Western Expansion (1800-1898)

This map is courtesy of www.theodora.com/maps, used with permission.

At the beginning of 1800, the United States was formally comprised of sixteen states: the original thirteen colonies having been recognized as independent by the Treaty of Paris in 1783 and the states of Vermont, Kentucky and Tennessee having been added to the union by 1796. But American trappers and settlers were busily expanding to other areas, and the country was growing rapidly. Americans did not question their right to colonize vast expanses of North America beyond their country's borders. By the mid-1840s, United States expansionism was expressed in terms of "manifest destiny," and by the end of the nineteenth century, the United States had aquired all of its current territory through a series of wars and peaceful acquisitions:

  • In 1803, the United States made the the Lousiana Purchase, aquiring a huge tract of land (530 million acres!) from Napoleon Bonaparte. This land makes up approximately 22 percent of the current United States and contained parts or all of present-day Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, northern Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, portions of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado, portions of southern Manitoba, southern Saskatchewan and southern Alberta, and Louisiana. Not all of this land was kept, later being ceded to Great Britain and Spain in exchange for other territory.
  • West Florida was made a U.S. possession in 1810 by President James Madison.
  • The Red River Basin, part of current-day Minnesota and North Dakota, was acquired in the Anglo-American Convention of 1818, a treaty with Great Britain which resolved boundry issues, set the US/Canadian boundary along the 49th parallel, and allowed for joint control of the Oregon Country.
  • East Florida was acquired in the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819 with Spain. The treaty that gained East Florida also included Spain's surrender of any claims to the Oregon Country.
  • The Oregon Country was jointly controlled by the U.S. and Great Britain until 1846 when the Oregon Treaty divided that territory also at the 49th parallel. This created the Oregon Territory, which includes present-day Oregon, Washington and Idaho, as well as parts of Montana and Wyoming.
  • The Republic of Texas, which had gained its independence from Mexico in 1836, voted that year to be annexed by the United States. However it was nearly 10 years before the annexation of Texas took place. President John Tyler signed a treaty of annexation with Texas in 1844; congress approved it in 1845 and Texas became the 28th state later that year.
  • Mexican leader Antonio López de Santa Anna warned that the annexation of Texas would be "equivalent to a declaration of war against the Mexican Republic." Mexico had never formally acknowledged Texas independence and considered it a matter of national pride to fight for what it considered a rebel province. Thus started the Mexican-American war. The United States defeated Mexico and in the subsequent Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico ceded to the United States parts of what are Texas, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming, and the whole of California, Nevada and Utah. They also recognized the Rio Grande as Texas' Southern border.
  • Less than five years after the Mexican Cession, the United States made the Gadsden Purchase of 1853, aquiring a strip of land along the U.S.-Mexico border, now in New Mexico and Arizona. This territory was later used for the southern transcontinental railroad.
  • In 1867, the United States purchased Alaska from Russia.
  • Hawaii was annexed in 1898 upon the request of a government made up primarily of American and European businessmen who had overthrown the Kingdom of Hawaii.
  • Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines, and Cuba were ceded by Spain to the United States after the Spanish-American War in 1898. All four of these areas were under United States Military Government for extended periods. Cuba became an independent nation in 1902. The Philippines became an independent nation in 1946.
Did you find this review helpful?
74 Items found Print
Active Filters: 9th grade (Ages 14-15), Trade Paperback
Abraham Lincoln's World
by Genevieve Foster, expanded by Joanna Foster
from Beautiful Feet Books
Historical Non-fiction for 7th-10th grade
1945 Newbery Honor Book
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$21.95
Alamo
Perspectives on History Series
by Mary Dodson Wade, editor
from History Compass
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-9th grade
in Mexican-American War (Location: HISA-19TEX)
All That Glitters
Perspectives on History Series
by Phyllis Raybin Emert
from History Compass
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-9th grade
in California (Location: HISA-19CGR)
Battle of Seattle
by Douglas Bond
from P&R Publishing
for 4th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$10.19
Beginning of the Republic
A Basic History of the United States Volume 2
by Clarence B. Carson
from American Textbook Committee
American History Reference for 9th-Adult
in Basic History of the United States (Location: HISCUR-US)
$17.00
Boy in the Alamo
by Margaret Cousins
from Corona Publishing Co.
Historical fiction for 4th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Boy in the Alamo
by Margaret Cousins
from Veritas Press
Historical fiction for 4th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.15
Buffalo Bill
by Helen Cody Wetmore
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 6th-9th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Captain Bayley's Heir
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
Captain, My Captain
by Deborah Meroff
from Inheritance Publications
Historical Fiction for 8th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$12.71
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1956 Newbery Medal winner
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.49
Do's and Don'ts of Yesteryear
by Eric Sloane
from Avon Books
for 5th-9th grade
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
From Sea to Shining Sea
by Peter Marshall & David Manuel
from Revell Publishing
American History Reference for 9th-Adult
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Ghost Towns of the Northwest
by Norman D. Weis
from Caxton Press
for 9th-Adult
in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
God's Mountain Man
by Esther Vogt
from Gospel Publishing
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Gold Rush Dogs
by Claire Rudolf Murphy, Jane G. Haigh
from Alaska Northwest Books
for 4th-9th grade
in Gilded Age & Progressive Era (1877-1918) (Location: HISA-19GI)
$5.50 (1 in stock)
Gray & Columbia's River
by Joean K. Fransen
from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in Pacific States (Location: HISV-PNW)
Great and Minor Moments in Oregon History
by Dick Pintarich
1st edition from New Oregon Publishers
for 9th-Adult
in Pacific States (Location: HISV-PNW)
Growth of America
A Basic History of the United States Volume 4
by Clarence B. Carson
from American Textbook Committee
American History Reference for 9th-Adult
in Basic History of the United States (Location: HISCUR-US)
$19.00
Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
by Helen Keller
from Dover Publications
Autobiography for 7th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$1.20 (4 in stock)
Hero Tales
by Theodore Roosevelt & Henry Cabot Lodge
from Cumberland House
Biography for 7th-10th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Hero Tales from American History
by Theodore Roosevelt & Henry Cabot Lodge
Paperback, First Printing from Tolle Lege Press
Biography for 7th-10th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
History of US Book 4
History of US Book 4
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
in History of US (Location: HISA-HAKIM)
$15.95 $11.00 (1 in stock)
History of US Book 5
History of US Book 5
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
in History of US (Location: HISA-HAKIM)
$15.95
In the Hands of the Cave Dwellers
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
In the Heart of the Rockies
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
Iron Horses Across America
Perspectives on History Series
by Jeanne Munn Bracken
from History Compass
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-9th grade
in Transcontinental Railroad (Location: HISA-19TRR)
Jason Lee
Sowers Series
by Charles Ludwig
from Mott Media
Biography for 7th-9th grade
in Sowers Biographies (Location: BIO-SOW)
$7.64 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Jessie Benton Fremont
by Marguerite Higgins
from Beautiful Feet Books
for 4th-9th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$11.86
Journal of a Trapper
by Osborne Russell, edited by Aubrey L. Haines
from Bison Books
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Kit Carson's Autobiography
by Kit Carson
from University of Nebraska
Autobiography for 9th-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Laddie
by Gene Stratton-Porter
from Indiana University Press
Romance for 7th-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$14.41
Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Biography
by William Anderson
from HarperTrophy
for 4th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.49
Life and Death of Crazy Horse
by Russell Freedman
from Scholastic Inc.
for 7th-10th grade
1997 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Gilded Age & Progressive Era (1877-1918) (Location: HISA-19GI)
Little House Coloring Book
Clr Csm from HarperCollins
for 4th-Adult
in Little House Materials (Location: LIR-LHM)
$18.99
Lone Star
Perspectives on History Series
by Stephen L. Hardin, editor
from History Compass
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-9th grade
in Mexican-American War (Location: HISA-19TEX)
Mexican War
Perspectives on History Series
by William Coleman, editor
from History Compass
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-9th grade
in Mexican-American War (Location: HISA-19TEX)
Mountain Men and Fur Traders of the Far West
by LeRoy R. Hafen & Harvey L. Carter
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$21.95 $12.00 (1 in stock)
N.C. Wyeth's Wild West
by N. C. Wyeth
from Brandywine River Museum
for 7th-12th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee
by David Crockett
Reprint from Bison Books
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$14.41 $6.80 (2 in stock)
Of Courage Undaunted
by James Daugherty
from Beautiful Feet Books
Non-Fiction for 5th-9th grade
in Lewis & Clark Expedition (1801-1803) (Location: HISA-19L&C)
$17.95
Oregon Trail
by Francis Parkman Jr.
from Oxford University
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Out on the Pampas
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
Outlaws of the Pacific Northwest
by Bill Gulick
from Caxton Press
for 7th-Adult
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
Outrageous Women of the American Frontier
Outrageous Women
1st edition from Jossey-Bass
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Over the Applegate Trail to Oregon in 1846
by Anne Billeter, Bert Webber
for 8th-12th grade
in Oregon Trail (Location: HISA-19OR)
Overland Migrations
by David Lavender
from National Park Service Division of Publication
for 6th-10th grade
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
Path to the Pacific
Sterling Point Books
by Neta Lohnes Frazier
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 5th-9th grade
in Lewis & Clark Expedition (1801-1803) (Location: HISA-19L&C)
Path to the Pacific
by Neta Lohnes Frazier
from Quarto Knows
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Pony Express
by C. W. Guthrie
from Two Dot Books
for 6th-9th grade
in Pony Express (1860-1861) (Location: HISA-19PEX)
$12.00 (2 in stock)
Prairie Traveler
by Randolph Barnes Marcy
from Applewood Books
for 8th-Adult
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Princess Ka'iulani
by Sharon Linnea
from Eerdmans
Biography for 7th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.75
Railroad
Inventions That Shaped the World
by John Matthews
from Franklin Watts
for 4th-9th grade
in Transcontinental Railroad (Location: HISA-19TRR)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail
by Theodore Roosevelt
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Gilded Age & Progressive Era (1877-1918) (Location: HISA-19GI)
$18.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Redskin and Cowboy
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
Remember the Alamo!
Adventures in History Series
by Amelia E. Barr
from A Beka Books
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in A Beka Book Report books (Location: REA-ABK)
Riders of the Pony Express
by Ralph Moody
from Bison Books
for 5th-9th grade
in Pony Express (1860-1861) (Location: HISA-19PEX)
$14.95
Road to San Jacinto
Perspectives on History Series
by Mary Dodson Wade, editor
from History Compass
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-9th grade
in Mexican-American War (Location: HISA-19TEX)
Rough Riders
by Theodore Roosevelt
from University of Nebraska
Historical non-fiction for 9th-Adult
in Gilded Age & Progressive Era (1877-1918) (Location: HISA-19GI)
$11.00 (1 in stock)
Sacajawea
by Brad Phillips
from Apricot Press
for 4th-9th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Self-Reliance and Essays on the Nature of Man
Copper Lodge Library
by Ralph Waldo Emerson, annotated by Stephanie B. Meter
from Classical Conversations
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$11.95
Spanish-American War
Perspectives on History Series
by Mary Alice Burke Robinson, ed.
from History Compass
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-9th grade
in Spanish-American War (1898) (Location: HISA-19Span)
Stories of Young Pioneers
by Violet T. Kimball
from Mountain Press
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-11th grade
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$14.00
Stout-Hearted Seven
Sterling Point
by Neta Lohnes Frazier
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Non-fiction/Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Oregon Trail (Location: HISA-19OR)
They Loved to Laugh
by Kathryn Worth
from Bethlehem Books
Realistic Fiction for 6th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$12.71 $7.20 (1 in stock)
This was Mining in the West
by David W. Pearson
Second Edition; First Printing from Schiffer
for 6th-Adult
in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Undaunted Courage
by Stephen Ambrose
from Simon and Schuster
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$20.00 $11.00 (1 in stock)
Virginia's General
by Albert Marrin
from Beautiful Feet Books
Biography for 7th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$13.56 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Wagons Westward
by Armstrong Sperry
from David R. Godine
for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
We Claimed This Land
by Eugene E. Snyder
from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in Pacific States (Location: HISV-PNW)
We Were There at the Driving of the Golden Spike
by David Shepherd, William K. Plummer
Reprint from Dover Publications
for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.79
Westward Expansion
Perspectives on History Series
by Cheryl Edwards, editor
from History Compass
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-9th grade
in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
White Seneca
by William W. Canfield
from Salem Ridge Press
for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$10.50
Wide Horizon
Texas Panhandle Book 2
by Loula Grace Erdman
from Bethlehem Books
Realistic Fiction for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$13.56