Unit 5 part I the westward movement

In 1800 the western boundary of the United States was the Mississippi River. Beyond its wide and muddy waters there were great areas of land through which few white people had traveled. The land stretched west for more than 600 miles to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and was known at the time as Louisiana.

In 1800 Louisiana Territory belonged to France. Americans feared that Napoleon, who was the ruler of France, might send French soldiers and settlers to Louisiana and so block the further westward growth of the United States. Then the Americans were very lucky, as in 1803 Napoleon was about to go to war with Britain and needed money. For fifteen million dollars he sold Louisiana to the United States. “We have lived long but this is the noblest work of our whole lives,” said one of the American representatives who signed the agreement. Louisiana stretched north from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border and west from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains. Its purchase almost doubled the land area of the United States.

The Louisiana Purchase was authorized by President Thomas Jefferson, who was a keen amateur scientist and sent an expedition to explore Louisiana. Jefferson wanted to know more about the geography, people, animals and plants of the lands to the west of the United States, he also hoped that the explorers might find an easy way to cross North America to the Pacific Ocean. The expedition of 1804 to 1806 was led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. It gave people in the United States their first information about the Louisiana Territory. The expedition traveled almost 4000 miles, and though they failed to find an easy overland route to the Pacific they showed that the journey was possible.

Soon other Americans were exploring and settling lands in the West. Moving across the Mississippi River into the huge area of the West presented exciting challenges and new problems to Americans who moved into the lands west of the Mississippi River for the same reason that they had always moved west—for cheap and plentiful land. Large numbers of settlers started farms in Iowa, Arkansas, and Missouri in the 1820s and 1830s. By the 1840s much of the Mississippi River Valley was settled, and interest began to grow in lands farther west.

Oregon was one of the areas in the West which attracted Americans. This territory stretched from Alaska in the north to California in the south and inland through the Rocky Mountains to undefined borders of Louisiana. In the early 1800s, Oregon was claimed by four different countries – Great Britain, the United States, Russia, and Spain. Russia owned Alaska, and Spain ruled California. But in Oregon the British and the Americans were in the strongest position. Both already had trading posts scattered along Oregon’s coasts and rivers. Soon American political leaders began to fear that Britain would gain complete control of the area. To prevent this they made great efforts to persuade more Americans to start farms in Oregon.

At first Americans traveling to Oregon went by ship. They sailed from the east coast ports of the United States, around South America and up the long Pacific Coast. The journey was expensive and it lasted for months. Settlers began traveling to Oregon by land in 1832. They usually started their journey from Independence, Missouri, a town on the Mississippi River, to Oregon. Large wagon trains were making the 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) journey. The overland route became known as the Oregon Trail. A wagon train usually consisted of about twenty-five wagons, each wagon could carry a load of 2 – 2,5 tons and was pulled by a team of either mules or oxen. The journey took from four to six months. The people who made it faced many dangers along the trail. Floods and blizzards, prairie fires and accidents, disease and starvation – all these took many lives. Indians sometimes attacked, trying to stop the settlers moving through their lands. Snow was a danger once the wagon trains reached the Rocky Mountains. Often wagon wheels broke or metal tires fell off from the changes in temperatures. Despite the hardships, “Oregon fever” gripped many Americans in 1840s. People left their worn-out farms in the east, packed their possessions on wagons and set off for the west. Though all of them settled south of the Columbia River, but they far outnumbered British people in the area. In 1843, they set up a temporary government. These settlers wanted the United States to stop sharing control of the area with Great Britain.

In 1845 a magazine editor first used the term “manifest destiny”. He wrote that it was the manifest destiny, or certain fate, of the United States to stretch from ocean to ocean. Many people in all parts of the country agreed with him.

Texas interested the people in the United States chiefly because of its rich soil. In the early 1800's southern cotton growers had begun migrating west from Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. The soil in these states had become worn out. The farmers looked for better land in the Gulf regions. Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama became important cotton-growing states. In the 1820s, planters were looking to Texas as a real source of rich land on which to grow cotton, using slave labor. By the early 1830s, there were 30,000 settlers from the United States living in Texas. Most were from the South, and many owned slaves. Slavery and other troubles soon led to quarrels between the Americans in Texas and the Mexican government. Mexico had ended slavery and objected to the holding of slaves by Americans living in Texas. At the same time, Mexicans began to wonder whether loyalty of the Texas settlers was to the United States or to Mexico. They tried to stop more Americans from entering Texas.

In October 1835 the Texan Americans, or Texans, rebelled. On March 2, 1836, they declared their independence. Sam Houston was placed in charge of the army. On April 21, 1836, Texas troops under his command won a victory that ended the war. They attacked and defeated the larger Mexican army near the San Jacinto River. Texans set up their own government like that of the United States and chose Sam Houston as their first president.

Many Americans expected that Texas would be annexed, or added, to the United States after winning its independence. Over the next several years, however, the American government avoided the issue. They feared war with Mexico since Mexico had not recognized the independence of Texas. They also did not want to stir up trouble over slavery.

In the election of 1844, James K. Polk became President of the United States. During the campaign, he had called for the annexation of both Texas and Oregon. Since most people living in Texas were Americans, they wanted Texas to be a part of the United States. On March 1, 1845 Texas became a state.

President Polk sent an agent to Mexico to talk about the border dispute and to try to buy California and New Mexico. When Polk heard that Mexican officials would not meet with this agent, he sent the troops to the north bank of the Rio Grande. Mexico saw this as an invasion of its land. On May 13, 1846, Congress declared war on Mexico. As the war went on, some Americans began to demand more territory. A few even wanted to annex all of Mexico. Most Americans at least wanted to get California and New Mexico. The government also wanted Mexico to agree that Texas was part of the United States. American soldiers invaded Mexico and defeated the Mexican army. By September 1847 they had occupied Mexico City, the capital of the country.

The Mexican-American War was ended by a peace treaty signed in February 1848. The United States paid Mexico $15 million for all the land north of the Rio Grande and the Gila River. Today these lands form the American states of California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. Several years later the United States found that the best southern railroad route to the Pacific coast was south of the Gila River. In 1853 the United States paid Mexico $10 million for the strip of land that now forms the southern part of Arizona and New Mexico.

Including Texas, the United States had gained a huge area of over 1 million square miles. It had good soil, many natural resources, and ports on the coast of California. The annexation of Mexican lands completed the “manifest destiny” of the United States. It now stretched across the North American continent from ocean to ocean. In little more than half a century it had grown from a small nation on the shores of the Atlantic into one of the largest countries on the world.

DISCUSSION

1. What nation did Louisiana belong to in1800? How far did this territory stretch?

2. Why did Americans dislike the presence of the French in North America?

3. How can you comment on the quotation: “We have lived long but this is the noblest work of our whole lives”?

4. Why did American president send an expedition of Lewis and Clark to Louisiana?

5. How far did the territory of Oregon stretch? Why did it attract American settlers?

6. How did American farmers travel to Oregon? What dangers were they exposed to during the journey?

7. What does the term “manifest destiny” mean? When did the idea of “manifest destiny” become popular in the United States?

8. Why was Texas so attractive for Americans?

9. Why did Texans rebel against Mexican rule?

10. What territories were annexed to the United States after the Mexican-American war?

GUIDED TALK

Make short reports on these topics. Use the words given below.

1. Louisiana Purchase. Lewis and Clark expedition

to stretch west, to block the growth, to sign an agreement, to double the area, to be authorized, to send an expedition, to lead an expedition, to find an overland route

2. “Oregon Fever”

to present an exciting challenge, to start a farm, to be claimed by smb., a trading post, to gain complete control of the area, a wagon train, to be pulled by a team of mules or oxen, to face many dangers, despite the hardships, a worn-out farm, to set off for the west

3. Texas rebellion

manifest destiny, worn-out soil, a source of rich land, slave labor, to rebel, to declare independence, to win a victory, to set up the government, to win independence

4. The Mexican-American war

to be annexed, to avoid the issue, invasion, to declare war on smth./ smb., to occupy the capital, to sign a peace treaty