People in the SW
This President was faced with the decision on how to deal with Texas and deferred to Congress, which did not want to annex Texas because the issue of slavery in the West was too controversial. He's also on the $20 bill.
President Andrew Jackson
A gold-seeker who moved to California during the gold rush in or around 1849; also the name of a NFL team
forty-niners
Spanish mission in San Antonio, Texas, that was the site of a famous battle of the Texas Revolution in 1836
the Alamo
After this war, a flood of Americans moved to the Southwest
Mexican-American War
On the afternoon of April 21, 1836, while Mexican troops were resting, Houston launched a surprise attack. The Texan forces swarmed over the camp, shouting this ...
REMEMBER THE ALAMO!
American colonizer in Texas, he was imprisoned for urging Texas statehood after Santa Anna suspended Mexico’s constitution. After helping Texas win independence from Mexico, he became secretary of state for the Texas Republic. Capital of Texas is named after him.
Stephen F. Austin
In January 1848, Sutter sent a carpenter named James Marshall to build one of these beside a nearby river and he found gold.
a word that starts with a "P" ... to search for gold
prospect
A revolt against Mexico by American settlers in California who declared the territory an independent republic
the Bear Flag Revolt
“Fifty-four forty or fight!” referred to a disagreement with this country over our border with Canada.
Great Britain
Eleventh president of the United States, he settled the Oregon boundary with Great Britain and successfully conducted the Mexican-American War.
James K. Polk
American pioneer who built a Fort and named it after himself - it was a trading post on the California frontier; gold was discovered, leading to the California gold rush.
Swiss immigrant John Sutter
“California banknotes.” Hides from this animal were traded for household items and luxury goods from the eastern United States.
cows
U.S. acquired land from Mexico that included the southern parts of present-day Arizona and New Mexico
the Gadsden Purchase
A group of western travelers who were stranded in the Sierra Nevada during the winter of 1846–47; only 45 of the party’s 87 members survived
the Donner Party
Mexican cowboys in the West who tended cattle and horses
Vaqueros
On the Oregon Trail, at this river, in present-day Idaho, the trail split to California.
The Snake River
This path ran through the Sierra Nevada mountain range. American emigrants and traders tried to cross these mountains before the season’s first snows.
California Trail
The final battle of the Texas Revolution; resulted in the defeat of the Mexican army and independence for Texas
the Battle of San Jacinto
Mexican general and politician, he was president of Mexico and became a dictator. He fought in the Texas Revolution and seized the Alamo but was defeated and captured by Sam Houston at San Jacinto.
General Antonio López de Santa Anna
(or just SANTA ANNA)
1-word name for agents who were contracted by the Mexican republic to bring settlers to Texas in the early l800s
empresarios
A person who mines for gold by using pans or other devices to wash gold nuggets out of loose rock and gravel
Placer miners
A belief shared by many Americans in the mid-1800s that the United States should expand across the continent to the Pacific Ocean
manifest destiny
This treaty ended the Mexican-American War and gave the United States much of Mexico’s northern territory
the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Mexican priest and revolutionist, he led a rebellion of about 80,000 impoverished Indians and mestizos against Spain in the hope of improving living conditions; though defeated, the rebellion eventually grew and helped lead to Mexican independence.
Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla