Key People
Explored the west reaching the Pacific Ocean.
Who are Lewis & Clark?
The trail primarily traveled by people seeking "Manifest Destiny," better land, and to escape hardships.
What is the Louisiana Purchase?
The United States battled with this group over land in Florida.
Who are the Seminoles/What are the Seminole Wars?
The first mail carrier service connecting the eastern and western U.S. The service used relay teams.
What is the Pony Express?
Interpreter for Lewis & Clark.
Who is Sacagawea?
A trail used mostly by 49ers in search of gold.
What is The California Trail?
The land that covers modern-day Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.
What is Oregon Territory?
A law that removed Native Americans from the southeast to west of the Mississippi River.
What is the Indian Removal Act?
The Pony Express ended shortly after this invention of an electric line that sends signals for communication.
What is the telegraph?
The President during the Louisiana Purchase who sent Lewis & Clark on their expedition.
Who is Thomas Jefferson?
Trail used by a specific group looking for religious freedom.
What is The Mormon Trail?
Land "annexed" by the U.S. after Americans captured Santa Anna, the Mexican general. Sam Houston became the first President of the Republic formed by this land.
What is the Annexation of Texas, or Texas Annexation?
The difficult journey Native Americans took when they were forced to leave their land.
What is the Trail of Tears?
This law, signed by President Abraham Lincoln, funded a railroad across the west.
What is the Pacific Railroad Act?
President who signed the Pacific Railroad Act.
Who is Abraham Lincoln?
The earliest trail, used mostly for trade, moving cattle, and military.
What is The Santa Fe Trail?
The name for the land gained by the U.S. at the conclusion of the Mexican-American War in 1848.
This treaty settled a land dispute in the west between the U.S. and Great Britain.
A law allowing citizens free land in the west.
What is the Homestead Act?
The group of people who rushed to California in search of gold.
Who are the 49ers?
A 1954 agreement that settled land disputes, adding the final land to what we now know as The United States of America. This land was critical in being able to build a transcontinental railroad in the southern U.S.
What is the Gadsden Purchase?
The name given to the beginning of people traveling to California when gold was discovered.
What is The Gold Rush?
This connected the U.S. from east to west.
What is the Transcontinental Railroad?