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
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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
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Abraham Lincoln's World
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1994 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award
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Puffin Classics
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Sterling Classics
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Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #6
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American Heritage History of the Indian Wars
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Bad News for Outlaws
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Bears of Blue River
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Bold Journey
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Bonanza Girl
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Bound for Oregon
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Boy in the Alamo
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Boy in the Alamo
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Buffalo Bill
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Caddie Woodlawn
by Carol Ryrie Brink
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Caddie Woodlawn's Family
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Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham
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1956 Newbery Medal winner
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Children of the Wild West
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Children of the Wild West
by Russell Freedman
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Children's Stories
Tales of the Wild West Volume 6
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Colter's Run
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Coolies
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Cowboys
Tales of the Wild West Volume 4
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Cowboys of the Wild West
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Cowboys of the Wild West
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Cowgirls - Coloring Book
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Daniel Boone
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Dark and Bloody Ground
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Davy Crockett
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Diary of an Early American Boy
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Do's and Don'ts of Yesteryear
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Draw 50 Boats, Ships, Trucks, and Trains
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Early Days of a Cowboy on the Pecos
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Explorers, Missionaries, and Trappers
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Facing West
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Fear in the Forest
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First Four Years
Little House Series #9
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First Four Years
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First Four Years (Pictorial Cover)
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Fort Clatsop
by Daniel J. Dattilio
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From Sea to Shining Sea: Americans Move West 1846-1860
How America Became America
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Frontier Living
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Geronimo: Apache Freedom Fighter
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Gold Rush Dogs
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Good Ol' Cowboy Stories
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Grandpa's Stories
Tales of the Wild West Volume 10
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Great Turkey Walk
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Hattie Big Sky
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Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
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Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
by Helen Keller
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Hero Tales
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History of US Book 4
History of US Book 4
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3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
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History of US Book 5
History of US Book 5
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
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Incredible Journey of Lewis and Clark
by Rhoda Blumberg
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Indians
Tales of the Wild West Volume 3
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Jason Lee
Sowers Series
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Jessie Benton Fremont
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John James Audubon: Painting America's Wildlife
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Journey West on the Oregon Trail
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Kit Carson: Folk Hero and Man
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Laddie
by Gene Stratton-Porter
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Lantern in Her Hand
by Bess Streeter Aldrich
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Laura
by Donald Zochert
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Laura Ingalls Wilder
Heroes of History
by Geoff & Janet Benge
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Laura Ingalls Wilder Country
by William Anderson
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Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Biography
by William Anderson
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Laura Ingalls Wilder: Pioneer Girl
by Laura Ingalls Wilder, edited by Pamela Smith Hill
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$39.99
Legends of the Wild West
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Lewis & Clark Expedition
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Little House - Full Color Trade Paper Set
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Little House - Softcover Boxed Set
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Little House Coloring Book
Clr Csm from HarperCollins
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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
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
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 - Audio CD
Little House Series #7
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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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 TOS
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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Major Impossible
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #9
by Nathan Hale
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May B.
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Meriwether Lewis
Heroes of History
by Geoff & Janet Benge
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Museum of Early American Tools
by Eric Sloane
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Of Courage Undaunted
by James Daugherty
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Old West: Miners
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Old Yeller
by Fred Gipson
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1957 Newbery Honor Book
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One Big Open Sky
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Oregon Trail
by Leonard Everett Fisher
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Outrageous Women of the American Frontier
Outrageous Women
1st edition from Jossey-Bass
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