western expantion

  • Empresarios

    In efforts to attract American settlers and trade to Texas during the 1820s
  • Erie Canal

    The first canal project of the 1820s, the 363-mile Erie Canal was completed in 1825, connecting Buffalo, New York, on the Great Lakes, with Albany, on the Hudson River.
  • Mission

    The mission was the main tool in Spanish and Mexican colonization of the Far West.
  • Indian Removal Act

    The Indian Removal Act, passed in 1830, granted President Andrew Jackson funds and authority to remove the Indians by force if necessary
  • alamo

    During the Texas Rebellion, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's Mexican force of 4,000 troops laid siege to the town of San Antonio,
  • Manifest Destiny

    Journalist John L. O'Sullivan coined the phrase "Manifest Destiny" in 1845. He wrote of "our manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of our continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty."
  • donner party

    The exploits of the Donner Party exemplified the difficulties of the overland journey to the Far West.
  • compromise of 1850

    The Compromise of 1850 was a major effort at quieting sectional conflict in pre-Civil War American politics.
  • Dawes Severalty Act

    Passed in 1887, the Dawes Act called for the breakup of the reservations and the treatment of Indians as individuals rather than tribes.
  • ghost dance

    The Ghost Dance was seen as the final attempt of the Plains Indians to maintain their culture and land.