Expansion of the United States SEC. 4 Bellwork #4 At the beginning of the meeting the secretary called roll reads the minutes and agenda was announced

FROM SEA to SEA  1800, the U.S. extended from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River.  1803, President Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana territory form France. With one stroke, the Louisiana Purchase virtually doubled the sized of the nation.  1850, U.S. included other territories, such as Florida, Oregon, and Texas. The Mexican War of 1846 added California and southwestern territories.

Manifest Destiny  Americans talked of their “Manifest Destiny.” The U.S. they said had a clear right to spread across the continent.  1867, U.S. bought Alaska form Russia and in 1898 annexed the Hawaiian Islands.  In the 1800s settlers flocked to newly acquired western lands. The discovery of gold in California drew floods of easterners. Still, others headed west in the spirit of adventure.

Native Americans  The waves of settlers brought tragedy to Native Americans.  Newcomers pushed the Indians off their land, sometimes by treaty, but more often by force.  1830s, the Cherokees and other Indian nations were forced to leave their homes in the southeastern United States and move west of the Mississippi.

Indians  Some Native Americans nations resisted the invaders, but they were outgunned and out numbered. As settlers moved westward, they destroyed the buffalo herds on which the Plains Indians depended.  Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce nation wearily surrendered to forces of the federal government in  He said, “Our chiefs are killed…. He who led the young men is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death…. I am tired of fighting. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.”

Expanding Democracy  1800s, The U.S. had the most liberal suffrage in the world, but still only white men who owned property could vote.  1830s, most white men had the right to vote. Democracy was far from complete, however. Women, Native Americans, and free blacks had no vote. Enslaved African Americans had no rights at all.  Calls for Abolition-1800s, a few Americans denounced slavery and demanded its abolition. Frederick Douglass, who had himself escaped slavery, spoke eloquently in the North about the evils of slavery. William Lloyd Garrison pressed the antislavery cause through his newspaper, the liberator.

Civil War and After  Economic differences, as well as the slavery issue, drove the North and South apart. The division reached a crisis in 1860 when Abraham Lincoln was elected president. Lincoln opposed extending slavery into new territories.

The Civil War  Soon after Lincoln’s election, most southern states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. This action sparked the Civil War form 1861 to 1865, the agonizing ordeal divided families as well as a nation.  The South had fewer resources, people, and industry than the North. Still, southerners fought fiercely to defend their cause. They won many early victories.

Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant  General Lee was a great Confederate leader during the Civil War. At one point under General Lee the south drove northward as far as Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In a bloody three-day battle, but the Union army turned back the southern advance for good.  Lincolns most successful general, Ulysses S. Grant used the massive resources of the North to launch a full scale offensive against the South. After devastating losses on both sides, the Confederacy finally surrendered in The struggle cost more than 600,000 lives the largest casualty figures of any American war.

Challenges for African Americans  Lincoln emancipated enslaved African Americans in the South. After the war, three amendments to the Constitution banned slavery throughout the country and granted political rights to African Americans. The fifteenth amendment allowed African American men to vote. Despite these amendments, African Americans faced many restrictions. In the South, “Jim Crow” laws imposed segregation, or legal separation of the races, in hotels, hospitals, schools and other public places.

Becoming a World Power  1900s, the U.S. was the world’s leading industrial giant.  In 1898, after the Spanish American War the United States acquired overseas territories, including the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico.  Many Americans wanted to maintain their tradition of isolationism, or limited involvement in world affairs.  1914 United states tried to stay out of the conflicts of World War I eventually U.S. is forced to take and even greater role on the World Stage.