Key Figures
This U.S. President is often associated with the phrase "Manifest Destiny" and was responsible for the annexation of Texas.
What is the James K Polk
This deal in 1803 doubled the size of land in America
What is the Louisiana Purchase
This conflict between settlers and Native Americans in 1830 led to the forced relocation of tribes.
What is the Indian Removal Act
This invention revolutionized farming by making it easier to plow tough prairie soil.
What is the steel plow?
Travelers heading west to California during the Gold Rush were known as these. (Hint think sports)
What are the Forty Niners
This frontiersman and folk hero famously fought in the Battle of the Alamo and later became a congressman.
Who is Davy Crockett?
This 1848 treaty ended the Mexican-American War and added lots of land to the western part of the U.S.
what is the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo?
The expansion westward greatly increased tensions over this issue, eventually leading to the Civil War.
What is Slavery?
This method of fast, coast-to-coast communication used riders and horses before the telegraph. (Hint think of horses)
What is the Pony Express
This famous trail was so significant it became the name of a classic educational computer game.
WHat is the Oregon Trail?
This person is often remembered for coining the term "Manifest Destiny"
Who is John Louis O'Sullivan
This 1846 compromise with Britain established the northern boundary of the Oregon Territory at the 49th parallel.
The Oregon Treaty
This act gave settlers 160 acres of free land if they farmed it for five years.
WHat is the Homestead act?
This 1869 project connected the East and West coasts, making travel and trade faster.
What is the transcontinental railroad?
Known as a method for finding gold, miners often did this.
What is Panning?
This person put together the Lewis and clark Expedition
Who is Thomas Jefferson
This territory, annexed in 1845, was an independent republic for nearly a decade.
What is Texas
This trail of forced Native American relocation led to thousands of deaths in the 1830s.
What is the Trail of Tears?
This innovation allowed settlers to pump water from underground for farming.
What is the Windmill?
This Sioux leader led his people during the Battle of Little Bighorn
Who is Sitting Bull?
This man’s 1849 gold discovery in California triggered the Gold Rush and changed the course of American history.
Who is James W. Marshall?
Gold was discovered in 1848 at this mill in California, starting the Gold Rush.
What is Sutter's Mill
The idea that Settlers had the god given right to land out west
What is manifest destiny
These large wagons, often called “prairie schooners,” were essential for pioneers traveling west.
What are covered wagons?
This American frontiersman and showman became a legend for his Wild West performances.
Who is Buffalo Bill?