M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...

In this unit, you will learn about the growth of the United States from
about 1800 to the early 1850s. In 1800, the United States was bordered
by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Mississippi River to the west.
Farther west lay regions claimed by Great Britain, Russia, France, and
Spain. By the 1850s, the United States had acquired these lands, more
than doubling its size, and extended its western border to the Pacific
Ocean. The map, U.S. Territorial Acquisitions, 1803-1853, shows the
steps by which the nation's growth took place.

Picture yourself moving west along a trail pioneers used—the Oregon

Trail or the Santa Fe Trail. The first half of your journey will cross a vast,
treeless plain. On a good day, your wagon train might travel 20 miles.
Rivers slow you down, though, as crossing them is dangerous.

Several weeks on the trail will bring you to an even greater obstacle—
the ranges of the rugged Rocky Mountains. Here your progress will slow
from 20 miles per day to 20 or so miles per week. Timing is everything
on this part of your journey. The high mountain passes are open for
only a short time each year. If you reach the mountains too late in the
year, you may end up trapped by snow—which will likely mean your

2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute Level: A

M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...
death.

Despite such challenges, thousands of settlers made this journey in the

1840s and 1850s. The map, Population Density of the United States,
1860, shows the nation's pattern of settlement in 1860. The plains and
mountains the pioneers crossed remained largely unpopulated by U.S.
citizens, although American Indians had lived on those lands for
thousands of years. Before long, however, that situation would change.

Level: A 2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute

 M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...

More than 150 years ago, the phrase manifest destiny inspired great
hopes and dreams among many Americans. It led to a war with Mexico.
And it changed the map of the United States.

Manifest destiny means “obvious fate.” John O'Sullivan, a New York

newspaper editor, first used the phrase in 1845. O'Sullivan wrote that it
was the United States' “manifest destiny to overspread and to possess
the whole of the continent.” Looking at the land beyond the Rocky
Mountains, he argued that Americans had a divine right to settle this
area and make it their own.

The fact that Great Britain claimed part of this land—a huge area
known as Oregon—made no difference to O'Sullivan. After all, the
United States had stood up to Great Britain in the War of 1812.

Nor was O'Sullivan impressed by Mexico's claims to much of the West.

Like many Americans of the time, he believed that the United States
had a duty to extend the blessings of democracy to new lands and
peoples. It was God's plan, he wrote, for Americans to expand their
“great experiment of liberty.”

2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute Level: A

M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...

When Americans began their “great experiment” in 1776, the idea that
the United States might one day spread across the continent seemed
like a dream. By 1848, however, the dream was a reality. In this
chapter, you will learn how the United States tripled its size in a little
more than a single lifetime.

Manifest destiny took many forms. The United States expanded through
treaties, settlement, and war. As you read, think about how each new
area was acquired and whether the decisions that led to U.S. expansion
across North America were justifiable.

Level: A 2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute

 M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...

The nation's first opportunity for expansion during the early 1800s
involved the vast territory to the west of the Mississippi River, then
known as Louisiana. The United States wanted possession of the port
city of New Orleans, near the mouth of the Mississippi River. By 1800,
thousands of farmers were settling land to the west of the Appalachian
Mountains. To get their crops to market, they floated them down the
Mississippi to New Orleans. There the crops were shipped to Europe or
to cities on the East Coast.

The farmers depended on being able to move their crops freely along
the Mississippi. “The Mississippi,” wrote James Madison, “is to them
everything. It is the Hudson, the Delaware, the Potomac, and all the
navigable rivers of the Atlantic States formed into one stream.”

Louisiana Across the Mississippi River lay the unexplored territory of

Louisiana. This immense region stretched from Canada in the north to
Texas in the south. From the Mississippi, it reached west all the way to
the Rocky Mountains. First claimed by France, it was given to Spain
after the French and Indian War. In 1800, the French ruler. Napoleon
Bonaparte convinced Spain to return Louisiana to France.

2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute Level: A

M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...
Napoleon had plans for Louisiana. He hoped to settle the territory with
thousands of French farmers. These farmers would raise food for the
slaves who worked on France's sugar plantations in the Caribbean.

Napoleon's plans alarmed frontier farmers. New Orleans was part of

Louisiana. If Napoleon closed the port to American goods, farmers
would have no way to get their crops to market.

“A Noble Bargain” President Thomas Jefferson understood the

concerns of American farmers. In 1803, he sent James Monroe to France
with an offer to buy New Orleans for $7.5 million. By the time Monroe
reached France, Napoleon had changed his plans. A few years earlier, a
slave named Toussaint L'Ouverture [too-SAN loo-ver-TEER] had led a
slave revolt in the French Caribbean colony known today as Haiti. The
former slaves defeated the French troops who tried to take back the
colony. As a result, Napoleon no longer needed Louisiana.

In addition, France and Great Britain were on the brink of war. Napoleon
knew that he might lose Louisiana to the British. Rather than lose
Louisiana, it made sense to sell it to the United States.

Napoleon's offer to sell all of Louisiana stunned James Monroe. Instead

of a city, suddenly the United States had the opportunity to buy an area
as big as itself.

It didn't take long for Monroe to agree. On April 30, 1803, he signed a
treaty giving Louisiana to the United States in exchange for $15 million.
Said the French foreign minister, “You have made a noble bargain for
yourselves, and I suppose you will make the most of it.”

The Purchase Debate To most Americans, the Louisiana Purchase

looked like the greatest land deal in history. The new territory would
double the country's size at a bargain price of just 2 to 3 cents an acre.

Level: A 2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute

 M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...

Still, not everyone approved. Some people worried that such a large
country would be impossible to govern. Politicians in the East fretted
that they would lose power. Sooner or later, they warned, Louisiana
would be carved into enough new states to outvote the eastern states
in Congress.

Others objected to the $15 million price tag. “We are to give money of
which we have too little,” wrote a Boston critic, “for land of which we
already have too much.”

Opponents also accused Jefferson of “tearing the Constitution to

tatters.” They said that the Constitution made no provision for
purchasing foreign territory.

Jefferson was troubled by the argument that the Louisiana Purchase

was unconstitutional. Still, he believed it was better to stretch the limits
of the Constitution than to lose a historic opportunity.

Late in 1803, the Senate voted to ratify the Louisiana Purchase treaty.
Frontier farmers welcomed the news. “You have secured to us the free

2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute Level: A

M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...
navigation of the Mississippi,” a grateful westerner wrote Jefferson.
“You have procured an immense and fertile country: and all these great
blessings are obtained without war and bloodshed.”

Having acquired Louisiana through diplomacy, President Jefferson

turned next to Florida. Spain had colonized Florida in the late 1500s. By
the 1800s, Florida had a diverse population of Seminole Indians,
Spanish colonists, English traders, and runaway slaves. In 1804,
Jefferson sent two diplomats to Spain to buy Florida. Spain's answer was
“no deal.”

Many white Americans in the Southeast wanted the United States to

take over Florida. Slave owners in Georgia were angry because slaves
sometimes ran away to Florida. (Seminole Indians welcomed some of
the escaped slaves.) In addition, white landowners in Georgia were
upset by Seminole raids on their lands.

Over the next few years, Spain's control of Florida weakened. The
Spanish government could do nothing to stop the raids on farms in
Georgia by Seminoles and ex-slaves.

Andrew Jackson Invades Florida In 1818, President James Monroe

sent Andrew Jackson—the hero of the Battle of New Orleans—to
Georgia with orders to end the raids. Jackson was told that he could
Level: A 2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute
 M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...
chase raiding Seminoles into Florida. But he did not have the authority
to invade the Spanish colony.

Despite his orders, Jackson marched into Florida with a force of 1,700
troops. Over the next few weeks, he captured Spanish military posts
and arrested, tried, and executed two British subjects for stirring up
Indian attacks. He also replaced the Spanish governor with an
American. Spain demanded that Jackson be called back to Washington
and punished for his illegal invasion.

“Govern or Get Out” Fearing war, President Monroe asked his

cabinet for advice. All but one of his cabinet members advised him to
remove Jackson and apologize to Spain. The exception was Secretary of
State John Quincy Adams. Rather than apologize, Adams convinced
Monroe to send a blunt message to Spain. The message was this:
govern Florida properly or get out.

Equally fearful of war, Spain decided to get out. In 1819, the Spanish
government agreed to yield Florida to the United States. In exchange,
the United States agreed to pay off $5 million in settlers' claims against
Spain. The United States also agreed to honor Spain's longtime claim to
Texas.

Not all Americans were happy about leaving Spain in charge of Texas.
One newspaper declared Texas was “worth ten Floridas.” Even so, the
Senate ratified the Florida treaty two days after it was signed.

2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute Level: A

M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...

There was a reason many Americans felt that Texas was so valuable.
Much of this region was well suited for growing cotton, the South's most
valuable cash crop. Many southerners hoped that one day Texas would
become part of the United States.

Americans Come to Texas The story of Texas begins with Moses

Austin, a banker and business owner who dreamed of starting a U.S.
colony in Spanish Texas. In 1821, Spanish officials granted Austin a
huge piece of land. After Moses Austin died that same year, his son
Stephen took over his father's dream.

Stephen F. Austin arrived in Texas just as Mexico declared its

independence from Spain. Now Texas was a part of Mexico. Mexican
officials agreed to let Austin start his colony—under certain conditions.
Austin had to choose only moral and hardworking settlers. The settlers
had to promise to become Mexican citizens and to join the Catholic
church.

Austin agreed to Mexico's terms. By 1827, he had attracted 297

families—soon known as the “Old Three Hundred”— to Texas.

Level: A 2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute

 M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...
Rising Tensions The success of Austin's colony started a rush of
settlers to Texas. By 1830, there were about 25,000 Americans in
Texas, compared to 4,000 Tejanos (tay-HA-nos), or Texans of Mexican
descent. Soon tensions between the two groups began to rise.

The Americans had several complaints. They were used to governing

themselves, and they resented taking orders from Mexican officials.
They were unhappy that all official documents had to be in Spanish, a
language most of them were unwilling to learn. In addition, many were
slaveholders who were upset when Mexico outlawed slavery in 1829.

The Tejanos had their own complaints. They were unhappy that many
American settlers had come to Texas without Mexico's permission.
Worse, most of these new immigrants showed little respect for Mexican
culture and had no intention of becoming citizens.

The Mexican government responded by closing Texas to further U.S.

immigration. The government sent troops to Texas to enforce the
immigration laws.

The Texans Rebel Americans in Texas resented these actions. A

group led by a lawyer named William Travis began calling for
revolution. Another group led by Stephen F. Austin asked the Mexican
government to reopen Texas to immigration and to make it a separate
Mexican state. That way, Texans could run their own affairs.

In 1833, Austin traveled to Mexico and presented the Texans' demands

to the new head of the Mexican government, General Antonio López de
Santa Anna. The general was a power-hungry dictator who once
boasted, “If I were God, I would wish to be more.” Rather than bargain
with Austin, Santa Anna tossed him in jail for promoting rebellion.

Soon after Austin was released in 1835, Texans rose up in revolt.

Determined to crush the rebels, Santa Anna marched north with some
6,000 troops.

The Alamo In late February 1836, a large part of Santa Anna's army
reached San Antonio, Texas. About 180 Texan volunteers, including
eight Tejanos, defended the town. The Texans had taken over an old
mission known as the Alamo. Among them was Davy Crockett, the
famous frontiersman and former congressman from Tennessee. Sharing
command with William Travis was James Bowie, a wellknown Texas
“freedom fighter.”

The Alamo's defenders watched as General Santa Anna raised a black

flag that meant “Expect no mercy.” The general demanded that the
2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute Level: A
M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...
Texans surrender. Travis answered with a cannon shot.

Slowly, Santa Anna's troops began surrounding the Alamo. The Texans
were vastly outnumbered, but only one man fled.

Meanwhile, Travis sent messengers to other towns in Texas, pleading

for reinforcements and vowing not to abandon the Alamo. “Victory or
death!” he proclaimed. But reinforcements never came.

For 12 days, the Mexicans pounded the Alamo with cannonballs. Then,
at the first light of dawn on March 6, Santa Anna gave the order to
storm the fort. Desperately, the Texans tried to fight off the attackers
with rifle fire.

For 90 minutes, the battle raged. Then it was all over. By day's end,
every one of the Alamo's defenders was dead. By Santa Anna's order,
those who had survived the battle were executed on the spot.

Santa Anna described the fight for the Alamo as “but a small affair.” But
his decision to kill every man at the Alamo filled Texans with rage.

Texas Wins Its Independence Sam Houston, the commander of the

Texas revolutionary army, understood Texans' rage. But as Santa Anna
pushed on, Houston's only hope was to retreat eastward. By luring
Santa Anna deeper into Texas, he hoped to make it harder for the
general to supply his army and keep it battle-ready.

Houston's strategy wasn't popular, but it worked brilliantly. In April,

Santa Anna caught up with Houston near the San Jacinto (san ha-SIN-to)
River. Expecting the Texans to attack at dawn, the general kept his
troops awake all night. When no attack came, the weary Mexicans
relaxed. Santa Anna went to his tent to take a nap.

Late that afternoon, Houston's troops staged a surprise attack. Yelling,

“Remember the Alamo!” the Texans overran the Mexican camp. Santa
Anna fled, but he was captured the next day. In exchange for his
freedom, he ordered all his remaining troops out of Texas. The Texas
War for Independence had been won, but Mexico did not fully accept
the loss of its territory.

To Annex Texas or Not? Now independent, the Republic of Texas

earned the nickname Lone Star Republic because of the single star on
its flag. But most Texans were Americans who wanted Texas to become
part of the United States.

Despite their wishes, Texas remained independent for ten years. People
Level: A 2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute
 M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...
in the United States were divided over whether to annex Texas.
Southerners were eager to add another slave state. Northerners who
opposed slavery wanted to keep Texas out. Others feared that
annexation would lead to war with Mexico.

The 1844 presidential campaign was influenced by the question of

whether to expand U.S. territory. One of the candidates, Henry Clay,
warned, “Annexation and war with Mexico are identical.” His opponent,
James K. Polk, however, was a strong believer in manifest destiny. He
was eager to acquire Texas. After Polk was elected, Congress voted to
annex Texas. In 1845, Texas was admitted as the 28th state.

Far to the northwest of Texas lay Oregon Country. This enormous, tree-
covered wilderness stretched from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific
Ocean. To the north, Oregon was bounded by Alaska, which belonged to
Russia. To the south, it was bordered by Spanish California and New
Mexico.

In 1819, Oregon was claimed by four nations: Russia, Spain, Great

Britain, and the United States. Spain was the first to drop out of the
scramble. As part of the treaty to purchase Florida, Spain gave up its
claim to Oregon. A few years later, Russia also dropped out. By 1825,
Russia agreed to limit its claim to the territory that lay north of the
54°40´ parallel of latitude. Today that line marks the southern border
of Alaska.

That left Great Britain and the United States. For the time being, the
two nations agreed to a peaceful “joint occupation” of Oregon.
2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute Level: A
M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...
Discovering Oregon The United States' claim to Oregon was based on
the Lewis and Clark expedition. Between 1804 and 1806, Meriwether
Lewis and William Clark had led a small band of explorers to the
Oregon coast.

Lewis thought that many more Americans would follow the path blazed
by the expedition. “In the course of 10 or 12 Years,” he predicted in
1806, “a tour across the Continent by this rout [route] will be
undertaken with as little concern as a voyage across the Atlantic.”

That was wishful thinking. The route that Lewis and Clark had followed
was far too rugged for ordinary travelers. There had to be a better way.

In 1824, a young fur trapper named Jedediah Smith found that better
way. Smith discovered a passage through the Rocky Mountains called
South Pass. Unlike the high, steep passes used by Lewis and Clark,
South Pass was low and flat enough for wagons to use in crossing the
Rockies. Now the way was open for settlers to seek their fortunes in
Oregon.

Level: A 2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute

 M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...
Oregon Fever The first American settlers to travel through South Pass
to Oregon were missionaries. These missionaries made few converts
among Oregon's Indians. But their glowing reports of Oregon's fertile
soil and towering forests soon attracted more settlers.

These early settlers wrote letters home describing Oregon as a

“pioneer's paradise.” The weather was always sunny, they claimed.
Disease was unknown. Trees grew as thick as hairs on a dog's back.
And farms were free for the taking. One man even joked that “pigs are
running about under the great acorn trees, round and fat, and already
cooked, with knives and forks sticking in them so you can cut off a slice
whenever you are hungry.”

Reports like these inspired other settlers who were looking for a fresh
start. In 1843, about 1,000 pioneers packed their belongings into
covered wagons and headed for Oregon. A year later, nearly twice as
many people made the long journey across the plains and mountains.
“The Oregon Fever has broke out,” reported one observer, “and is now
raging.”

All of Oregon or Half? Along with Texas, “Oregon fever” also played a
role in the 1844 presidential campaign. Polk won the election with such
stirring slogans as “All of Oregon or none!” and “Fifty-four forty or
fight!” Polk promised he would not rest until the United States had
annexed all of Oregon Country.

But Polk didn't want Oregon enough to risk starting a war with Great
Britain. Instead, he agreed to a compromise treaty that divided Oregon
roughly in half at the 49th parallel. That line now marks the western
border between the United States and Canada.

The Senate debate over the Oregon treaty was fierce. Senators from
the South and the East strongly favored the treaty. They saw no reason
to go to war over “worse than useless territory on the coast of the
Pacific.” Senators from the West opposed the treaty. They wanted to
hold out for all of Oregon. On June 18, 1846, the Senate ratified the
compromise treaty by a vote of 41 to 14.

Polk got neither “fifty-four forty” nor a fight. What he got was a
diplomatic settlement that both the United States and Great Britain
could accept without spilling a drop of blood.

You might think that Texas and Oregon were quite enough new
territory for any president. But not for Polk. This humorless,
hardworking president had one great goal. He wanted to expand the

2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute Level: A

M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...
United States as far as he could.

Polk's gaze fell next on the huge areas known as California and New
Mexico. He was determined to have them both—by purchase if
possible, by force if necessary.

These areas were first colonized by Spain but became Mexican

territories when Mexico won its independence in 1821. Both were thinly
settled, and the Mexican government had long neglected them. That
was reason enough for Polk to hope they might be for sale. He sent a
representative to Mexico to try to buy the territories. But Mexican
officials refused even to see Polk's representative.

War Breaks Out in Texas When Congress voted to annex Texas,

relations between the United States and Mexico turned sour. To Mexico,
the annexation of Texas was an act of war. To make matters worse,
Texas and Mexico could not agree on a border. Texas claimed the Rio
Grande as its border on the south and the west. Mexico wanted the
border to be the Nueces (new-AY-sis) River, about 150 miles northeast
of the Rio Grande.

On April 25, 1846, Mexican soldiers fired on U.S. troops who were
patrolling along the Rio Grande. Sixteen Americans were killed or
wounded. This was just the excuse for war that Polk had been waiting
for. Mexico, he charged, “has invaded our territory and shed American
blood upon American soil.” Two days after Polk's speech, Congress
declared war on Mexico. The Mexican-American War had begun.

The Fall of New Mexico and California A few months later, General
Stephen Kearny led the Army of the West out of Kansas. His orders
were to occupy New Mexico and then continue west to California.

Mexican opposition melted away in front of Kearny's army. The

Americans took control of New Mexico without firing a shot. “Gen'l
Kearny,” a pleased Polk wrote in his diary, “has thus far performed his
duty well.”

Meanwhile, a group of Americans launched a rebellion against Mexican

rule in California. The explorer John C. Frémont heard about the uprising
and gave his support to the Americans The Americans arrested and
jailed General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (vuh-YAY-oh), the Mexican
commander of northern California. Then they raised a crude flag
showing a grizzly bear sketched in blackberry juice. California, they
declared, was now the Bear Flag Republic.

When Kearny reached California, he joined forces with the rebels.

Level: A 2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute
 M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...
Within weeks, all of California was under U.S. control.

The United States Invades Mexico The conquest of Mexico itself

was far more difficult. U.S. troops under General Zachary Taylor battled
their way south from Texas. Taylor was a no-nonsense general who was
known fondly as “Old Rough and Ready” because of his backwoods
clothes. After 6,000 U.S. troops took the Mexican city of Monterrey, an
old enemy stopped them. General Santa Anna had marched north to
meet Taylor with an army of 20,000 Mexican troops.

In February 1847, the two forces met near a ranch called Buena Vista
(BWEY-nuh VIS-tuh). After two days of hard fighting, Santa Anna
reported that “both armies have been cut to pieces.” Rather than lose
his remaining forces, Santa Anna retreated south. The war in northern
Mexico was over.

A month later, U.S. forces led by General Winfield Scott landed at

Veracruz (ver-uh-CROOZ) in southern Mexico. Scott was a stickler for
discipline and loved fancy uniforms. These traits earned him the
nickname “Old Fuss and Feathers.” For the next six months, his troops
fought their way to Mexico City, Mexico's capital.

Outside the capital, the Americans met fierce resistance at the castle of
Chapultepec (chuh-PUHL-tuh-PEK). About 1,000 Mexican soldiers and
100 young military cadets fought bravely to defend the fortress. Six of
2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute Level: A
M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...
the cadets chose to die fighting rather than surrender. To this day, the
boys who died that day are honored in Mexico as the Niños Héroes
(NEEN-yos EHR-oh-ace), the boy heroes.

Despite such determined resistance, Scott's army captured Mexico City

in September 1847. Watching from a distance, a Mexican officer
muttered darkly, “God is a Yankee.”

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Early in 1848, Mexico and the

United States signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (gwa-duh-LOO-
pay hih-DAHLgo). Mexico agreed to give up Texas and a vast region
known as the Mexican Cession. (A cession is something that is given
up.) This area included the present day states of California, Nevada,
Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico, as well as parts of Colorado and
Wyoming.

Under this agreement, Mexico gave up half of all its territory. In return,
the United States agreed to pay Mexico $15 million. It also promised to
protect the 80,000 to 100,000 Mexicans living in Texas and in the
Mexican Cession. Most of these promises, however, were not kept.

In Washington, a few senators spoke up to oppose the treaty. Some of

them argued that the United States had no right to any Mexican
territory other than Texas. They believed that the Mexican-American
War had been unjust and that the treaty was even more so. New
Mexico and California together, they said, were “not worth a dollar” and
should be returned to Mexico.

Level: A 2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute

 M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...

Other senators opposed the treaty because they wanted even more
land. They wanted the Mexican Cession to include a large part of
northern Mexico as well. To most senators, however, the Mexican
Cession was a manifest destiny dream come true. The Senate ratified
the treaty by a vote of 38 to 14.

The Gadsden Purchase A few years later, the United States acquired
still more land from Mexico. In 1853, James Gadsden arranged the
purchase of a strip of land just south of the Mexican Cession for $10
million. Railroad builders wanted this land because it was relatively flat
and could serve as a good railroad route. The acquisition of this land,
known as the Gadsden Purchase, created the present-day border of the
southwestern United States with Mexico.

Most Americans were pleased with the new outlines of their country.
Still, not everyone rejoiced in this expansion. Until the Mexican-
American War, many people had believed that the United States was
too good a nation to bully or invade its weaker neighbors. Now they
knew that such behavior was the dark side of manifest destiny.

2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute Level: A

M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...

In this chapter, you read about how Americans extended their

nation to the west and the south. The idea of manifest destiny
fueled many of the events that led to expansion.

The Louisiana Purchase In 1803, the United States added the vast
territory known as Louisiana. The Louisiana Purchase doubled the
nation's land area.

Florida A treaty with Spain added Florida to the United States in 1819.

Texas In 1836, Americans in Texas rebelled against the Mexican

government there and created the Lone Star Republic. In 1845,
Congress admitted Texas into the union. The Lone Star Republic was
formally dissolved in 1846.

Oregon Country A treaty with Great Britain added Oregon Country in

1846.

War with Mexico In 1846, the United States went to war with Mexico
in the Mexican- American War. In an 1848 treaty with Mexico, the
United States acquired the present-day states of California, Nevada,
Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico, as well as parts of Colorado and
Wyoming. Five years later, the Gadsden Purchase completed the
Level: A 2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute
 M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...
outline of the continental United States.

“Calling all adventurers!” the signs might have said. “It's 1821,
and the Santa Fe Trail is open for business.” And business it
was. Traders loaded their wagons in Missouri and crossed
plains, deserts, and mountains to sell their goods in Mexico.
The action lasted about 60 years before the railroads came. But
in its brief history, the Santa Fe Trail became the stuff of
legend.

On June 11, 1846, newlywed Susan Shelby Magoffin left Independence

Missouri. She was headed for Santa Fe, then part of Mexico. Just 18
years old, Susan Magoffin was very excited about her upcoming
honeymoon adventure. “My journal tells a story tonight different from
what it has ever done before. The curtain rises now with a new scene,”
she wrote as she and her husband set out on their journey, part of a
wagon train on the Santa Fe Trail.

Susan's husband Samuel was 27 years older than his bride. He had
been traveling and trading on the Santa Fe Trail for nearly 20 years.
The couple's honeymoon trip was also a business trip: Samuel was
overseeing 14 wagonloads of American goods. He planned to sell his
cargo in Mexico, at the towns of Santa Fe and Chihuahua.

Over the years, Samuel Magoffin had made a fortune on the Santa Fe
Trail. Like other businessmen of his day, he had seen possibility in
trading with Mexico. In search of profit, these entrepreneurs had
charted a course from the western edges of what was then the United
States to the lands beyond. And when Santa Fe became part of the
United States in 1848, after the Mexican War, the booming business did
not stop.

The trips were risky. Dust storms, illness, possible attacks by hostile
Indians, and lack of water all threatened their efforts. But for nearly 60
years, men like Samuel Magoffin took those risks. In the process, they
helped expand the United States' southwestern border. Fortunately for
historians, people like Susan Magoffin kept detailed journals of their
experiences. Their accounts bring to life a time of adventure on the
American frontier.

2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute Level: A

M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...

The Path West

In the 1800s, several trails left the United States heading west. Settlers,
farmers, ranchers, and miners took the Oregon Trail toward new lives in
the Pacific Northwest. Families traveled along what became known as
the Mormon Trail, looking for religious freedom in the desert. And
across the California Trail, prospectors and others marched toward
what they hoped would be great wealth.

The Santa Fe Trail was different. Its main purpose was trade. Political
events made that trade possible. In 1821, Mexico won its independence
from Spain. Spain had prohibited trade with the United States, but
Mexico welcomed it. With the door open, American businessmen like
Samuel Magoffin and his brother James headed west.

The Santa Fe Trail began in Missouri and spanned 900 miles across
North America. Traders braved bad weather, hostile Indians, dangerous
animals, and lack of water. They were in search of profits, and they
found them. In 1822, trade on the trail totaled $15,000. By 1860, it had
reached $3.5 million. When the railroad ended trade on the Santa Fe
Trail in 1880, as many as 6,000 wagons were using the trail every year.

If money was important to Santa Fe traders, so was adventure. Many

traders and other travelers loved the excitement of life on the trail.
Some simply loved the beautiful outdoors. One wrote, “The air . . . is

Level: A 2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute

 M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...
many times clearer and incomparably drier than in the eastern part of
the United States, and the heavens burn nightly with millions of
magnified stars which the people of the East never dreamed of.”

On the trail, Susan Magoffin appreciated being free from the strict rules
of society. In her diary, she wrote,

There is such independence, so much free uncontaminated

air,
which [fills] the mind, the feelings, nay every thought, with
purity. I breathe free without that oppression and
uneasiness
felt in the gossiping groups of a settled home.

Joy and Hardship on the Trail

When Samuel Magoffin set off to Santa Fe with his young wife, he was
determined that she travel in comfort. So, he hired servants and
outfitted carriages to make his first home with Susan as nice as
possible. The Magoffins slept in a tent, but not in sleeping bags on the
2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute Level: A
M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...
ground. No, they slept in a bed that the servants put up every night.
There were sheets on the mattress, plus blankets, pillows, and
mosquito netting. Tables, cabinets, and carpets added to the luxury.

Their meals were often equally elegant. Susan and Samuel brought
chickens with them so that they could have fresh eggs. They also ate
ham, fresh buffalo, and sometimes even one of the chickens. They
might top off a good meal with gooseberry tarts. “It is the life of a
wandering princess, mine,” Susan wrote in her journal.

During the days, Susan wrote, sewed, studied Spanish, and knit. When
she wanted flowers but didn't want to climb out of her carriage,
“servants riding on mules pick them for me.” Her devoted greyhound,
Ring, kept her company. Ring also helped her feel protected by barking
at the wolves and coyotes. “I felt safe with this trusty soldier near me,”
she wrote.

But life on the trail wasn't all luxury, even for wealthy travelers like
Susan and Samuel Magoffin. Difficulties abounded. Dust storms and
prairie fires plagued travelers. Rattlesnakes frightened them. And then,
there were the mosquitoes. “Millions upon millions are swarming upon
me,” Susan wrote, “and their knocking against the carriage reminded
me of a hard rain.”

Fear of hostile Indians also troubled the travelers. At Pawnee Rock,

Susan stopped to carve her name on the sandstone, as others had
done. Samuel and Susan's servant, Jane, kept watch because the rock
was the site of Pawnee attacks. From the rock, the hostile Indians could
“dash down upon the Santa Fe traders like hawks, to carry off their
plunder and their scalps,” wrote one traveler.

Susan didn't encounter any Indians at Pawnee Rock, but she did have a
terrible accident as the caravan moved on. The wagon she was riding in
went over the edge of a river bank. She described what happened.

We were whirled completely over with a perfect crash.

One to see the wreck of that carriage now with the top and
sides entirely
broken to pieces, could never believe that people had come
out
of it alive. But strange, wonderful to say, we are almost
entirely unhurt!

That wasn't quite true. Susan was knocked unconscious during the
crash. Pregnant at the time, she lost the baby due to the accident.

Level: A 2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute

 M A N I F E S T D E S T I N Y A N D...
It took 11 weeks for the Magoffins to reach Santa Fe, partly because
travel was difficult and partly because Susan's ill health required them
to spend nearly two weeks at Bent's Fort, an important stopping point
along the trail. When they arrived in Santa Fe, they met up with
Samuel's brother James and joined in the high society life of the village,
such as it was. Susan attended a nearby church, practiced her Spanish,
and spent time with the local people.

Over the next 10 years, Susan and Samuel Magoffin had three children.
Eventually, the family settled in St. Louis, where Susan Magoffin died in
1855. She was only 29 years old.

2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute Level: A