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#Westward Expansion
#Westward Expansion
57 entries
People
(13)
Black Hawk
Sauk leader whose 1832 return to Illinois became the last armed Native resistance east of the Mississippi
Brigham Young
Mormon prophet and colonizer who led 70,000 people into the desert and built a civilization
Chief Joseph
Nez Perce leader whose 1877 flight became a symbol of Native resistance
Crazy Horse
The Lakota war leader who defended the Plains and never surrendered to the reservation
Geronimo
The Apache leader whose final surrender in 1886 ended the last armed Native resistance in the American Southwest
James K. Polk
11th President of the United States and the architect of continental expansion
John C. Frémont
The Pathfinder of the West whose maps drew settlers into California and Oregon
John Muir
Naturalist, Writer, and Father of the American Conservation Movement
John Wesley Powell
The one-armed Civil War veteran who ran the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon
Sacagawea
Shoshone guide and interpreter whose knowledge made the Corps of Discovery possible
Sam Houston
President of Texas, U.S. Senator, and the man who refused to take the Confederacy's oath
Sitting Bull
Hunkpapa Lakota chief who united the Plains nations against American expansion
Zebulon Pike
The Army officer who explored the southern Louisiana Purchase and never climbed Pikes Peak
Places
(17)
Alaska
Seward's Icebox — America's largest and most remote state
California
The state that absorbed the Gold Rush, built Hollywood, and became America's largest economy
Cherokee Nation
The sovereign nation reconstituted in Indian Territory after the Trail of Tears
Erie Canal
The 363-mile engineering marvel that connected the Atlantic to the Great Lakes and made New York supreme
Hawaii
America's fiftieth state — a Pacific kingdom annexed, attacked, and transformed
Hawaii Territory
The Pacific kingdom annexed after a planter-led coup against Queen Liliuokalani
Little Bighorn
The Montana battlefield where Lakota and Cheyenne warriors defeated the 7th Cavalry
Mississippi River
The continent's central artery — highway, boundary, and the most mythologized river in American history
Navajo Nation
The largest Indian reservation in the United States, spanning 27,000 square miles across the Four Corners
Northwest Territory
The Ohio Valley land first organized under the Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Oregon Territory
The Pacific Northwest land secured by treaty with Britain in 1846
Promontory Summit
The Utah meeting point where two railroads joined and a continent was crossed
Rocky Mountains
The 3,000-mile cordillera that defined the western frontier and the Continental Divide
St. Louis
Gateway to the West and crossroads of American expansion
Texas
Republic, Confederate state, and the empire that shaped American identity
The Black Hills
The mountains the Supreme Court said were taken illegally — and that the Lakota have refused to sell back
Yellowstone National Park
The world's first national park, established 1872
Eras
(1)
Early Republic
The 28 years that turned a coastal experiment into a continental power, 1800–1828
Events
(16)
Battle of the Alamo
The 13-day siege that became a Texan rallying cry
Bleeding Kansas
The violent territorial struggle that previewed the Civil War
California Gold Rush
The 1848–1855 mass migration that transformed California and accelerated the sectional crisis
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The 1804–1806 Corps of Discovery that mapped the American West to the Pacific
Louisiana Purchase
The 1803 land acquisition that doubled the size of the United States
Mexican-American War
The 1846–1848 war of conquest that gave the United States half a continent — and a crisis
Oregon Trail
The 2,000-mile overland route that carried 400,000 settlers to the American West, 1840–1869
Sand Creek Massacre
The Slaughter of a Cheyenne and Arapaho Village Under a Flag of Truce, November 1864
The Adams-Onís Treaty
The 1819 treaty that gave the United States Florida and a line to the Pacific
The Alamo
The 1836 siege that became the defining myth of Texas independence
The Gadsden Purchase
The 1854 land deal that finished the map of the lower 48
The Texas Revolution
How American settlers broke Texas away from Mexico
Trail of Tears
The forced relocation of Native nations from the American Southeast, 1830–1850
Transcontinental Railroad
The 1869 rail line that stitched the continent together — and transformed everything it touched
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The 1848 peace that gave the United States a third of a continent — and intensified the slavery crisis
Wounded Knee Massacre
The 1890 killing of at least 250 Lakota men, women, and children that ended the Indian Wars
Documents
(5)
Dawes Act
The 1887 Law That Dismantled Native American Tribal Land
Homestead Act
The 1862 law that gave 160 acres to settlers and reshaped the American interior
Indian Removal Act
The 1830 law that authorized the forced relocation of Indigenous peoples east of the Mississippi
Northwest Ordinance
The 1787 law that established the framework for American territorial expansion
Pacific Railway Act
The 1862 legislation that authorized the transcontinental railroad and opened the continent
Concepts
(5)
American Imperialism
The expansion of U.S. power, territory, and influence beyond its continental borders
Manifest Destiny
The 19th-century belief that American expansion across the continent was fated and righteous
Mormonism
The only major religion born in America — and the only one expelled from multiple states at gunpoint
The Frontier Thesis
The argument that the American frontier made America — and what happened when it closed
Westward Expansion
The century-long process by which the United States spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific
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