Unit Five: Westward Expansion

The process of rapid growth of United States territory from the Mississippi River to the coast of the Pacific Ocean

• Westward Expansion

• Louisiana Purchase

• Transcontinental Railroad

The discovery of gold in 1848 led thousands of people to migrate to California in hopes to strike it rich

• Westward Expansion

• California Gold Rush

• Louisiana Purchase

Agreement by France to sell 830,000 square miles of Louisiana Territory to the United States for 15 million dollars

• Westward Expansion

• Louisiana Purchase

• California Gold Rush

A series of railroads that were connected to create one large railroad system that crossed the entire country

• Louisiana Purchase

• Westward Expansion

• Transcontinental Railroad

Provided 160 acres of land in the Midwest region to any US citizen who agreed to live and farm it

• Louisiana Purchase

• Homestead Act

• Boomtown

A formal agreement between countries

• Homestead Act

• Boomtown

• Treaty

A type of engine that powers factories, mines, and trains

• Boomtown

• Treaty

• Steam Engine

A man-made waterway that connects the Great Lakes to the Hudson River

• Boomtown

• Steam Engine

• Eerie Canal

A town that experiences sudden growth

• Eerie Canal

• Boomtown

• Frontier

The edge of a country or land where few people live

• Boomtown

• Oregon Trail

• Frontier