Presidents of the Time
In the mid 1830s, he rejected Texas’ request for annexation while serving as President of the United States in order to maintain the equal balance between free and slave states in the Union
Andrew Jackson
This was the nickname given to the people who traveled from far and wide to California during the CA Gold Rush in the year 1849
Forty-Niners
He hired workers to construct a sawmill in California in 1848 when one of his workers discovered gold, which led to the California Gold Rush
John Sutter
Once a small village on the Pacific Ocean, it became the most prominent of California boomtowns during the California Gold Rush
San Francisco
After initially being rejected to join the Union, it became the 28th state to join the Union on December 29, 1845
Texas
As the 11th President of the United States, he won election in 1844, supported the annexation of Texas, and provoked the Mexican American War by sending U.S. troops to a disputed area of territory
James K. Polk
In 1846, this group of American pioneers and settlers became snowbound while traversing the Sierra Nevada along the California Trail. Their entrapment would eventually lead to cannibalism
The Donner Party
When miners began complaining about their poorly made jeans, this man jumped on an opportunity to create more durable jeans, fit for a miner
Levi Strauss
With the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, this major river was established as the border between the U.S. and Mexico
Rio Grande River
During the early to mid 1800s, this was a vast expanse of land located between Texas and California which changed hands from Spain to Mexico in 1821
New Mexico Territory
Drawn to the independent, rugged, and adventurous frontier lifestyle, they often lived deep in the wilderness and made a living as a fur trapper, and later as guides for settler parties heading westward
Mountain Men
He was an American merchant who established a large and influential fur trading company, the American Fur Company
John Jacob Astor
This city in Missouri is where the California, Oregon, and Santa Fe Trails all originated from, earning the city the nickname “Queen City of the Trails”
Independence
At the time of the California Gold Rush in the late 1840s and early 1850s, railroads only ventured as far west as this state
Missouri
The Spanish government, and then the Mexican government, awarded land grants to people known as this, who’d then recruit settlers to Texas to live on and develop the land
Empresarios
In the 1830s, he spread Christianity to Native Americans in the West, and then in 1843, he organized a massive party of emigrants to make their way to the Pacific Northwest via the Oregon Trail
Marcus Whitman
In 1848, gold was discovered in California along this river
American River
Prior to the Mexican American War, President James K. Polk made two offers to Mexico to purchase the New Mexico Territory and this other territory from them
California Territory