the United States.
Thomas Jefferson signing the treaty
 To build a better relations
See Lewis and Clark explore this territory
with France in the long term.
by clicking here!
 Can you think of other
reasons for getting this
land?
 There was opposition to the Louisiana Purchase
 Some government leaders thought Jefferson was acting
against the Constitution when he bought this land.
 Americans thought it was a better idea to be friends with
Britain than France (just had a war after all…).
 Some thought natives of the new territory and residents of
the east coast wouldn’t get along.
 This territory would add to the numbers of states that
could hold slaves. The northern states didn’t like that.
 Can you think of other reasons this might have been a
bad idea?
Right here!
 Florida land changed hands several times before it




belonged to the United States.
First it belonged to Spain.
Then it belonged to Britain.
After the British were defeated in the Revolutionary
War, Florida was given back to Spain.
Spain ceded Florida to the United States in exchange for
complete control of Texas.
Whew!
 What advantages do you think Florida
offered the US?
Lone
Star
State?
 Remember how we got Florida? We gave



The Siege of The Alamo, 1836


Texas back to Spain in exchange.
Mexico declared independence from
Spain, so Texas became part of Mexico.
An American colony began in Texas in 1823.
When Santa Anna became Mexico’s
president, he imposed rules on the
territories that the American settlers didn’t
like.
Texas declared independence from Mexico
in 1836.
Texas couldn’t make it on its own, so Texans
pushed for annexation, which was granted
in 1845.
The Great
Northwest
 This territory was once claimed by England, France,





Russia, Spain, and the US!!!
Eventually only Britain and America disputed the land.
The others went looking elsewhere.
In 1818, the two nations agreed to share the area.
In 1843, some US settlers in the Willamette valley of
Oregon established a government.
This government pushed for the annexation of all of
Oregon Country.
The Oregon Treaty of 1846 was a compromise with
Britain to define the boundary at the 49th parallel
(separates the US and Canada today).
You Are Here
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
 Mexico owned what is now southern California, Arizona, New





Mexico, Nevada, and Utah.
Mexico had never acknowledged Texas’ independence.
President Polk authorized an offer of $30 million for the area in
dispute, which was rejected.
The citizens of the United States agreed to go to war with Mexico
for the land.
After a series of battles, the Mexicans were defeated.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in February 1848,
ceding the whole of the territory to the United States.
 The Democratic party supported the war, the
Whig party, including Abraham Lincoln, did not.
 Opponents claimed the purpose of the war was to
expand slavery.
 Some opponents went so far as to state that the
United States already had enough land.
Last part!
 Why did we want it?
 Boundaries were still in dispute after the War with Mexico
 The land was going to be used to create a transcontinental railroad
More info about Transcontinental Railroads HERE
 How Much?
 $10 million
 Consequences
 Santa Anna of Mexico took the money and squandered it, thereby
ending his political career
 The slavery controversy became more heated because more land
was added to the slave territories
These events all added up to the current
boundary and reach of the United States
(excluding Alaska and Hawaii of course…those came
later)
Looking at the map here, write
down the order of each territory
acquired by the US, and state one
reason we got it.