Unit 3: Westward Expansion

Manifest Destiny

1800s belief that Americans had the right to spread across the continent.

American Exceptionalism

The idea that the American experience was different or unique from others, and therefore America had a unique or special role in the world.

Settler

A person who arrives, especially from another country, in a new place in order to live there and use the land

Territory

An area of land under the jurisdiction of a ruler or state.

State

A body of people living in a defined territory who have a government with the power to make and enforce law without the consent of any higher authority.

Expansionism

A policy that calls for expanding a nation's boundaries.

Imperialism

A policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force.

Self-Government

The right of people to rule themselves independently.

Representative Democracy

A system of government in which citizens elect representatives, or leaders, to make decisions about the laws for all the people.

Chattle Slavery

The ownership of human beings as property.

Louisiana Purchase

Territory in western United States purchased from France in 1803 for $15 million.

Haitian Revolution

Toussaint l'Ouverture led this uprising, which in 1790 resulted in the successful overthrow of French colonial rule on this Caribbean island.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

1854 - Created Nebraska and Kansas as states and gave the people in those territories the right to chose to be a free or slave state through popular sovereignty.

Sovereignty

Ability of a state or group to govern its territory free from control of its internal affairs by other states.

Missouri Compromise

An agreement in 1820 between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States concerning the extension of slavery into new territories.

Mexican-American War

1846 - 1848 - President Polk declared war on Mexico over the dispute of land in Texas. At the end, American ended up with 55% of Mexico's land.

Trail of Tears

The forced removal of Cherokees and their transportation to Oklahoma.

Long Walk

On this 300-mile march Navajo people were forced to walk across the desert to a reservation in Bosque Redondo, New Mexico.

Fugitive Slave Act

(1850) a law that made it a crime to help runaway slaves; allowed for the arrest of escaped slaves in areas where slavery was illegal and required their return to slaveholders.

Indian Removal Act

(1830) a congressional act that authorized the removal of Native Americans who lived east of the Mississippi River.