A History of the United States: Chapter 13: Manifest Destiny

Many Americans wanted control of Oregon in order to gain access to the Pacific Ocean.

In 1818 Adams worked out an agreement with Britain for joint occupation. This meant that people from both the United States and Great Britain could settle there.

In 1818 Adams worked out an agreement with Britain for joint occupation. This meant that people from both the United States and Great Britain could settle there.

These pioneers were called emigrants—people who leave their country—because they left the United States to go to Oregon.

From a distance these wagons looked like schooners, or ships at sea, and people called them prairie schooners.

From a distance these wagons looked like schooners, or ships at sea, and people called them prairie schooners.

O'Sullivan declared it was America's "Manifest Destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us." O'Sullivan meant that the United States was clearly destined—set apart for a special purpose—by God to extend its boundaries all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Here, the planters established cotton and tobacco plantations, especially in northern Florida and the narrow strip in the northwest called the Panhandle.

With the question of slavery removed, President John Tyler signed the Florida statehood bill.

In 1830 Mexico issued a decree, or official order, closing its borders to further immigration.

There it found a small Texan force barricaded, or blocked off, inside a mission building called the Alamo.

Houston sent a delegation to Washington, D.C., to ask the United States to annex, or take control of, Texas.

It is said, that the people of the United States have an hereditary superiority of race over the Mexicans, which gives them the right to subjugate and keep in bondage the inferior nation....

At this time the claim is but a pretext for covering and justifying unjust usurpation and unbounded ambition....

This is founded on the immutable principle that no one man is born with the right of governing another man.

Texas is now ours. Already, before these words are written, her Convention has undoubtedly ratified the acceptance, by her Congress, of our proffered invitation into the Union....

John C. Frémont, an army officer, wrote of the region's mild climate and vast natural resources.

To justify a war, Polk hoped to get Mexico to strike first.

As ships arrived daily with gold seekers, San Francisco became a boomtown, growing quickly from a tiny village to a city of about 20,000 people.

As a result, citizens known as vigilantes formed committees to protect themselves. Vigilantes took the law into their own hands and acted as police, judge, jury, and sometimes executioner.

In 1849, Californians applied for statehood and wrote a constitution.

By 1860 there were many Mormon communities, but Utah was not easily incorporated into the United States.