 Today you need your spiral, colored pencils, writing utensil, and scissors.  Instructions: 1. Take a copy and a piece of tape. This paper will be a part of #? that you started on Friday. After trimming the edges (1/2 inch of each side), tape this into your spiral— with the notes side facing forward. 2. Clear your desk of everything except your spiral and writing utensil. 3. Be prepared to start when the bell rings.

Texas Independence & Annexation (1845) The Mexican War ( ) Westward Expansion 1. Earlier Efforts (1820s- 1840s) 2. Oregon (1846) 3. Gold! (1849) 4. Gadsden Purchase 1853) 5. Etc. Homestead Act (1862)

 U.S. waits to annex Texas because of slavery issue & to avoid war with Mexico  The Democrats and Expansion— Polk elected  U.S. agrees to annex Texas in 1845  Causes of the U.S.-Mexican War 1. Manifest Destiny 2. Texas/Mexico border dispute  U.S. claims Rio Grande River  Mexico claims Nueces River

 “Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon American soil. She has proclaimed that hostilities have commenced and that the two nations are now at war.”

 Zachary Taylor advances from Nueces River to Rio Grande Americans killed by Mexican forces on March 8  U.S. declared war Americans died, 4000 Mexicans (mostly from disease)  Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (July 4, 1848) 1. Mexico ceded CA, AZ & NM to the USA 2. US paid Mexico $15 million aculty/vwhansd/his121/images/ MexicanWar_map.gif

 Legacies 1. US increased by 1/3 in size 2. Prepared soldiers for Civil War 3. Issue of slavery became controversial once again, led to Civil War 4. Often a claim that war was an example of US aggression 5. President Zachary Taylor encouraged the newly acquired land to become states, so slavery could be decided by the people of the states presidents/zacharytaylor

 Earlier efforts 1. Explorers (Lewis & Clark, Pike) 2. Trappers 3. Mountain Men (Jed Smith) 4. Surveyors/Scouts (John C. Fremont) 5. Mormons ( , largest single migration in U.S. history) /text/maps/mormon_trail_1.gif

 Oregon 1. Joint occupation with British 2. The Oregon Trail, use Conestoga wagons 3. British relinquish all territorial claims in 1846 View along the North Platte River on the Oregon Trail

 Gold! 1. Discovered in 1848 on the American River 2. In 1849, 30,000 would be miners set out overland from Missouri to CA 3. Another 25,000 made it by sea (including 300 from China) 4. Few became rich (merchants were the exception in some cases), but the hundreds of thousands pushed CA towards statehood 5. California’s proximity to Pacific Ocean led to an increase of immigration from Asian nations e%20stamp/images/CA-Gold-Rush_jpg.jpg

 Gadsden Purchase 1. Bought from Mexico for 10 million, concerning the train transport of goods from East to West (due to Rocky Mountains)  Etc. 1. Mail routes/Pony Express ( ) 2. Transcontinental Railroad (1869) es/gadsden-purchase-map.jpg ress/smallponyexpresssign.jpg

 “Free Land”  160 acres of public domain free to any settler who lived on the land and improved it for at least 5 years  Settler could purchase the land for $1.25 per acre after 6 months’ residence  605 million acres available  Land given to male heads of households and single or widowed women  Only 10% of western settlers (400,000) received their land under this act  Speculation more profitable than farming stead-act/images/homestead-certificate.jpg