4-5.3

It Is Essential For Students To Know:

• Please teach the indicator 4-5.5 before you teach this indicator.
• Students should know the events, motives, location, and geographic features of the lands acquired by the Louisiana Purchase (1803).
• Thomas Jefferson made inquiries about buying the land around New Orleans to help farmers along the Mississippi River who needed to transport their products down river to the French port of New Orleans. It was too costly to transport the goods across the Appalachian Mountains. France surprised Jefferson by offering him the entire area of Louisiana which encompassed the territory west of the Mississippi River to present-day Idaho and north to Canada.
• Students should be able to identify the Louisiana Territory on a map.
• Students should be able to name and identify the location of the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains.
• The Florida Purchase was the result of friction between Spain and the United States over boundary lines of the Louisiana Territory. Relations with Native Americans also impacted the United States’ desire for this land (4-5.4). Spain sold Florida to the UnitedStates (1819) in exchange for money and a clear border between the Louisiana Territory and New Spain.
• Students should be able to name and identify Florida on a map.
• The Northwest Territory treaty is more appropriately called the Oregon Treaty. [The “Northwest” referred to in this indicator is currently called the Pacific Northwest and includes the present states of Washington and Oregon. Do not confuse the Oregon Territory with the old Northwest Territory of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan.]
• The United States claimed the Oregon Territory based on the explorations of Lewis and Clark. Great Britain also claimed the area. After much negotiation, this treaty was a compromise with Great Britain.
• Initially, Americans in search of economic opportunity in the fur trade moved into the area. The farmers that followed the fur traders wanted to be part of the United States.
• Although some Americans wanted to claim land to the 54 40 parallel, the northern boundary of the United States was set at the 49th parallel.
• Students should be able to name and identify the Oregon Territory on a map. The annexation of Texas came a decade after the Texan War for Independence from Mexico.
• Prior to Texan independence, American southerners accepted Mexico’s invitation to move into the Texas territory These cotton planters agreed to become Mexican citizens and to follow Mexican law in order to have access to more fertile land for cotton. When a new dictatorial Mexican government enforced its control over Texas, including the outlawing of slavery, Texans rebelled and fought a war to win their independence. Texans then wanted to become part of the United States.
• At first, the United States Congress would not annex Texas because it would upset the balance of slave and free states. As a result,
• Texas was an independent country for nine years.
• When James K. Polk won the presidency, running on the platform of Manifest Destiny, the United States Congress annexed Texas.
• Students should be able to identify Texas on a map.
• The Mexican Cession was the territory that the United States acquired as a result of winning the Mexican War. The Mexican War was the result of Manifest Destiny, the desire for Pacific ports, and the annexation of Texas.
• The United States wanted a port on the Pacific coast in the Mexican territory of California. President Polk tried to buy this land but the Mexicans would not sell.
• After Texas was annexed, the United States sent American troops into an area on the border of Texas that the Mexican government also claimed as their own. Shots were fired and a war started. The United States invaded Mexico and defeated the Mexican army.
• The treaty that ended this war ceded Mexican territory in what is now New Mexico, Arizona, California, Utah and Nevada to the United States.
• Students should be able to identify Texas and the Mexican cession on a map. The Mexican cession gave the United States access to Pacific ports and the gold fields of California.

It Is Not Essential For Students To Know:

• Students do not need to know about the specific battles in the Texas war for independence or the Mexican War.
• Students do not need to know the names of the leaders involved.
• Students do not need to know the dates of these acquisitions. However, they should be familiar with their sequence.