Transcript Westward-Growth-for-Interactive-Notes

 In 1803, during the first term of Thomas Jefferson’s presidency,
the United States gained the Louisiana Purchase from France. The
nation doubled its physical size.
 Jefferson made plans to send explorers across the land. He asked
Meriwether Lewis to lead the expedition. An expedition is a
journey or long voyage of exploring.
 Lewis asked William Clark to share command.
• In May 1804 it started from near St. Louis. Its goal was to
discover information about
a. geography
b. people
c. natural resources
• The explorers traveled up the Missouri River traveling
through the plains, which are rolling, wide-open
grasslands.
• Lewis and Clark met many Native Americans.
• One was a Shoshone woman named
Sacagawea .
• She was essential to the journey because she
helped the explorers communicate and gather
food
 After crossing the Rocky
Mountains, the explorers traveled
through the Pacific Northwest.
 Sacagawea continued with them,
carrying her infant. They finally
arrived at the Pacific Ocean in
November 1805.
 All the way, they kept diaries and
made maps. Lewis and Clark
started their return in March 1806
and arrived in St. Louis the
following September.
Lewis and Clark Brainpop Video
The Alamo
 In 1836, Texas fought a war to become
independent from Mexico.
 That year, the Mexican army attacked and defeated
Texan soldiers at the Alamo, a fort in San Antonio.
 Soon afterward, though, Texan troops under Sam
Houston defeated the Mexican forces.
 However, Texas found it difficult to run an independent
government. Texans wanted to become part of the United
States.
 After America admitted Texas to the Union, a war broke
out with Mexico because of a border dispute.
 The Mexican-American War lasted from 1846 to 1848.
U.S. forces took control of most of California in 1846.
 The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed. Mexico
had to cede, or give up territory.
Mexican-American War Part 1 Video
Mexican-American War Part 2
 In September 1847, the United States
expanded again, taking control of present-day
- West Texas
- Nevada
- New Mexico
- California
- Arizona
- Utah
- most of Colorado - part of Wyoming
Mexican-American War BrainPop
Mexican-American War
 Meanwhile, many people known as pioneers were moving
west. They followed a route called the Oregon Trail.
 About 50,000 people followed this route between 1840
and 1860. Groups of wagon trains formed to make the
journey to the Oregon Territory and California more
organized.
 They had to cross the plains and the Rocky Mountains
before the winter.
 Many people traveled to the West in search of fortune. The
travelers usually stopped for one meal a day.
 The families came with
- Flour
- bacon
- Coffee
- sugar
- Salt
- kettles
- iron pans and plates.
 They made salads and ate fruits, if they found any along the trail.
The trip took about 6 months. It was dangerous at times, and some
travelers became very sick.
Gold Rush BrainPop Video
In 1848, GOLD was discovered in California.
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This led to the start of the Gold Rush.
Pioneers nicknamed “forty-niners” struck out for California.
Mining towns developed.
After a few years, however, gold became hard to find.
Mining companies had to blast away earth to get the gold.
Miners would have to dig deep down to locate gold ore.
The miners’ work was hard, and it could be dangerous.
Keeping law and order in mining towns was not always easy
New Inventions contributed to westward
expansion. In 1807, inventor and engineer
Robert Fulton made a successful trial of his
new steamboat.
 The steamboat, named the Clermont, was
about 140 feet long.
 It traveled 150 miles up the Hudson River
from New York City to Albany.
 The journey required 32 hours, at an
average speed of 4.7 miles per hour. It took
sailing boats four days.
Transportation by steamboat led to a period of canal-building. Canals connected
waterways.
 The most important early canal in America was the Erie Canal.
 This canal, more than 350 miles long, was built between 1817 and 1825.
 The canal linked New York City with the Great Lakes, via the Hudson River
and the Mohawk River.
 Settlers could move by boat into western New York and then farther west.
Farmers in those places could send their grain to New York City to be sold.
After 1840, Americans built railroads rather
than canals because of the steam locomotive.
• Railroads were much cheaper
to build. Goods could be
transported faster by rail than by
steamboat.
• In 1869, soon after the Civil
War, the first transcontinental
railroad connected the two
coasts.
Samuel F. B. Morse
invented the electric
telegraph in 1844.
For the first time, people
could send messages
very quickly over long
distances.
The Electric Telegraph was the main means of
communication in America until the invention of the
telephone in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell.
Vocabulary – Words to Know
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Expedition: is a journey or long voyage of exploring.
Plains: rolling, wide-open grasslands.
Sacagawea: A Shoshone woman that helped the explorers
to communicate and gather food.
Alamo: A fort in San Antonio, Texas, which was the site of
a Mexican victory over supporters of Texan independence
in 1836.
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: agreement between the
U.S. and Mexico that ended the Mexican-American War.
6. Oregon Trail: route followed by western settlers to the
Oregon Territory.
7. Forty-Niners: The nickname for the pioneers that struck
out for California.
8. Erie Canal: canal in New York State that linked the Great
Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River and the
Mohawk River.
9. Louisiana Purchase: large land purchase from France,
doubling the size of the United States.
10. Mexican-American War: conflict between Mexico and
the U.S., fought over who would own Texas.
11. Gold Rush: large migration of settlers to California for
gold.