History Soars at Pheonix  

Westward Expansion Study Guide

Please study your Powerpoint slides for additional information!

 

• Oregon Country: The huge area beyond the Rockies that includes present day Oregon, Washington, Idaho and parts of Wyoming, Montana and Canada.

  • Fertile soil and plentiful rainfall along the Pacific Coast.

  • Mild temperatures.

  • Dense forests near coastal mountains farther inland held lots of beavers for trappers.

  • A large plateau with desert and extreme temperatures lies between the coastal mountains and the Rockies.

 

• European nations competed for the Oregon Country, ignoring the Native Americans who had lived there for thousands of years.

  • United States

  • Great Britain

  • Spain

  • Russia

• 1818: Spain and Russia dropped their claims and the U.S. and Britain agreed to occupy Oregon jointly.

 

• Mountain Men: The first men who settled in Oregon were trappers who hiked through Oregon Country and lived off the land.

  • They learned their trapping and survival skills from Native Americans.

  • Mountain Men led new settlers west by following Indian trails across the Rockies.

    • Jebediah Smith: Led settlers through South Pass (in Wyoming.)

 

• Missionaries were the first white Americans to build permanent settlements in Oregon Country.

 

• Oregon Trail: Families would travel to Oregon from Independence, Missouri and the route had many dangers, such as disease, heat and snowstorms.

  • In the 1840’s, Americans greatly outnumbered the British in Oregon Country and Americans began to believe that it should belong to the U.S. alone!!

 

• In the early 1800’s, Texas was part of the Spanish colony, Mexico, and Spain refused to let American settle in the territory.

  • Moses and Stephen Austin: Spain gave Moses a land grant in 1821 and Stephen set up a colony in Texas.

 

• When Mexico won its independence from Spain, they allowed American settlers in Texas.

  • They hoped that Americans would develop the area and control Indian attacks.

  • The settlers agreed to become citizens of Mexico, obey its laws, and worship in the Roman Catholic Church.

 

• 1830: Mexico bans any more Americans from settling Texas (many who lived there already felt no loyalty to Mexico and were Protestant!) because they feared that the Americans wanted to make Texas apart of America!!

 

• Texans had decided it was time to take action! They had the support of the Tejanos (Mexicans who lived in Texas – they wanted to get rid of the military dictator, General Santa Anna!)

 

• 1836: Texas declares Independence!!

  • The Republic of Texas was created with Sam Houston as commander of the army.

 

• In the winter of 1835-1836, there were only about 200 Texans left fighting and they gathered at The Alamo.

  • They needed to defend themselves against General Santa Anna’s army of 6,000 Mexicans and for twelve days, fought bravely.

  • In the end, the Mexican Army defeated the Texans. There were five survivors (including Davy Crockett!) who refused to give up and they were executed under Santa Anna’s orders.

  • The Alamo angered Texans and volunteers joined the army in large numbers!!

 

• 1836: With cries of “Remember the Alamo!” Texans captured General Santa Anna and forced him to sign a treaty giving Texas its independence.

  • Texas nicknamed their nation, “The Lone Star Republic,” drew up a Constitution based on the U.S. Constitution and elected Sam Houston their president.

 

• Problems that Texas Faced!

  • Mexico refused to acknowledge the treaty and still claimed Texas as part of their country!

  • Texas was nearly bankrupt! (This led them to want to join the U.S.!!)

  • Many Southerners wanted to annex (add on) Texas because they wanted more land. However, Northerners saw it as a plot to add more slave states to the union.

  • Jackson thought that annexing Texas would lead to war with Mexico so he decided against it.