Focus Question:

Why did the Plains Indians and the

U.S. come into conflict in the 1800s?
Do Now:
What are all the methods the U.S.
used to expand its borders to the west
coast of North America? Hypothesize
if you do not know.

The Great Plains

annexation
purchase
cession
treaty

Vocabulary
annexation: to add a region to a
country or state; to take control of a
territory or place e.g. The U.S. annexed
Texas in 1845
Purchase: to buy
Cession: giving up or surrendering
something Cede to give up
Treaty written agreement between 2
or more countries

Vocabulary
State - a region of a country that is
controlled by the countrys central
government but that can make some of
its own laws
Territory - an area of land that belongs
to or is controlled by a government; one
of the parts of the United States that is
not a state

Vocabulary
Acquisition - the act or process of
getting something, such as land
Expansion - the act of becoming bigger
Manifest Destiny - The 19th century
belief that the expansion of the US
throughout North America was good
and necessary

The Transcontinental Railroad

A railroad network that ran across the entire
U.S.
Completed mainly through the labor of
Chinese and Irish immigrants.
The government paid for most of it.
Completed in 1869.
Led to an economic boom and further
settlement of western lands.
Accompanied by the Homestead Act - a law
giving free land to settlers who agreed to live
in the Great Plains for at least 5 years.