The document summarizes Western expansion in the mid-19th century United States. It discusses key events like the annexation of Texas, Oregon Territory, and Mexican Cession that expanded U.S. territory westward. It also describes cultural clashes as European, Mexican, African American, Chinese, and Native American groups interacted in the expanding West. Ranching, farming, mining, and the transcontinental railroad transformed the economy and society of the Western territories during this period of rapid growth and conflict. Farmers organized cooperatives and the Populist movement in response to economic difficulties in the late 1800s.

1. WESTERN EXPANSION
CHAPTER 2

2. •Take sheet from
chair and start
on bellwork/task
focus.

3. 2.1 TERRITORIAL
EXPANSION

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

10. 2.2 CULTURAL
CLASHES

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

21. NATIVE AMERICAN RESERVATIONS

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.

27. 2.3 RAILROADS, FARMING,
AND THE RISE OF POPULISM

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