Westward Expansion Timeline

  • 1859 BCE

    Oregon Territory

    Oregon Territory
  • 1815 BCE

    War of 1812

    War of 1812
  • Northwest Ordinance of 1787

    Northwest Ordinance of 1787
    The Northwest Ordinance (formally An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio, and also known as the Freedom Ordinance or The Ordinance of 1787) was an act of the Congress of the Confederation of the United States (the Confederation Congress), passed July 13, 1787.
  • Louisiana Puchase

    Louisiana Puchase
    The Louisiana Purchase (1803) was a land deal between the United States and France, in which the U.S. acquired approximately 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million.
  • Lewis and Clark Expedition

    Lewis and Clark Expedition
  • Period: to

    Eerie Canal

  • Purchase of Florida from Spain

    Purchase of Florida from Spain
  • Missouri Compromise

    Missouri  Compromise
    The Missouri Compromise was an effort by Congress to defuse the sectional and political rivalries triggered by the request of Missouri late in 1819 for admission as a state in which slavery would be permitted.
  • Indian Removal Act

  • Mormon Movement

    Mormon Movement
  • Period: to

    Annexation of Texas

  • Period: to

    Trail of Tears

  • Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

    Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
  • Gadsden Purchase

    Gadsden Purchase
    The Gadsden Purchase is a 29,670-square-mile region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that was purchased by the United States in a treaty signed on December 30, 1853.
  • Kansas-Nebraska Act

    Kansas-Nebraska Act
    The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by the U.S. Congress on May 30, 1854. It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders.
  • California Gold Rush

    California Gold Rush
  • Homestead Act

    Homestead Act
    Signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862, the Homestead Act encouraged Western migration by providing settlers 160 acres of public land.
  • Transcontinental Railroad

    Transcontinental Railroad
  • The Dawes Act

    The Dawes Act
  • Spanish American War

    Spanish American War