Western Expansion (1800-1898)

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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.
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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
by Carl Sandburg, illustrated by James Daugherty
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Abraham Lincoln
Initial Biography
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1945 Newbery Honor Book
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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Children's Classics
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Alaska Gold Rush
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Big Book of Cowboys
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Big Golden Book of the Wild West
by Gina Ingoglia, illustrated by Gene Biggs
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Buffalo Bill's Great Wild West Show
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by Walter Havighurst, illustrated by John C. Wonsetler
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Building of the First Transcontinental Railroad
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by Adele Nathan, illustrated by Edward A. Wilson
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Building of the First Transcontinental Railroad
Spencer Press Landmark #9 (RH#9)
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By the Shores of Silver Lake
Little House Series #5
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
1940 Newbery Honor Book
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By the Shores of Silver Lake (Pictorial Cover)
Little House Series #5
by Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams
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1940 Newbery Honor Book
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Caravan to Oregon
by Herbert E. Arntson
from Binford & Mort Publishing
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Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham, illustrated by John O'Hara Cosgrave II
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1956 Newbery Medal winner
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Cartier Sails the St. Lawrence
by Esther Averill, illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky
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Children of the Wild West
by Russell Freedman
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Coming of the Mormons
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from Random House
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Continent for Sale
Winston Adventure Books
by Arthur Groom, illustrated by Joseph Bolden
First Ediition from John C. Winston
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Copper Kings of Montana
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Cowboy Sam and the Indians
by Edna Walker Chandler
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Custer's Last Stand
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Custer's Last Stand
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by Quentin Reynolds
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Daniel Boone, Wilderness Scout
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Stewart Edward White, illustrated by Henry C. Pitz
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 4th-7th grade
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Daniel Boone, Wilderness Scout
by Stewart Edward White, illustrated by James Daugherty
from Garden City Books
Biography for 4th-7th grade
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Daniel Boone: The Opening of the Wilderness
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by John Mason Brown
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Davy Crockett
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Constance Rourke, illustrated by Walter Seaton
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1935 Newbery Honor Book
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Davy Crockett
Landmark #57
by Stewart H. Holbrook
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Davy Crockett
by George Edward Stanley
from Sterling Publishing Co.
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DK Eyewitness: Cowboy
DK Eyewitness Series
by David Murdoch
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American History Reference for 4th-8th grade
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DK Eyewitness: North American Indian
DK Eyewitness Series
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from DK Publishing
HIstory Reference for 4th-8th grade
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Eagle and the Fort
by Dorothy Morrison
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Eli Whitney: Great Inventor
by Jean Lee Latham
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Farmer Boy
Little House Series #3
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$19.99
Fear in the Forest
by Cateau de Leeuw
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First Four Years
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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George Rogers Clark: War in the West
Events of the Revolution
by Susan and John Lee, illustrated by Richard Wahl
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Geronimo: Wolf of the Warpath
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by Ralph Moody, illustrated by Nicholas Eggenhofer
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Golden Book History of the United States Volume 6
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Great Railroad Race
Dear America
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Fictional historical journal for 3rd-6th grade
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Half-Breed
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Here Rolled the Covered Wagons
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Home Crafts (Historic Communities)
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How and Why Wonder Book of Winning of the West
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Jed Smith, Young Western Explorer
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Joe Meek
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Kit Carson
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by Nardi Reeder Campion, illustrated by Shannon Stirnweis
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Kit Carson: Folk Hero and Man
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La Salle of the Mississippi
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Land of the Buffalo Bones
Dear America
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Legends of the Wild West
by James A. Crutchfield, Bill O'Neal, Dale L. Walker
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Lewis & Clark Expedition
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Lewis and Clark and Me
by Laurie Myers
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Little House - Hardcover Set
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Little House in the Big Woods
Little House Series #1
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Little House on the Prairie
Little House Series #2
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Little House on the Prairie (pictorial hardcover)
Little House Series #2
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Little Town on the Prairie
Little House Series #7
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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1942 Newbery Honor Book
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Little Town on the Prairie (Pictorial Cover)
Little House Series #7
by Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams
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Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
1942 Newbery Honor Book
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Long Winter
Little House Series #6
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
1941 Newbery Honor Book
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Long Winter (Pictorial Cover)
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Major Impossible
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #9
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Marcus and Narcissa Whitman
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Mustang, Wild Spirit of the West (pictorial hardcover)
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My Face to the Wind
Dear America
by Jim Murphy
from Scholastic Inc.
Fictional historical journal for 3rd-6th grade
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On the Banks of Plum Creek
Little House Series #4
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
1938 Newbery Honor Book
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Oregon Trail
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Paul Bunyan and His Great Blue Ox
by Wallace Wadsworth, illustrated by Will Crawford
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Paul Bunyan and His Great Blue Ox
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Pony Express
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Pony Express
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Prairie Lotus
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Real Book about Buffalo Bill
by Adolph Regli, illustrated by Robert J. Lee
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Real Book About Our Armed Forces
by Clayton & K.S. Knight
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Real Book About the Wild West
by Adolph Regli, illustrated by Ted Shearer
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Real Book of American Tall Tales
by Adolph Regli, Robert J. Lee
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Santa Fe Trail
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by Samuel Hopkins Adams
from Random House
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Santa Fe Trail
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by Samuel Hopkins Adams
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Santa Fe Trail
by David Lavender
from Holiday House
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Seeds of Hope
Dear America
by Kristiana Gregory
from Scholastic Inc.
Fictional historical journal for 3rd-6th grade
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Seneca Chief, Army General
Creative Minds Biographies
by Elizabeth Van Steenwyk, illustrated by Karen Ritz
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
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Siskiyou Trail
by Howard Russell
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Sitting Bull: Champion of his People
by Shannon Garst
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Sod-House Winter
They Came From Sweden
by Clara Ingram Judson
from Follett
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Song of Paul Bunyan and Tony Beaver
by Ennis Rees
from Pantheon Books
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
Story of Andrew Jackson
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #13
by Enid LaMonte Meadowcroft, illustrated by David Hendrickson
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
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Story of Buffalo Bill
Signature Books #1
by Edmund Collier, illustrated by Nicholas Eggenhofer
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
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Story of Clara Barton
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #25
by Olive Price, illustrated by Ruth Ives
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
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Story of Crazy Horse
Signature Books #28
by Enid Lamonte Meadowcroft, illustrated by William Reusswig
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 4th-8th grade
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Story of Dan Beard
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #43
by Robert N. Webb, illustrated by Everett Raymond Kinstler
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
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Story of Daniel Boone
Signature Books #15
by William O. Steele, illustrated by Warren Baumgartner
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Biography for 4th-8th grade
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Story of Davy Crockett
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #3
by Enid LaMonte Meadowcroft, illustrated by C. B. Falls
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 4th-8th grade
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Story of General Custer
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #26
by Margaret Leighton, illustrated by Nicholas Eggenhofer
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
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Story of Geronimo
Signature Books #44
by Jim Kjelgaard, illustrated by Charles Banks Wilson
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Story of Kit Carson
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by Edmund Collier, illustrated by Nicholas Eggenhofer
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Story of Louisa May Alcott
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #35
by Joan Howard, illustrated by Flora Smith
from Grosset & Dunlap
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Story of Stephen Foster
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #31
by Esther M. Douty, illustrated by Jo Polseno
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Biography for 3rd-8th grade
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Story of the Black Hawk Wars
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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Story of the Chisholm Trail
by Andrew Santella
from Children's Press
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Story of the Conestoga Wagon
by Kenneth Richards
from Children's Press
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in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
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