Chapter 11: Manifest Destiny

1. Chapter 11: Manifest Destiny Lesson 1: Westward to the Pacific

2. Rivalry in the Northwest • The Oregon countrywas the huge area between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains north of California. • Four nations: Great Britain, Spain, Russia, and the United States, claimed the land.

3. The United States wanted to control the Oregon country, so Americans could have access to the Pacific Ocean to build trade. • The U.S. based its claim on Robert Gray’s exploration of the Columbia River in 1792 and on Lewis and Clark’sexplorations. Lewis and Clark

4. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams negotiated a treaty with Spain’s foreign minister, Louis De Onis. • In the Adams-Onis Treaty, Spain agreed to set the limits of their territory at what is now California’s northern border and gave up their claim to Oregon. • In 1824, Russia gave up its claim.

5. Adams worked out a deal with Britain for joint occupationof the area, which meant that people from both Britain and the United States could settle in Oregon. • When Adams became president in 1825, he proposed that the two nations divide the area, but Britain refused.

6. Early Americans in Oregon • The first Americans to reach Oregon country were fur traders called mountain men. • They came to trap beaver, whose skins were in great demand. • Mountain men traveled in the mountains in the spring and summer, collecting beaver pelts, and they met for a rendezvous, or meeting, in the late summer. A mountain man

7. John Jacob Astorestablished the American Fur Company, which became the largest fur company in America. John Jacob Astor

8. Jim Beckwourth, an African American mountain man, explored Wyoming’s Green River. • Robert Stuartand Jedediah Smithfound the South Pass, a broad break through the Rockies that later became the main route to Oregon.

9. Mountain men had to be skillful and resourceful to survive in the wilderness. • In time the mountain men killed off most of the beaver.

10. Settling Oregon • Missionaries were among the first settlers in Oregon country. • They wanted to bring Christianity to the Native Americans.

11. Dr. Marcus Whitmanand his wife,Narcissa, built a mission among the Cayuse people near the present site of Walla Walla, Washington. • New settlers unknowingly brought sickness to the Cayuse, and the Cayuse retaliated by attacking the mission. • The Whitmans and 11 others were killed. Narcissa and Marcus Whitman

12. In the early 1840s, a desire to go to Oregon swept across the people of the Mississippi Valley. • People banded together to make the trip to Oregon. • These pioneers, called emigrantsbecause they left the United States to go to Oregon, traveled the 2,000 mile journey in covered wagons following the Oregon Trail.

13. Between 1840 and 1845, the American population in the fertile Willamette Valley rose from 500 to 5,000. • The British population remained about 700. • The United States began to question ownership of the area again. The Willamette Valley

14. Manifest Destiny • Many Americans believed their mission was to expand the boundaries of the United States to the Pacific Ocean. • This idea was called Manifest Destiny. • Pressure mounted for the United States to take ownership of the Oregon Country.

15. James K. Polkrepresented the Democratic Party in the presidential election of 1844. • He believed in the United States’ sole ownership of Oregon. James K. Polk

16. Henry Clay, the Whig Party candidate, did not take a strong position on the Oregon issue. • He lost the election to Polk. Henry Clay

17. In 1846, Britain and the United States compromised, settling the boundary of Oregon at latitude 49º North.

18. Adams-Onis Treaty is signed Adams proposes that Oregon be divided on latitude 49 degrees North Whitmans establish mission among the Cayuse people in Oregon Treaty signed with Britain to divide Oregon at latitude 49 degrees North