History of America TRAVELING THE SANTA FE TRAIL Written by Linda Thompson Rourke Educational Media rourkeeducationalmedia com Scan for Related Titles and Teacher Resources
Chapter 1 Trade Routes From Sea to Shining Sea Only 20 years after it became independent the United States gained a region that doubled the country’s size And barely 50 years later it reached across immense plains and towering mountain ranges to touch the Pacific Ocean How it grew so fast in such a short time is still an amazing tale One thing that promoted this growth was the strong desire of people to trade with each other When the year 1803 began the United States of America had only 17 states and one large territory surrounding the Great Lakes Most of the five and a half million Americans lived along the eastern edge of a huge undeveloped continent Georgia was the southernmost state and the western border of the country was the Mississippi River But by the end of 1803 President Thomas Jefferson had purchased the vast and unknown Louisiana GADSDEN PURCHASE 1853 OCEAN PACIFIC OREGON TERRITORY 1846 CEDED BY MEXICO 1848 4 4
Territory More land was quickly acquired In 1846 defining the boundary with Canada made the Pacific Northwest part of the United States By 1848 the country had added Florida and California as well as Texas and the Southwest In 1853 with the Gadsden Purchase which included southern Arizona and New Mexico the continental United States looked as it does today in size and shape not counting Alaska In less than 100 years the shape of the continental United States had expanded from the Atlantic Ocean across mountains and plains to the Pacific Ocean ESTABLISHED 1818 LOUISIANA PURCHASE 1803 TEXAS ANNEXED 1845 UNITED STATES PRIOR TO 1803 OCEAN ATLANTIC CEDED BY SPAIN 1819 55
