CHAPTER 1 WESTWARD EXPANSION When the United States declared its independence in 1776 the new nation was made up of 13 states However many US leaders wanted the country to expand westward In 1803 the nation doubled in size due to the Louisiana Purchase This vast territory stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains In 1846 the United States gained the Oregon Territory This piece of land was in the Northwest A group of riders get their first view of the Sierra Nevada range as they head west in the 1800s 5
Settlers built new towns in the western territories It stretched to the Pacific Ocean After winning the Mexican American War 1846 1848 the United States also gained a huge piece of land in the Southwest These western regions became known as the American frontier Families traveled to the American frontier with hopes of a better life Farmers made the journey for fertile land Prospectors went in search of silver and gold Black people sought freedom and safety after the US Civil War 1861 1865 6
However traveling to the frontier wasn’t easy Some families made the journey over difficult terrain Others sailed around the southern tip of South America Immigrants sailed across oceans American Indian and Hispanic families already lived in the West when US settlers arrived Large numbers of settlers forced these groups of people off their homelands In the process they threatened the cultural traditions of the American Indian and Hispanic peoples Westward expansion was a time of massive change in the United States And children were there to experience it all THINK ABOUT IT The journey to the West was long and dangerous Why do you think people risked their lives to move there 7
