Westward Expansion Timeline

Overview

The Louisiana Purchase was a land deal between the United States and France where the USA aquired 15 million dollars worth of land. This allowed people to start adventuring farther west.

Overview

The Lewis and Clark Expedition was an expedition to try and find a route to the Pacific ocean and make friends with the local indians. This affected westward expansion because people kn;ew what to expecet when traveling west and they now had a map of the area.

Overview

The Oregon Trail was a 2,170 mile long trail that led to oregon and some of the other future states in the West. This affected western migration because it opened a big opportunity for settlers to travel farther west and a lot more people started to migrate west.

Overview

The Missouri Compromise is the name of the legislation passed in 1820. The Missouri Compromise was the agreement that Maine and Missouri would become states but one would be a free state and the other would be a slave state. That would keep the balance between the North and South. This affected westward expansion because slave owners were spreading slavery to non slave areas farther west.

Overview

The Indian Removal Act was a law signed by President Andrew Jackson in 1830 that allowed the president to grant unsettled land west of the Mississippi in exchage for indian lands in existing state borders. This affected westward expansion because it pushed the indians farther west and gave settlers the opportunity to travel even farther west.

Overview

The Mexican-American War was a war that occured over an event that happened in the questionable area of Texas. This affected westward expansion because it gave the United States more land west for settlers to travel to and it staerted to spread slavery farther west.

Overview

The Calfiornia Gold Rush was an event that occured in California where a lot of gold had been ddiscovered. This drew in a ton of travelers farther west because people wanted to take their chances getting rich.

Overview

The Kansas-Nebraska aact was passed in 1854 and allowed the citizens in Kansas and Nebraska to decide whether or not they wanted to have slavery. This started to spread slavery even farther west than it had been before.

Overview

The homestead act signed by Abraham Lincoln gave settlers 160 acres of public land in the west as long as they paid a small fee and they had to be residents their for 5 years to aquire ownership of the land. This brought a flood of people west for this great deal.

Overview

The transcontinental railroad was a railroad that went alll the way from east to west. This provided a way for people to travel west and brought in even more people.

Overview

The klondike gold rush was an event that occured in Canada. A person found gold and it brought in thousands of travelers trying to strike it rich by mining for gold.