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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Adventures of Buffalo Bill
by Col. William F. Cody
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Adventures of Captain Bonneville
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Klickitat from Binford & Mort Publishing
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American Heritage History of the Indian Wars
by Robert M. Utley, Wilcomb E. Washburn
Revised from American Heritage Publishing Co.
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Bad River Boys
by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, illustrated by Bill Farnsworth
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Benjamin in the Woods
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Big Golden Book of the Wild West
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Buffalo Bill
by Frank L. Beals, illustrated by Jack Merryweather
1959 Edition from Wheeler Publishing, Inc.
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By the Shores of Silver Lake
Little House Series #5
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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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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Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
1940 Newbery Honor Book
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California Gold Days
by Helen Bauer
1961 Printing from California State Department of Education
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Cassie's Journey
by Brett Harvey; illustrated by Deborah Kogan Ray
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Children of the Wild West
by Russell Freedman
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Cowboy Boots
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Cowboys and Cattle Ranching
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Davy Crockett
by George Edward Stanley
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Death Valley Scotty
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Early Days of a Cowboy on the Pecos
by James F. Hinkle
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Explorers, Missionaries, and Trappers
by Kieran Doherty
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Facing West
by Kathleen V. Kudlinski
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Famous American Trails
by Bruce Grant; illustrated by Lorence F. Bjorklund
from Rand McNally
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First Four Years
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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First Four Years (Pictorial Cover)
by Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams
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Flaming Arrows
by William O. Steele, Illustrated by Paul Galdone
1st edition from Harcourt
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Food and Recipes of Westward Expansion
Cooking Throughout American History
by George Erdosh
1st edition from PowerKids Press
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Going to Town
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Going West
by Jean Van Leeuwen, illustrated by Thomas Allen
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Historical fiction for 2nd-4th grade
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Going West
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Good Ol' Cowboy Stories
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Hannah Fowler
Kentucky trilogy #2
by Janice Holt Giles
Book Club Edition from Houghton Mifflin
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History of Human Society: Pioneer America
The History of Human Society
by John R. Alden
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Home Crafts (Historic Communities)
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I am Sacagawea
Ordinary People Change the World
by Brad Meltzer, illustrated by Christopher Eliopoulos
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Incredible Journey of Lewis and Clark
by Rhoda Blumberg
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Historical Reference for 4th-6th grade
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John James Audubon: Painting America's Wildlife
by Janet Stevenson, illustrated by Robert Boehmer
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Kidnapped Circus
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Kindle Me a Riddle
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Kit Carson: Folk Hero and Man
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Last of the Old West
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Leafy Rivers
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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 Voyage of Discovery
by Stephen E. Ambrose, photography by Sam Abell
First Edition from National Geographic
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Lewis and Clark
In Their Own Words
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Lewis and Clark and Me
by Laurie Myers
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Little House in the Big Woods
by Laura Ingalls Wilder, illustrated by Garth Williams
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Little House in the Big Woods (Pictorial Cover)
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Long Winter
Little House Series #6
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
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1941 Newbery Honor Book
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Make Way for Sam Houston
by Jean Fritz; illustrated by Elise Primavera
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More Perfect Than the Moon
by Patricia MacLachlan
Fir from Scholastic Reference
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More Perfect Than the Moon
by Patricia MacLachlan
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Mountain Men
by George Frederick Ruxton, edited and illustrated by Glen Rounds
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Nothing Like It in the World
by Stephen E. Ambrose
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Old West: Miners
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Oregon Trail
by Francis Parkman, Jr., illustrated by Maynard Dixon
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Oregon Trail
by Leonard Everett Fisher
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Oregon Trail
Famous Books for Young Americans
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Our Only May Amelia
by Jennifer L. Holm
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Perilous Journey of the Donner Party
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Picture Book of Davy Crockett
by David Adler
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Pioneering on the Plains
Frontiers of America
by Edith McCall, illustrated by Carol Rogers
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Pony Express
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Pony Express
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Portugee Phillips and the Fighting Sioux
by A. M. Anderson, illustrated by Jack Merryweather
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Prairie Schooners
by Glen Rounds
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Prairie Star
by Nina Hermanna Morgan
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Rush for Gold
by Frank L. Beals, illustrated by Jack Merryweather
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Sam Houston
by Noel Gerson
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Sancho the Homesick Steer
by Helen Rushmore, illustrated by Jack Hearne
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Santa Fe Trail
by David Lavender
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Seaman's Journal
by Gail Karwoski & James Watling
1st edition from Ideals Children's Books
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Slave Dancer
by Paula Fox
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Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
1974 Newbery Medal winner
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Slave Dancer
by Paula Fox
from Simon and Schuster
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
1974 Newbery Medal winner
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Slave Dancer
by Paula Fox, illustrated by Eros Keith
from Bradbury Press
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
1974 Newbery Medal winner
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Smoky the Cow Horse
by Will James
August 1928 printing from Charles Scribner's Sons
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Smoky the Cow Horse
by Will James
1930 printing from Charles Scribner's Sons
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1927 Newbery Book
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Song of Paul Bunyan and Tony Beaver
by Ennis Rees
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Standing Like a Stone Wall
by James I. Robertson Jr.
from Atheneum
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Streams to the River, River to the Sea
by Scott O'Dell
from Houghton Mifflin
Historical Fiction for 7th-9th grade
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Sweetwater Run
by Andrew Glass
from Doubleday Book For Young Readers
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Tales of the American West
by Neil & Ting Morris, illustrated by Anna Clarke
from Derrydale Books
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
The Trees
Awakening Land #1
by Conrad Richter
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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Three Names
by Patricia MacLachlan, illustrated by Alexander Pertzoff
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Trail Through Danger
by William O. Steele, illustrated by Charles Beck
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$6.40 (2 in stock)
Trails Plowed Under
by Charles M. Russell
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Trappers and Traders of the Far West
Landmark #29
by James Daugherty
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
True Tales of the Wild West
by Paul Robert Walker
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We Were There on the Oregon Trail
We Were There #1
by William O. Steele, illustrated by Jo Polseno
from Grosset & Dunlap
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
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What's the Deal?
by Rhoda Blumberg
from National Geographic
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Who'd Believe John Colter?
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Why Cowboys Sing, In Texas
by LeGrand Henderson
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Wide Open Spaces
by Jack Terry
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Wild West
Book Club from Time-Life Books
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Willa
by Ruth Franchere
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