# data[].attributes.body
Thomas Jefferson was a very important person. He bought the most important land for expanding westward. He bought the Louisiana territory which doubled the size of the United States back then. It was known as the best real estate purchase of all time. He bought the land for 15 million dollars. The land had 828,000 sq miles, that's 4 cents an acre. He also was the one to send Lewis and Clark on the expedition. Yes, he made a big achievement for the US on expanding west but he also expanded slavery which played a very big role in why the civil war was fought.

# data[].attributes.body
This was right after the revolutionary war.  The United States won their independence from Great Britain. They signed a peace treaty, which gave the US land from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River. This allowed the colonies to expand westward because when they were under British rule they weren't allowed past the Appalachian mountains. This started the westward expansion and brought many more settlers to the US. This brought slave owners to the US. This started the Tension between the sides.

# data[].attributes.body
The Northwest Ordinance was a government for the Northwest Territory, provided a method for admitting new states to the Union from the territory, and listed a bill of rights guaranteed in the territory. This was very important because they used this for every territory they got. This lead to the civil war because this action was trying to forbid slavery. This slowed down the south on some territories that were bought from other countries. But wasn't enough to stop the south before there wasn't any more land to buy and settle in. That's when the civil war began.

# data[].attributes.body
The cotton gin is a machine that is used to pull cotton fibres from the cottonseed. This meant that the south can produce more cotton which meant they needed to pick more cotton to make more money faster. This resulted in the plantations in the south growing larger and larger. When they realized that the plantations were growing at a rapid speed. This meant that they needed more slaves. That really got the south going because they made much more money than they have ever made. That's when the north told them it wasn't right to keep slaves, they ignored their comments about slavery and kept doing what they were doing because of how much money they were making.

# data[].attributes.body
After the land given by Great Britain, Thomas Jefferson wanted more land. He first wanted to buy New Orleans. But then get negotiated for the whole land because France was fighting a war in Europe and needed money so they sold the 828,000 sq miles for 15 million dollars. That's 4 cents an acre. This land doubled the size of the United States. This is a big purchase for expanding westward because that gave freedom for even more settlers to come and settle. This purchase also came with some controversies about slavery. The south and north really started to disagree with each other even more. Which resulted in the tensions between the north and the south growing even higher. They could not figure out which state would be a slave state or not.

# data[].attributes.body
After the revolutionary war, Thomas Jefferson wanted to explore the Louisiana territory. He sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the land. They led the Corps of Discovery which was made up of 48 volunteers. They needed to map the vegetation, animals, natural resources. This was important for the expansion westward because when they came back with the information about really good soil and good weather for agriculture, news spread very fast all around the US. More people came and the people made farms and grew cash crops. That made the need for slavery in the south much higher.  And the arguing became even more violent when counsellors are pulling guns at others.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
The orange is the land bought from spain.

# data[].attributes.body
The Spanish Cession is when the US bought the land from Spain for 5 million dollars. This land was populated once by American Indians but they were driven out of Florida by the Spanish. This is an important event leading to the civil war because Spain wanted to bring settlers of their own and the United States didn't want that because if they wanted to expand westward and control all the land they needed to get rid of Spain. And that is how they did it when Spain didn't have any settlers of their own they gave Florida to the United States for 5 million dollars. When florida became a state, the argument came up again, should the state be a free or a slave state.

# data[].attributes.body
The Missouri compromise was the deciding what territories of the Louisiana purchase would be slave or free states. They decided to draw a line, called the Missouri Compromise Line, this line separated the slave and free states. They also came to the agreement that Missouri will become a slave state but maine will become a free state. This was an important event leading up to the civil war because neither did the north of the south like the compromise line and they both argued and argued and that's when riots and protesting came in.

# data[].attributes.body
The Erie Canal was an artificial waterway that stretched around 363 miles, from Albany to Buffalo. The Erie Canal was part of the New York State Canal System, which connected the Great Lakes basin to New York City by opening up new trade routes. By providing cheaper and more efficient means to transport goods. The canal had major impacts on the economic development of New York state, as well as the whole United States. This canal was also used to transport slaves. The south used this canal to also trade slaves. This was a big down side to the erie canal but there was to many benefits to negatives so they didnt do anything about it.

# data[].attributes.body
The trail of tears was a removal of Indians. Around 16,000 Native Americans were marched over 1,200 miles of rugged land. Over 4,000 of these Indians died of disease, famine, and warfare. The Indian tribe was called the Cherokee. After the removal of the American indians they realised that they didn't have space for them. So they sold them to the south. The south made them slaves to work on the plantations. That's how they got rid of the Native American Indians. They used their land for themselves. The north didn't agree with them but they could not stop them. This expanded the amount of slaves working in the south.

# data[].attributes.body
This involved only 70 slaves from plantations in Virginia, but as many as 65 white civilians were killed by the slaves, making it the bloodiest slave revolt in U.S. history. This was one of many slave rebellions that happened. These were little steps of protesting and trying to abolish slavery. These rebellions made the south slow down in the production of cash crops, especially cotton. Slaves started to stick up for themselves but some weren't that lucky. If you would do such a thing back then you probably would be executed or punished very badly.

# data[].attributes.body
The Oregon Trail was a pathway to the new states. In the picture above you see many settlers leaving their home and travelling westward to the new land that they would call home. Over 300,000 settlers made this journey. This Journey was a very hard one. They had to make it across the first snow because after the first snow it's impossible to cross the huge mountains. They had to wait 6 months to start again. And by that time they usually die. This is an important event because this trail allowed settlers to move westward and race to new territories to make it a slave or a free state. And that created a lot of chaos between both sides. The North and the South started to lose respect for each other.

# data[].attributes.body
This is when the word, Manifest Destiny, is used for the first time. This is when the settlers really started to believe in it. They believed that it was their destiny to move west and settle in the new land. They believed that there is a new life waiting for them on the other side. The north wanted to spread the anti-slavery movement and the south,pro-slavery, wanted to grow their farms and have more slaves to work for them. Just like the Oregon Trail they wanted to create the new territories into slave or free states. This movement created even more chaos adding on the Oregon Trail.

# data[].attributes.body
The Texas Annexation is when the United States won texas from Mexico and texas became the 28th state. This all happened because texas citizens wanted independence from Mexico so the United States stepped in. This state was a very big slave state because down in the south the climate was very good for growing cash crops, such as cotton. this really expanded slavery and gave the south more power.

# data[].attributes.body
The Oregon country was a piece of land in the top right corner of the map. For many years the land was shared between the U.S and the British. When James K. Polk was elected he wanted the territory for himself. But after some negotiation with Great Britain, they agreed to split the territory in half. The U.S took the southern part and Great Britain took the northern part that is known as Canada. This territory that the U.S acquired was very important for expanding slavery because when they got the land they established a slave trade in Washington D.C. which made the population of slaves sky rocket.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848

# data[].attributes.subject
The Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848

# data[].attributes.body
The Mexican-American war was very important to get more land in the US. They fought Mexico and after they won they paid Mexico $15 million for land that would later become California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and parts of several other states. This is the expansion of slave states and free states this would expand the slavery pro and anti settlers. This would make tensions even higher because every time they get new land there is the question will there be slavery allowed in the states.

# data[].attributes.body
When the first sight of gold in America was discovered and spread through the country, thousands of people came. Around 300,000. The gold was found in California. These Settlers that came to California risked everything, they quit their job to try and find gold to become rich. Some people became very wealthy and some went poor. This affected the south and the north because some slave owners used their slaves to look for gold. Most of them got gold and used that gold to buy more slaves. This angered the north a lot and the hatred among the south and the north grew a lot bigger.

# data[].attributes.body
The compromise admitted California to the Union as a free state. They left the decision to the settlers whether or not slavery is allowed in the territories of New Mexico and Utah. The slave trade was outlawed in Washington, D.C. And a strict new Fugitive Slave Act compelled citizens of free states to assist in capturing enslaved people. This compromise slowed things down for the south because congress banned the slave trade in Washington DC. This helped the North to fix its economy preparing to the civil war.

# data[].attributes.body
The Gadsden purchase was a small piece of land that went into Arizona and New Mexico. The united states bought the land from Mexico after some negotiations for 10 million dollars. The United States wanted this land because they thought it was a good route for a railroad across the Southwest to California. Some of the ways they used the railroad was for transporting cash crops or even sometimes slaves. This event lead to the civil war because this railroad expanded slavery and the production and transportation of the cash crops.

# data[].attributes.body
This act created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It allowed the settlers to decide whether or not slavery will be legal in those territories, this is called popular sovereignty. This act repealed the Missouri Compromise Line. When this was announced many anti and pro-slavery settlers came rushing in to make the new territories free or to allow slavery. There were two governments made, one for each side. This created chaos, the conflict among settlers started from arguing and shouting at each other and ended with the two sides killing each other. Kansas was known as bleeding Kansas.