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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1846 - Portrait of the Nation
by Smithsonian Institute
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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
by Carl Sandburg
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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
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Abraham Lincoln's World
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Across America
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Adventures of Captain Bonneville
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Klickitat from Binford & Mort Publishing
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Adventures of Davy Crockett
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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Puffin Classics
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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Sterling Classics
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Adventures with the Santa Fe Trail
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Amazing Impossible Erie Canal
by Cheryl Harness
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America in the Time of Lewis and Clark
by Sally Senzel Isaacs
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American Heritage History of the Indian Wars
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American History Stories Volume 3
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Bad Guys
by Andrew Glass
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Ballad of Lucy Whipple
by Karen Cushman
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Battle of Seattle
by Douglas Bond
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Beginning of the Republic
A Basic History of the United States Volume 2
by Clarence B. Carson
from American Textbook Committee
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Big Book of the Old West to Color
by Peter F. Copeland, et al.
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Big Golden Book of the Wild West
by Gina Ingoglia, illustrated by Gene Biggs
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Bite of the Gold Bug
by Barthe DeClements
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Black Courage
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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
by Margaret Cousins
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Buffalo Bill
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Buffalo Bill
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Buffalo Bill and the Wild West
by Henry Blackman Sell and Victor Weybright
Reprint from International Cody Family Assoc.
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Buffalo Bill: Frontier Daredevil
Childhood of Famous Americans
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By the Great Horn Spoon!
by Sid Fleischman
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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
Little House Series #5
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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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Cabin Faced West
by Jean Fritz
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Captain, My Captain
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Captive Treasure
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Carolina's Courage
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Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham
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Chang's Paper Pony
An I Can Read Book Level 3
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Children of the Covered Wagon
by Mary Jane Carr
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Children of the Wild West
by Russell Freedman
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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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Civil Disobedience and Other Essays
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by Henry David Thoreau
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Colter's Run
by Judith Edwards, illustrated by John Potter
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Cowboys of the Old West - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
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Cowboys of the Wild West
by Russell Freedman
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Crazy Horse: The Story of an American Indian
by John R. Milton
Second Printing 1975 from Dillon Press
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Daily Life in a Covered Wagon
by Paul Erickson
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Davy Crockett
by David Crockett
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Davy Crockett
by George Edward Stanley
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Death Valley Scotty
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Democracy in America
Penguin Classics
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American Government for 11th-12th grade
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Democracy in America
by Alexis De Tocqueville
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American Government for 11th-12th grade
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Down the Big River
Purple House Living History Library
by Stephen W. Meader, illustrated by Edward Shenton
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Early American History for Intermediate Grades (really old)
by Rea Berg
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Early American History for Intermediate Grades - Guide
by Rea Berg & Rebecca Manor
3rd edition from Beautiful Feet Books
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Explorers, Missionaries, and Trappers
by Kieran Doherty
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Famous American Trails
by Bruce Grant
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Farmer Boy
Little House Series #3
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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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
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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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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Freighters and Pilgrims
Knowledge Keepers Home Library Series 1865
by Charles E. Young and Sarah Raymond Herndon
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From Sea to Shining Sea
by Peter Marshall & David Manuel
from Revell Publishing
American History Reference for 9th-Adult
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From Sea to Shining Sea for Children
by Peter Marshall, David Manuel & Anna Fishel
from Revell Publishing
American History Reference for 4th-6th grade
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From Sea to Shining Sea: Americans Move West 1846-1860
How America Became America
by Jack Rakove, Sheila Nelson
from Mason Crest Publishers
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Frontier Fort
by Scott Steedman, illustrated by Mark Bergin
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Frontier Living
by Edwin Tunis
from Lyons Press
Historical Reference for 7th-10th grade
Newbery Honor Book 1962
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$19.95
Gathering of Days
by Joan Blos
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Historical Fiction for 4th-6th grade
1980 Newbery Medal winner
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Geronimo: Apache Freedom Fighter
Native American Biographies
by Spring Hermann
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Going West
by Jean Van Leeuwen
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Historical fiction for 2nd-4th grade
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Going West
by Jean Van Leeuwen, illustrated by Thomas Allen
from Dial Books for Young Readers
Historical fiction for 2nd-4th grade
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Going West
by Martin Waddell, illustratred by Philippe Dupasquier
from Harper & Row
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Gold Rush Dogs
by Claire Rudolf Murphy, Jane G. Haigh
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Gold Rush Fever
by Barbara Greenwood
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Grandpa's Stories
Tales of the Wild West Volume 10
by Rick Steber
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Great Turkey Walk
by Kathleen Karr
from Sunburst Book
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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
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$19.00
Harriet Tubman
by Ann Petry
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Biography for 4th-6th grade
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Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
Signet Classics
by Helen Keller
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Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
by Helen Keller
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Autobiography for 7th-10th grade
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Hero Tales
by Theodore Roosevelt & Henry Cabot Lodge
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Biography for 7th-10th grade
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History of Human Society: Pioneer America
The History of Human Society
by John R. Alden
1st edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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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
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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
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Home Crafts (Historic Communities)
by Bobbie Kalman
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Horses of the Old West - Coloring Book
by John Green
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House of the Seven Gables
Signet Classics
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Fantasy for 9th-12th grade
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Hunters Blaze the Trails
by Edith S. McCall
New 1980 Edition from Children's Press
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Hunters Blaze the Trails
by Edith S. McCall
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If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon
If You Were There
by Ellen Levine
from Scholastic Inc.
Historical Non-fiction for 2nd-5th grade
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Indians
Tales of the Wild West Volume 3
by Rick Steber
from Bonanza Publishing
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Jason Lee
Sowers Series
by Charles Ludwig
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Jed Smith
by Frank Latham
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Biography for 4th-8th grade
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Jedediah Smith
by Sharlene and Ted Nelson
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Jessie Benton Fremont
by Marguerite Higgins
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$13.95
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