Chapter 11: Expanding WestEssential Question: How did westward expansion transform the nation?

Section 1: Trails to the

WestIn the early 1800s, Americans moved

west into new territory.

❖ the “high hat” caused the rush west.

❖ demand for beaver fur in the U.S. and Europe.

❖ gradually killed off the beaver pop.

❖ Most who traveled to the Rockies and the Pacific Northwest were fur traders and trappers.

Beaver pelt “high hat”

American Fur Company

❖ John Jacob Astor-this company bought skins from western fur traders and trappers who became known as mountain men.

These men met once a year in the mountains to trade and sell their furs to fur-company agents.

❖ 1811 Astor founded a trading post called Astoria, at the mouth of the columbia river.

❖ One of the first American settlements in Oregon Country.❖ U.S. entered into treaties with Spain and Russia to claim the

region jointly with Britain.

1840s

❖ The fur trade in the Pacific Northwest was drawing to a close.

❖ demand for furs had fallen because the fashions had changed.

❖ Some mtn men gave up the trade and returned east.

❖ Their stories and the treaties made by the U.S. influenced many other Americans to move West.

The Oregon Trail

❖ 2,000-miles-long-stretched from places such as Independence, Missouri, or Council Bluffs, Iowa, west into Oregon Country.

❖ Usually began after the rainy season in late spring and lasted about 6 months.

❖ Pioneers faced shortages of food, supplies, and water on the trail; rough weather, geographic barriers (rivers and mtns.), forced large #’s to abandon their wagons.

the Trail

Western Trails Scrapbooks

1. Students will work in groups of three to create a scrapbook that combines primary source accounts and images to illustrate recurring themes as well as unique aspects of life on the western trails.

2. You will use the library or other resources to locate letters, diaries, journals, and images about life on the Oregon, California, and Santa Fe trails.

3. Remember to focus on recurring themes, problems, attitudes, and moods found in the entries as well as factors that varied along the trail.

Scrapbook examples.

The Santa Fe Trail❖Another important path west. ❖It led from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe, New

Mexico.

The Santa Fe Trail

American traders loaded wagon trains with cloth and other

manufactured goods to exchange for horses, mules, and silver from

Mexican traders in Santa Fe.

Mormons Travel West

❖ Searching for religious freedom.

❖ 1830 Joseph Smith founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in western New York.

❖ The members became known as Mormons.

❖ Smith told his followers that he found and translated a set of golden tablets containing religious teachings-The Book of Mormon.

❖ They were often persecuted for their beliefs; particularly in the practice of Polygamy-having more than one wife.

❖ Early 1830s they began to leave New York.

❖ Many settled in Ohio, then Missouri, and Illinois.

● These communities failed.● Smith was murdered in 1844 by

an anti-Mormon mob.● Brigham Young became the

new head of the Mormon Church.

● He moved the group to Utah; thousands of Mormons taking the Mormon trail to the area near the Great Salt Lake.

Section 2: The Texas Revolution

American Settlers Move to Texas

❖ Long unprotected border from Texas to California; caused concern for Spanish rulers.

❖ Mexican moved to overthrow Spanish rule in the early 1800s.

❖ September 1810 Father Miguel hidalgo y Costilla led a rebellion of about 80,000 poor Indians and mestizos.

Hidalgo’s revolution fails...

❖ But his rebellion would grow.

❖ 1821 Mexico became independent.

❖ 1824 it adopted a republican constitution

that declared rights for all Mexicans.

❖ the new government hired empresarios,

or agents, to bring settlers to Texas. They

paid the agents in land.

❖ 1822 Stephen F. Austin started a Texas colony on the lower Colorado River.

❖ The first 300 families because known as the Old Three Hundred.

❖ This attracted many other American settlers and agents.

Americans who settled there had to obey Mexican laws. But many did not obey and brought their slaves even though it was illegal and Mexico issued a ban of further American settlement.

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna became the leader of Mexico. He suspended the republican constitution.

Texans Revolt against Mexico

❖ October 1835 the Mexican army tried to remove a cannon from the town of Gonzales, Texas.

❖ the rebels stood next to it and their flag read, “Come and take it.”

❖ the rebels won the following battle.

❖ The Texas Revolution or the Texas War for Independence had begun.

Texas Independence

❖ March 2, 1836 Texans declared their independence from Mexico.

❖ The new Republic of Texas was born.

❖ The declaration and constitution were both modeled after U.S. documents but Texas made slavery legal.

❖ They chose David Burnet as president and Lorenzo de Zavala as vice president; Sam Houston was the head of the Texas army.

❖ Houston asked the U.S. for money and troops.

Battle of the Alamo

Texas declaring independence made Santa Anna mad. He began to assemble an army to stop the

rebellion.

Colonel William Travis had a small force that took the town of San Antonio.

They occupied the Alamo, an abandoned mission near San Antonio.

❖ Volunteers from the U.S. included Davy Crockett and Colonel Jim Bowie joined the Alamo’s defense.

❖ the fewer than 200 volunteers hiped to stall the huge Mexican army while a larger Texas army assembled.

❖ for two weeks the Texans held out.❖ March 6 the Mexican army attacked; the

Texans caused major losses but were defeated.

❖ All the defenders of the Alamo were killed.

❖ Following another battle Santa Anna ordered the execution of 350 prisoners who had surrendered.

the Battle of San Jacinto

❖ The Texans led by Sam Houston fled east.

❖ They reorganized at the San Jacinto River and took a stand.

❖ April 21, 1836 Houston’s forces attacked the Mexican camp, shouting “Remember the Alamo!”

❖ Santa Anna’s army was destroyed.

❖ In the Battle of San Jacinto Santa Anna was captured and forced to sign a treaty giving Texas its independence.

An Independent Nation

❖ Sam Houston was a hero and he was voted the president of the new independent nation of Texas.

❖ Texas offered land grants to increase population.

❖ Settlers came from nearby southern states bringing their slaves.

❖ Many hoped the U.S. would annex or take control of Texas.

❖ There were disagreements in Congress over the slave/free state issue with Texas.

❖ Texas was recognized as an independent nation.

❖ Texas organized the Texas Rangers to protect the borders and frontier from the Mexicans that did not recognize Texas’s independence.

❖ 1844 Texas and Mexico would finally sign a peace treaty.

❖ American Indians also battled Americans for property rights.

❖ Native Americans were soon outnumbered.

❖ Settlers rarely respected Indian holy places.

❖ Indians and settlers alike attacked one another to protect their interests.