Details

• Louisiana Purchase


  $15 million spent on most of the land to the West of the Mississippi River that was sold by the French. After this, the US Government sent out pioneer groups to explore the land - negative reports.
• Indian Removal Act


  President Jackson forcibly removed all tribal groups of Native Americans living in the east. They were resettled on the eastern fringes of the Great Plains of America.
• Missouri Compromise


  Admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a non-slave state at the same time and created the Missouri Line.
• Joseph Smith published the Book of Mormon


  He then carefully buried the golden plates again and the Mormon faith grew in New York state.
• The Mormons moved to Kirtland, Ohio


  As Smith feared for his life and prayed for guidance. He was instructed by God to move to Kirtland, Ohio. There, he aimed to set up his own city.
• The American Anti-Slavery Society was formed in the North


  It gained some support, though many northerners were concerned about the prospect of any freed slaves moving north into their own states. The society deeply alarmed the South.
• Economic Crisis


  To massive unemployment and a large drop in the price of grain. A lot of people began to feel that life out West could not be any worse than life in the East.
• The Mormons moved to Missouri


  The Mormons had already become unpopular, but after the bank collapsed they faced increasing prejudice and anger as the Mormons ran the bank in Kirtland and were blamed for the Economic Crisis there. They decided to move further west to Missouri.
• John Deere developed a heavy duty steel plough


  It could slice through heavy roots and thick prairie sod. It was so effective it became known as the sodbuster.
• Trail of Tears


  The Cherokee force-marched onto the Plains in which a third of the 15,000 marchers died during the journey.
• The Mormons moved to Nauvoo, Illinois


  Following their property being looted and destroyed as well as Smith and many other prominent Mormons were put in prison. They were only released once they promised to leave and take all of their followers with them.
• Travelling the Plains had become a fashionable thing to do


  Often, wealthy young men would attempt a grand tour of the Great Plains before settling down to their careers and marriages.
• Oregon land claim


  A farmer only had to squat on a piece of land in Oregon and cut down trees on it to win the right to buy it for a fraction of its worth.
• Year of the Great Emigration


  Around 1,000 people moved West due to economic and overcrowding issues as well as reports of good, cheap land.
• Nauvoo was large and prosperous


  There were over 35,000 Mormons by this point and as it was independent it meant that Mormons were free from persecution.
• Joseph Smith introduced polygamy to the Mormons


  After receiving another revelation from God. He said that God was insisting that Mormons practise polygamy. It didn't go down well with some Mormons who thought it immoral and savage.
• Joseph Smith was shot

  A mob attacked the jail that Joseph Smith was in.
• Manifest Destiny


  John L. O'Sullivan wrote in the Morning Post that it was "Our manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty."
• Rest stop in Iowa


  A small group of Mormons went on ahead and built a rest stop in Iowa.
• Young reached the Missouri River


  He set about building 1,000 cabins to accommodate the Mormons over the winter. By the autumn, all of the wagon trains had reached these winter quarters.
• Young selected a group to set out for the Great Salt Lake


  Where they intended to begin the construction of a new Mormon city.
• Brigham Young


  Became the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• Discovery of gold in Sacramento Valley


  James Marshall was constructing a sawmill in the area, when he saw a yellow metal shining in the water of the river. When tested, it proved to be gold.
• The California gold rush

  When the 49ers arrived to find gold.
• 55,000 per year were off to seek their fortune


  Caused by war, government incentives and improved travel.
• California had joined the United States


  It became a free state as a result.
• Fugitive Slave Act


  Declared that all states were supposed to return escaped slaves to their owners
• Indian Appropriations Act


  Which aimed to push the Native Americans into smaller more defined reservations. They would be expected to sacrifice their traditional ways of lide and settle into a single area, living through farming.
• Fort Laramie Treaty


  The US government did this to ease tensions between white settlers and indigenous peoples. It also recognised the territorial rights of indigenous tribes. However, this was only achieved by placing tribes into reservations.
• Harriet Beecher Stowe published her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin


  This was done in an attempt to raise awareness of the realities of slavery.
• Kansas-Nebraska Act


  Allowed these states to decide for themselves their position on slave ownership rather than to follow the strict rules established in the Missouri Compromise.
• Bleeding Kansas


  Two opposing governments with each side armed and a series of violent attacks took place, which killed about 200 people.
• The Utah War


  The US government sent an army to Utah due to their concerns of the relationship between the Indians and the Mormons.
• Mountain Meadows Massacre


  The Nauvoo Legion killed 7 migrants from the Baker-Fancher Party who were resting at Mountain Meadows. The Nauvoo Legion then returned to kill the entire group in case they realised that they had been previously attacked by the Mormons.
• The Colorado Gold Rush


  It brought gold prospectors into the Cheyenne's reservation.
• The Gregory Load


  Discovered by John Gregory in Clear Creek (Not Pike's Peak as the gold rush is named after)
• Pike's Peak Gold Rush


  Large mining communities developed causing cities and towns to be built.
• The abolitionist John Brown led a raid on the government's weapon store at Harper's Ferry in Virginia


  His team contained freed slaves, which was considered an offence in itself in the hope of starting a rebellion.
• Central City had developed

  From a few hundred to 20,000 residents.
• Abraham Lincoln was elected as President


  Caused the 7 Southern states to secede from the Union.