This chapter is about1) Mountain Men2) Trails West3) The Texas Revolution4) The War with Mexico5) The California Gold Rush

Mountain Men

Mountain Men like Jedediah Smith will explore lands in the west, including present day Utah.

Mountain Men will open the west for future pioneers

There will be fighting over the western lands.

Mountain Men and Indians would meet at a rendezvous to trade for goods.

What items would you need to be a successful mountain man?

Trails to the West

The Santa Fe Trail went from Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico

The Oregon Trail went from Independence, Missouri, to the Oregon Territory.

The Mormon Trail went from Missouri to the Utah Territory.

The Texas Revolution

Texas was controlled by Spain, who still owned current day Mexico.

The Spanish wanted people to settle Texas so when Moses Austin asked for permission to start a colony in Texas, Spain agreed.

Mexico gained their independence from Spain in 1821.

More Americans would move into Texas causing tensions to increase between the Mexican Government and Texans.

With the talk of a rebellion Santa Anna sent more Mexican troops to Texas

The Americans declared that Texas was a free and independent republic.

At the Battle of the Alamo, 178 of the 183 Americans were killed by Santa Anna’s army of 1,800 men.

The other five were executed.

Sam Houston and his men advanced upon the Mexican Army at San Jacinto screaming “Remember the Alamo” killing half of Santa Anna’s army, forcing them to surrender.

Texas was now an independent nation.

The War with Mexico

Manifest Destiny suggest that expansion was not only good but bound to happen, even if it meant pushing Mexicans and Native Americans out of the way.

Mexico still claimed that Texas belonged to them and they would fight to keep it.

The United States invades Mexico to bring the war to an end.

In 1848, the war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Mexico recognized that Texas was part of the United States, and the Rio Grande was the border between the nations.

Mexico also ceded, or gave up, a vast region known as the Mexican Cession, but the United States agreed to pay $15 million for the land.

The United States now extended from “Sea to Shining Sea”

The California Gold Rush

Gold was discovered in California in 1848.

In 1849 thousands of gold seekers will move to California.