APUSH 5.2 Manifest DESTINY

Manifest Destiny

A notion held by a nineteenth-century Americans that the United States was destined to rule the continent, from the Atlantic the Pacific.

Great American Desert

Region between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains. Vast domain became accessible to Americans wishing to settle there. Many people were convinced this land was a Sahara habitable only to Indians. The phrase had been coined by Major Long during his exploration of the middle portion of the Louisiana Purchase region.

Mountain Men

American adventurers and fur trappers who spent most of their time in the Rocky Mountains

Far West

applied to the territories between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean

Overland Trails

Westward trail route of wagon trains bearing settlers; collective experience; despite contradicting stories, Indian attacks were extremely rare & more helpful than harmful

Mining Frontier

A series of gold strikes and silver strikes in what became the states of Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Arizona, and South Dakota kept a steady flow of hopeful young prospectors pushing into the Western mountains.

Gold Rush

a period from 1848 to 1856 when thousands of people came to California in order to search for gold.

silver rush

The discovery of silver in Colorado, Nevada, the Black Hills of the Dakotas, and other western territories, created a mining boom.

farming frontier

In the 1830s and 1840s pioneer families moved west to start homesteads and begin farming. Government programs allowed settlers to purchase inexpensive parcels of land.

urban frontier

Western cities that arose as a result of railroads, mineral wealth, and farming. They included San Francisco, Denver, and Salt Lake City.

John Tyler

elected Vice President and became the 10th President of the United States when Harrison died 1841-1845, President responsible for annexation of Mexico after receiving mandate from Polk, opposed many parts of the Whig program for economic recovery

Oregon Territory

territory of Oregon, Washington, and portions of what became British Columbia, Canada; land claimed by both U.S. and Britain and held jointly under the Convention of 1818

"Fifty-Four Forty or Fight"

Political slogan of the Democrats in the election of 1844, which claimed fifty-four degrees, forty minutes as the boundary of the Oregon territory claimed by the United States

James K. Polk

president in March 1845. wanted to settle Oregon boundary dispute with Britain. wanted to acquire California. wanted to incorporate Texas into union.

Stephen Austin

American who settled in Texas, one of the leaders for Texan independence from Mexico

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

Mexican general and dictator who tried to crush the Texas revolt and who lost battles to Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor in the Mexican War (1795-1876)

Sam Houston

Commander of the Texas army at the battle of San Jacinto; later elected president of the Republic of Texas

Alamo

A Spanish mission converted into a fort, it was besieged by Mexican troops in 1836. The Texas garrison held out for thirteen days, but in the final battle, all of the Texans were killed by the larger Mexican force.

Webster-Ashburton Treaty

signed August 9, 1842, was a treaty resolving several border issues between the United States and the British North American colonies, particularly a dispute over the location of the Maine-New Brunswick border, and the border of the Great Lakes states. Also banned the slave trade (on the ocean)

foreign commerce

commerce with foreign nations. The commerce clause grants the federal government the authority to regulate foreign commerce.

exports and imports

In the mid-1800s, the U.S. was exporting primarily manufactured goods and agriculture products such as Western grains and Southern cotton. Imports also increased during this period.

Matthew C. Perry

In 1853, He presented the Japanese with a letter from the President calling for Japan to grant trading rights to Americans, they signed a treaty opening Japan for trade in 1854

Kanagawa Treaty

An 1854 treaty - the first between the United States and Japan - it opened two Japanese ports to American commerce, protected shipwrecked American sailors, and ended Japan's 200 years of isolation