America250 — 250 years since 1776. Explore two and a half centuries of American history. Start the tour

#Westward Expansion

61 entries

People (13)

Sauk leader whose 1832 return to Illinois became the last armed Native resistance east of the Mississippi

Mormon prophet and colonizer who led 70,000 people into the desert and built a civilization

Nez Perce leader whose 1877 flight became a symbol of Native resistance

The Lakota war leader who defended the Plains and never surrendered to the reservation

The Apache leader whose final surrender in 1886 ended the last armed Native resistance in the American Southwest

11th President of the United States and the architect of continental expansion

John C. Frémont

The Pathfinder of the West whose maps drew settlers into California and Oregon

Naturalist, Writer, and Father of the American Conservation Movement

John Wesley Powell

The one-armed Civil War veteran who ran the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon

Shoshone guide and interpreter whose knowledge made the Corps of Discovery possible

President of Texas, U.S. Senator, and the man who refused to take the Confederacy's oath

Hunkpapa Lakota chief who united the Plains nations against American expansion

The Army officer who explored the southern Louisiana Purchase and never climbed Pikes Peak

Places (17)

Seward's Icebox — America's largest and most remote state

The state that absorbed the Gold Rush, built Hollywood, and became America's largest economy

Cherokee Nation

The sovereign nation reconstituted in Indian Territory after the Trail of Tears

The 363-mile engineering marvel that connected the Atlantic to the Great Lakes and made New York supreme

America's fiftieth state — a Pacific kingdom annexed, attacked, and transformed

Hawaii Territory

The Pacific kingdom annexed after a planter-led coup against Queen Liliuokalani

The Montana battlefield where Lakota and Cheyenne warriors defeated the 7th Cavalry

Mississippi River

The continent's central artery — highway, boundary, and the most mythologized river in American history

The largest Indian reservation in the United States, spanning 27,000 square miles across the Four Corners

Northwest Territory

The Ohio Valley land first organized under the Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Oregon Territory

The Pacific Northwest land secured by treaty with Britain in 1846

Promontory Summit

The Utah meeting point where two railroads joined and a continent was crossed

Rocky Mountains

The 3,000-mile cordillera that defined the western frontier and the Continental Divide

Gateway to the West and crossroads of American expansion

Republic, Confederate state, and the empire that shaped American identity

The Black Hills

The mountains the Supreme Court said were taken illegally — and that the Lakota have refused to sell back

Yellowstone National Park

The world's first national park, established 1872

Eras (1)

The 28 years that turned a coastal experiment into a continental power, 1800–1828

Events (17)

An immigrant fruit, a cider economy, and a patriotic slogan invented in the 1920s

Battle of the Alamo

The 13-day siege that became a Texan rallying cry

Bleeding Kansas

The violent territorial struggle that previewed the Civil War

California Gold Rush

The 1848–1855 mass migration that transformed California and accelerated the sectional crisis

Lewis and Clark Expedition

The 1804–1806 Corps of Discovery that mapped the American West to the Pacific

Louisiana Purchase

The 1803 land acquisition that doubled the size of the United States

Mexican-American War

The 1846–1848 war of conquest that gave the United States half a continent — and a crisis

The 2,000-mile overland route that carried 400,000 settlers to the American West, 1840–1869

Sand Creek Massacre

The Slaughter of a Cheyenne and Arapaho Village Under a Flag of Truce, November 1864

The Adams-Onís Treaty

The 1819 treaty that gave the United States Florida and a line to the Pacific

The 1836 siege that became the defining myth of Texas independence

The Gadsden Purchase

The 1854 land deal that finished the map of the lower 48

The Texas Revolution

How American settlers broke Texas away from Mexico

The forced relocation of Native nations from the American Southeast, 1830–1850

Transcontinental Railroad

The 1869 rail line that stitched the continent together — and transformed everything it touched

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The 1848 peace that gave the United States a third of a continent — and intensified the slavery crisis

Wounded Knee Massacre

The 1890 killing of at least 250 Lakota men, women, and children that ended the Indian Wars

Documents (6)

The 1887 Law That Dismantled Native American Tribal Land

The 1862 law that gave 160 acres to settlers and reshaped the American interior

Indian Removal Act

The 1830 law that authorized the forced relocation of Indigenous peoples east of the Mississippi

Northwest Ordinance

The 1787 law that established the framework for American territorial expansion

Pacific Railway Act

The 1862 legislation that authorized the transcontinental railroad and opened the continent

The Proclamation of 1763

The line along the Appalachians that closed the West

Concepts (7)

American Imperialism

The expansion of U.S. power, territory, and influence beyond its continental borders

Manifest Destiny

The 19th-century belief that American expansion across the continent was fated and righteous

The only major religion born in America — and the only one expelled from multiple states at gunpoint

Tejano kitchens, the chili queens of San Antonio, and the combination plate

The Frontier Thesis

The argument that the American frontier made America — and what happened when it closed

The Hudson River School

Landscape as national identity, 1825-1880

Westward Expansion

The century-long process by which the United States spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific

All Tags

Politics 178 Economy 171 Military 129 Reform 121 Civil Rights 118 Law & Justice 116 Presidency 113 Science & Technology 112 Foreign Policy 107 Arts & Culture 103 Race 98 Founding Era 96 Industry 90 Constitution 75 Modern America 67 Protest 66 Cold War 65 Civil War 62 Westward Expansion 61 War 59 Revolution 59 Slavery 57 Media & Press 57 Women 56 Indigenous 51 Diplomacy 47 Immigration 41 Labor 40 Environment 36 Colonial America 34 Congress 33 Religion 33 World War II 32 Supreme Court 32 Disaster 29 Exploration 27 Public Health 25 Progressive Era 25 Abolition 22 Finance 22 Reconstruction 22 Democracy 20 Gilded Age 19 Assassination 15 Education 15 Suffrage 11 World War I 9 Sports 9 Corruption 9 Prohibition 1