Lecture 3: Territorial Growth of the USA PDF

Third Year’s Civilization Group: 6 Lecture 3: Territorial Growth of the USA 1. The United States after the Treaty of Paris The Treaty of Paris granted the USA all of North America from Canada in the north to Florida in the...

Third Year’s Civilization Group: 6 Lecture 3: Territorial Growth of the USA 1. The United States after the Treaty of Paris The Treaty of Paris granted the USA all of North America from Canada in the north to Florida in the south, and from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River. After 1783 more and more people set off for the new territories between Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. They journeyed across the mountains to make new farms and settlement out of the wilderness. The federal government divided this territory into two. The area south of the Ohio River was called the Southwest territory and that to the north the Northwest Territory. As the number of people increased each of these big territories was divided into smaller ones. In 1787 the government introduced the Northwest Ordinance according to which the territory whose population increased 60 000, became a new state, with the same rights and powers as the original thirteen states. The importance of the Northwest Ordinance is that it made sure that original 13 states were not able to control for their own benefit lands that were settled later. 2. The Indian Removal Act Amerindians who had already lived on the Northwest and Southwest territories saw the settlers as thieves who had come to steal their hunting grounds. They made fierce attacks on the newcomers’ farms. The settlers struck back, sometimes destroying entire Amerindian villages. The new government of the United States tried at first to keep the peace by making treaties with the Amerindians. But the government soon changed its policy. President James Monroe believed that there is only one way for the Amerindians to survive. They must be moved from lands that white settlers wanted to other lands, further to west. In 1830 the United States government passed a law called the Indian Removal Act to put this new policy into practice. The law said that all Indians living east of the Mississippi River would be moved west to a place called Indian Territory. 3. “The Trail of Tears” The Cherokees were an Amerindian people who suffered greatly from the Indian Removal policy. By the early 19th century the Cherokees had changed themselves from a stone age tribe into a civilized community. Many of them owned large farms and lived in European-style houses built of brick. They had become Christians and attended church and sent their children to school. They had a written language and published their own newspaper in both Cherokee and English. They even wrote for themselves a Constitution modeled on that of the United States. None of this saved the Cherokees. In the 1830s Congress declared that their lands belonged to the state of Georgia and they were divided up for sale to white settlers. The Cherokees were driven from their homes and forced to march hundreds of miles to what is now the state of Oklahoma. In 1838, in cold winter weather American soldiers gathered thousands of Cherokee men, women and children, and drove them west. The nightmare journey lasted almost five months. By the time it was over, 4 000 of Amerindians – a quarter of the whole Cherokee nation – were dead. This episode came to be called “The Trail of Tears”. 4. Oregon Trail In 1803 the US government purchased Louisiana from France. The lands beyond Louisiana were known as Oregon. In 1805 four countries claimed to own Oregon – Russia, Spain, Britain and the United States. By the 1830s the British had more settlements in Oregon than the Americans. American political leaders began to fear that Britain would control the area. To prevent this they made great efforts to persuade more Americans to start farms in Oregon. At first Americans travelling to Oregon went by ship. The journey was expensive and lasted for months. Settlers began travelling to Oregon by land in 1832. This overland route was called the Oregon Trail. In 7 1843 “Oregon Fever” came to many parts of the United States. People left their farms, packed their possessions on wagons and set off for the West. 5. “Manifest destiny” American settlers soon outnumbered the British in Oregon. American newspapers and political leaders began to express an idea called “manifest destiny”. This was a claim that it was the clear (“manifest”) intention of fate (“destiny”) that the territory of the United States should stretch across North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Supporters of manifest destiny demanded that the United States should take the whole Oregon. For a time war with Britain seemed possible. But by the summer of 1846 the US was at war with Mexico. President James Polk agreed to divide Oregon with Britain in two almost equal sections. 6. The Mexican-American War Thousands of Americans settled in Texas that was ruled by Mexico. The Texas Americans, or Texans, came to dislike Mexican rule. In October 1835, they rebelled and defeated Mexican army in1836. As a result they made Texas an independent republic. Most of Texans, however, wanted their country to join the United States. Eventually the two countries reached an agreement about this and in 1845 Texas became part of the United States. In April 1846, there was fighting between American and Mexican soldiers along the border between Mexico and Texas. President James Polk saw an opportunity to take land from Mexico and he declared war. Americans invaded Mexico and in September 1847, they had occupied Mexico City, the country’s capital. The war was ended by a peace treaty signed in February 1848. The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo forced Mexico to hand over28 enormous stretches of its territory to the United States. Today these lands form the American states of California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado. The annexation of these Mexican lands completed the “manifest destiny” of the United States. It now stretched across the North American continent from ocean to ocean. 7. Alaska Purchase Alaska was governed by Russian-American Company. Russian government thought it was too far away and not worthy to keep any longer. Alaska was also meant to be the territory dividing Russia from British Canada. It was sold to the United States in 1867 for 7.2 mln dollars. The U.S. Senate approved the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million at two cents per acre, about five cents per hectare 8