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When Thomas Jefferson became president in 1801, most of the population of the united states lived within 50-100 miles of the Atlantic ocean.

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Purchased in 1803 from France for $15 million –about four cents per acre–the Louisiana Purchase added much of the Great Plains to the United States, set the stage for expansion to the Pacific Ocean, and set in motion sectional conflicts over slavery that led to the Civil War.

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Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led the U.S. Corps of Discovery on an historic expedition across the western lands of North America in the early 1800s.

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In 1843, close to 1,000 people joined together to traverse the Oregon Trail via a wagon train, a feat that required going over the treacherous Rocky Mountains. They began in Independence, Missouri and made it all the way to Oregon Country, which still belonged to England. Their approximately 2,000-mile journey was a success, a fact that surprised many people who did not think the group would be able to safely navigate the long journey. They settled the area and were followed by thousands more over the next few years.

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Texas officially became a state in 1845. In 1844, the Republic of Texas entered into a Treaty of Annexation with the United States, laying the groundwork for statehood. In 1845, Congress passed a joint resolution in favor of annexing Texas, which was approved by voters in the then-republic, now state.

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Fleeing violence and religious persecution, the Mormons left their settlement in Illinois and headed west in search of a new homeland. Under the leadership of Brigham Young, they traversed more than 1,300 miles west through the wilderness, crossing the Rocky Mountains and stopping in what is now Utah. Seeking an isolated place to call home, they opted to stop in the Great Salt Lake Valley, which they decided would be their promised land. By the end of the year, around 2,000 Mormons had settled in the area.

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Gold was discovered in Northern California, spurring thousands of people to find their way to the west coast in search of riches. Prior to the gold rush, fewer than 1,000 people lived in California. So many people flocked to the area that there were around 100,000 people there by the time 1849 drew to a close. The gold rush continued, peaking in 1852 then declining until it ended in 1857.

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California officially became a state in 1850, just two years after being ceded to the United States by Mexico via the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Unlike other states in the west, California was granted statehood without first having been a territory.

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Oregon Country officially became a state in 1859, after being ceded to the United States by England in 1846 via the Oregon Treaty. This occurred as a result of being settled by those who migrated to Oregon Country via the Oregon Trail during the 1840s.

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With the passing of the Homestead Act of 1862, people were eligible to claim up to 160 acres of land in the west. After residing on the land for five years and making improvements at that time, the land would be given to those who settled it. Many people rushed west to claim their land and establish a homestead. Approximately 500 million acres were assigned to those who made claims under this law between 1862 and 1904. About 80 million of those acres went to homesteaders; the rest went to business interests such as cattlemen, timbermen, railroads, miners, and speculators.

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Colonel George Armstrong Custer led an 1874 expedition on which gold was discovered in the Black Hills of the part of the Dakota Territory that is now South Dakota. This spurred a brand new gold rush, drawing speculators seeking to strike it rich to settle in the area. Within two years, nearly 10,000 people had relocated to the area on a quest for gold.

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The philosophy drove 19th-century U.S. territorial expansion and was used to justify the forced removal of Native Americans and other groups from their homes. The rapid expansion of the United States intensified the issue of slavery as new states were added to the Union, leading to the outbreak of the Civil War.

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The philosophy drove 19th-century U.S. territorial expansion and was used to justify the forced removal of Native Americans and other groups from their homes. The rapid expansion of the United States intensified the issue of slavery as new states were added to the Union, leading to the outbreak of the Civil War

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The Missouri Compromise was struck down as unconstitutional, and slavery and anti-slavery proponents rushed into the territory to vote in favor or against the practice. The rush, effectively led to massacre known as Bleeding Kansas and propelled itself into the very real beginnings of the American Civil War.

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The Compromise of 1850 was a series of measures passed by the U.S. Congress in an effort to settle regional disagreements over the state of American slavery. ... The gap between Northerners and Southerners, and those living in “free” or “slave” states, was widening—and soon would lead to the start of the Civil War.

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Between roughly 1855 and 1859, Kansans engaged in a violent guerrilla war between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces in an event known as Bleeding Kansas which significantly shaped American politics and contributed to the coming of the Civil War.

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The Oregon Treaty between the U.S. and British. He told the British the Oregon Territory would not be shared and this ultimately led to the Pig War (U.S.). ... The signing of the treaty in 1846 was important to Manifest Destiny because it showed the U.S. was willing to fight for westward expansion.

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The philosophy drove 19th-century U.S. territorial expansion and was used to justify the forced removal of Native Americans and other groups from their homes. The rapid expansion of the United States intensified the issue of slavery as new states were added to the Union, leading to the outbreak of the Civil War.

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Dakota Territory was not directly involved in the American Civil War but did raise some troops to defend the settlements following the Dakota War of 1862 which triggered hostilities with the Sioux tribes of Dakota Territory. The Department of the Northwest sent expeditions into Dakota Territory in 1863, 1864 and 1865.

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Known as the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the controversial bill raised the possibility that slavery could be extended into territories where it had once been banned. Its passage intensified the bitter debate over slavery in the United States, which would later explode into the Civil War.