4. TEXAS: INDEPENDENCE AND
ANNEXATION
• Manifest Destiny – U.S. leaders and citizens
believed it to be destiny to expand and
possess land to the West
• Middle of the nineteenth century
• Mexico gained independence from Spain
• Gained control of Texas with large number of U.S.
settlers
• General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna gained
control over Mexican Government
• Sam Houston launched a rebellion in Texas
5. • March 2, 1836 Texas declared an independent
republic
• The Alamo – a battle fought between Santa
Anna’s men and Texans
• Every Texan who fought perished in battle or captured
and killed
• Texans defeated Santa Anna and took him
hostage
• For freedom, Santa Anna promised to recognize the
Republic of Texas
6. • Texas becomes part of the U.S.
• Asked to be annexed
• Andrew Jackson in favor but know northern states
would oppose a large slave state
• Texas stayed independent until 1845
• Election of 1844
• Texas annexation was critical issues in election
• Split the Democratic Party
• James K. Polk – first “dark horse” (unexpected
winner) presidential nominee
• Called for annexation of Texas and Oregon
• Defeated the Whig Party
• Whigs and Democrats were dominate
political parties at this time.
7. OREGON TERRITORY
• After Polk settled with Texas, he turned his
attention to Oregon.
• Great Britain and U.S. jointly occupied Oregon
• Polk argued the U.S. should claim territory up to
54˚40’N because of citizen population
• Polk ready to fight – Great Britain willing to give it
up because it was no longer profitable; U.S.
important consumer of British goods
• Oregon became territory 1846
8. SOUTHWEST TERRITORIES
• 1848 Mexico and U.S. signed treaty after U.S.
defeated Mexico in war
• Mexico surrendered New Mexico and
California territories
• 1853 boundary dispute sill remained with Mexico
• President Franklin Pierce sent James
Gadsden to purchase land from Mexico for
transcontinental railroad
• Gadsden Purchase - $10 Million for present-day
New Mexico and Arizona
9. • Gold Rush of 1849
• Settlers discovered gold north of Sacramento,
California
• Gold seekers come from all over the world
• Congress admitted California to the Union as a
state in 1850
11. EUROPEAN MIGRATION
• With expansion west came a migration
of settlers with different motivations
• Catholics hoped to read the message of
Jesus to Native Americans
• Gold Rush of 1849 – became major reason
for conflict between settlers and Native
Americans
• Comstock Lode – region in Nevada with
largest load of precious ore
12. • 1862 Congress passed two pieces of
legislation to encourage western settlement
• Homestead Act – anyone who agreed to
cultivate 160 acres of land for five years would
have title to that land from federal government
• Morrill Land-Grant Act – millions of acres given to
state governments to sell as agriculture colleges;
teach farmers how to use new technology to
farm the Midwest
13. • Oklahoma land rush
• 50,000 people on horseback, bicycle, wagon,
and on foot gathered waiting for the gun how to
open the Oklahoma territory
• “The Sooner State” – people tired to jump the gun
to get a head start and get to Oklahoma sooner
14. WOMEN OF THE WEST
• Enjoyed greater freedom
• Required women to take on men's jobs
• New freedoms attracted women to the west
15. AFRICAN AMERICANS OF THE
WEST
• Before the Civil War, many African Americas
in the South were slaves
• Black Exodus – African Americas who left
the south after the Civil War
• Large number migrated; became carriers or
cowhands
• Large number of cowboys were African
Americans
• Serve in west as United States Army
• Buffalo Soldiers – name given by Native Americans who
fought against them; all black regiments
16. CHINESE IMMIGRANTS
• Chinese immigrants arrived in California
• Population grew rapidly
• Came to find work building railroads
• Major role in building western railroads
• Connecting eastern and western railroads
• Citizens did not like Chinese immigrants
• Felt they drove price of labor down and stole jobs
from Americans
• Racism/Nativism – opposed to immigration
• Trust – did not trust Chinese because of
appearance, dress, language
17. • Chinese Exclusion Act – prohibited people
from china from immigration to the United
States
• Not repealed until 1943
18. EUROPEAN AMERICANS AND
MEXICANS
• Annexation of Texan and Mexican-
American war made relation between U.S.
and Mexico tense
• Mexicans did have a positive effect on
settlers in the western region
• Taught white settlers how to herd, raise, and drive
cattle to market
• Cowboy hats and chaps were also adopted by
white settlers
19. NATIVE AMERICANS
• European Americans had conflict with Native
Americans living in the west
• Buffalo – great source of food, clothing, and shelter for
Plains Indians
• Settlers killed great number for hides and make way
for the cattle industry
• Plains Indians would no longer continue their way of
life
• Caused a dramatic decline in the population of
Native Americans
• Ranching took more land from Native
Americans for railroads, towns, and cattle
20. • Native Americans were forced to relocate
to reservations – land set aside for Native
Americans just to be forcibly moved again
and again because of gold being
discovered
• Native Americans grew tired of this and violent
wars broke out
22. • The Sand Creek Massacre and The Battle of
Little Bighorn
• Sand Creek Massacre – 270 Native American
dead; most were women and children
• Cheyenne forced to give up claims to land given to them
• Warriors raided mining camps and local settlements
• U.S. forces surprised Cheyenne at Sand Creek in Colorado
Territory
• The Battle of Little Bighorn – General Custer
attempted to surprise and defeat the Sioux in
Montana
• Known as “Custer’s Last Stand”
23. • Last greatest victory for Native Americans
• Sioux and Cheyenne surrendered to U.S. troops to
moved to land in the Dakotas and Oklahoma
• Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce
• Nez Perce – tribe bed by Chief Joseph
• Forced to leave land
• Warriors killed several white settlers without Chief
Joseph’s blessing
• Joseph ordered to comply with move to
reservation
• Troops attacked tribe while moving them
24. • Joseph and Nez Perce retreated and planed to
avoid U.S. troops and escape into Canada
• Caught thirty miles for the border
• Forced onto reservation in Oklahoma
• Many died due to sickness and malnutrition
• Wounded Knee
• last notable armed conflict between U.S. and Native
Americans
• “Ghost Dance” alarmed settlers and sent U.S. Army
• Believed Sioux leader Sitting Bull was trying to start an
uprising
25. • The Dawes Act
• Congress passed 1887
• Assimilate Native Americans – force them to
became part of mainstream society
• Abolished tribes and separated reservations into
land for individuals
• Huge failure – did not want to give up tribes, no
interest in farming
26. GROUP ASSIGNMENT
• Create a poster that shows the social, political, and
economic antagonism that occurred once
westward expansion began to occur. It should be
formatted like a graphic organizer using the
information that we covered today. Every person
must have a rough draft and the final copy will be
the group poster.
28. THE TRANSCONTINENTAL
RAILROAD
• Railroads became important means of
transportation in the U.S.
• Transcontinental Railroad
• Union Pacific – Eastern rail company
• Central Pacific – rail company from California
• Irish and Chinese workers
• Promontory Point – city in Utah were
transcontinental railroad met to unite the East
and West
29. FARMING, RANCHING, AND
MINING
• Many people moved West intended on
farming
• Adapt to terrain different from the East
• Technological Advances:
• John Deere’s steel plow – allowed farmers to cut
through prairie sod
• Windmills – allowed farmers to harness wind
power to push water to the surface
• Barbed wire – made it possible for farmers to
fence in there livestock and land
• Railroads – import needs/ship products to other
parts of the country
30. • Cattle Ranching
• used ranching techniques of Mexicans
• Growth of cattle contributed to slaughter of
buffalo
• Land taken from Native Americans
• “Cowboys”
• Moved cattle on long drives to be shipped by train to
market
• Became legendary figures in Western culture
31. • Mining – became important with discoveries
of gold
• Mining camps and towns were established
• Boomtowns – mining towns that were booming
with minerals
• Ghost towns –mining towns that were not
booming anymore and everyone has left
32. FARMER COOPERATIVES
• 1870’s – 1880’s – overproduction cased
prices to drop
• Farmers making less money/rising cost of
equipment and railroads
• Farmers went into debt; lost their farms and
land
• Cooperatives – farmers pulled their
resources together to purchase new
equipment and sell crops
• Began to build political influence
33. THE POPULIST MOVEMENT
• Populist Movement – formed because of
concerns of the farmers
• Low prices for their goods and the crop lien
system (farmers borrow money against crops; slip
further into debt)
• Populists wanted to regulate railroad prices for
farmers on hauling products and machinery
• Appealed to “common man” – working class in
the Northeast, South, and West
• Omaha Platform – unlimited coinage of sliver,
government regulated railroads/industry,
graduated income tax, election reforms
34. • Green Backs – paper money
• Printing more paper money would ease the
farmers’ burdens of raising prices
• Free Silver Policy – base the U.S. dollar on
silver and gold
• Populists believed this would pump money into the
nation’s economy and ease financial pressure on
farmers.
35. • Election of 1896
• Economic depression
• President Cleveland seemed vulnerable
• Free sliver became major issue
• William Jennings Bryan
• Democratic Party nomination
• Backed means to spur inflation and raise prices of
for farmers
• Populist Party backed Bryan
• Could not overcome a split in Democratic party
• Republican Party candidate William McKinley
won election
