APUSH Unit 5

• Manifest Destiny


  The idea that it was America's destiny to conquer and civilize the entire continent all the way to the Pacific Ocean
• Manifest Destiny was heavily built upon a belief of white superiority
• Examples of American expansion


  • 1846 treaty establishing U.S. occupation of Oregon country
  • Texas annexed in 1845
  • Mexican-American War ending in 1848 with Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
• New territories brought into the Union forced the issue of slavery into the center of national politics
• Attempts to compromise and avoid the issue of slavery were inevitable and led to a rise in sectionalism
• Western expansion


  • Mormons seeking religious refuge settled in Utah Territory in 1847
  • California Gold Rush in 1848 brought many people to the area
• New economic opportunities and religious refuge in the West were a key factor in bringing people, not just white Americans, but also African Americans and Asian immigrants
• Federal government promoting economic development and movement West


  • Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 authorized building of Transcontinental Railroad
  • Federal government provided money and land subsidies to railroad companies
• Mining booms in the West

  • California Gold Rush
  • Comstock Lode in Nevada
• Movement of people to the trans-Mississippi West to start farms


  • Homestead Act of 1862 offered public land up to 160 acres to anyone who farmed the land for 5 years
• Western expansion


  Dramatic environmental impact and changes, including decline of the Buffalo population
• Removal of grass to develop homesteads on the Great Plains led to soil erosion and land degradation
• Expansion of the US

  Conflict with Native Americans
• Conflicts with Native Americans


  • Sand Creek Massacre in 1864
  • Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876
• Native Americans were expected to assimilate into white society or forced onto reservations
• Hispanic residents of California were guaranteed property and citizenship rights under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, but those rights were often not respected
• US interest in expanding trade led to economic, diplomatic, and cultural initiatives westward to Asia


  • Clipper ships allowed faster travel and boosted US trade with Asia
  • Treaty in 1844 was the first diplomatic agreement between the US and China to promote trade
  • Missionaries from the US went to China and Japan to spread Christianity