Go West with Famous Trailblazers

Go West with Famous Trailblazers — page 1 — Opening the West In 1800 Spain Great Britain and France claimed land west of the Mississippi River in North America Within decades the whole region would belong to the United States µ Empty land not empty µ Inhabited for many centuries In 1800 the West was already inhabited by hundreds of groups of Native peoples On the plains lived the Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne as well as the Ojibwa Blackfoot and Cree First Nations in Canada The Southwest was home to the Apache Navajo and others Pacific Coast peoples included the Chinook while the Nez Percé and other nations lived in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains Above The cliff houses of Mesa Verde in Colorado were built by the Pueblo peoples before 1300 The Louisiana Purchase µ Into the wilderness µ Jefferson expands the nation The French territory of Louisiana was a vast region west of the Mississippi River that included the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains In 1803 Napoléon Bonaparte then-ruler of France sold the territory to President Thomas Jefferson in what was known as the Louisiana Purchase Jefferson later sent expeditions there to try to find a route to the Pacific Ocean to help US trade with Asia 4

Go West with Famous Trailblazers — page 2 — µ Peace treaty adds territory µ California Texas Southwest all won In 1845 Texas joined the United States However President James K Polk wanted even more territory in the Southwest He claimed a border region of Mexico invading in 1846 and declaring war on Mexico The United States defeated the Mexican armies in 1847 In 1848 a peace treaty passed control of the Southwest and California to the US government Right American soldiers attack Mexican troops at Chapultepec just outside Mexico City in September 1847 µ Dominance is inevitable µ Resistance is pointless Many Americans believed it was their right to take ownership of land in the West In 1845 a newspaper editor named John O’Sullivan called this idea the manifest destiny of America Manifest means obvious or very clear Although not everyone agreed the idea became popular It inspired President Polk’s decision to buy Oregon from the British in 1846 It also led to the war with Mexico in the same year did you know Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821 Mexico owned Texas but it allowed Americans to settle there In 1835 Texas colonists rebelled against the Mexican government After a bloody war they declared independence in 1836 as the Republic of Texas 5

Go West with Famous Trailblazers — page 3 — Exploring New Territory The first American explorers of the new West traveled on foot on horseback and by canoe as the Native peoples did These trailblazers mapped the way for settlers to follow µ Across the Appalachians µ Boone blazes a trail The Appalachian Mountains blocked the way for settlers to move west from the East Coast beyond Virginia In 1775 the mountain man Daniel Boone had blazed a trail through the Cumberland Gap a pass through the mountains The track allowed later settlers to cross the mountains to the frontier areas of Kentucky and Tennessee Left Daniel Boone leads settlers through the Cumberland Gap to Kentucky µ Traveling coast to coast µ Two-year journey Right Members of Lewis and Clark’s expedition use guns to scare off grizzly bears In 1804 President Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the new Louisiana Territory Jefferson hoped to find a route to the Pacific Ocean to enable trade with Asia Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific two years after they left They returned with information about the geography resources and peoples of the West 6

Go West with Famous Trailblazers — page 4 — µ Sacagawea shows the way µ Helps keep the peace Lewis and Clark led a large team known as the Corps of Discovery Its most famous member was a young Shoshone woman named Sacagawea Captured by the Hidatsa as a young girl Sacagawea later married a French-Canadian fur trader who lived among the Mandan on the Missouri River Sacagawea acted as a guide and translator for Lewis and Clark The presence of a young Native woman in the Corps helped convince Native nations that the expedition was not aggressive or warlike Right Sacagawea helps Lewis and Clark plan their journey She was familiar with trails and landmarks from her youth did you know Alexander Mackenzie crossed Canada in 1793 to become the first European to reach the Arctic and Pacific oceans in North America He followed the canoe and land routes of the Dene and Nuxalk people beating Lewis and Clark to the Pacific Ocean by ten years Zebulon Pike µ Explorer heads south µ Captured by Spanish As Lewis and Clark explored northern Louisiana President Jefferson sent Captain Zebulon Pike to explore the southern part While in Colorado Pike traveled into Mexican territory and was taken prisoner by the Spanish army While Pike was a prisoner he gathered information about Colorado After Pike’s release he returned to the United States with information about Colorado The information was used by settlers heading to Colorado after it became part of the United States in 1848 7

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