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On May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah, a boisterous crowd gathered to witness the completion of one of the greatest engineering feats of the 19th century: the building of the transcontinental railroad. The electrifying moment marked the culmination of six years of grueling work.  A telegrapher sent a simple, yet thrilling, message to the waiting nation: "DONE!"  Peopled by the ingenious entrepreneurs whose unscrupulous financing got the line laid, the brilliant engineers who charted the railroad's course, the armies of workers who labored relentlessly on the enterprise, and the Native Americans whose lives were destroyed in its wake.

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The American Civil War, 1861–1865, resulted from long-standing sectional differences and questions not fully resolved when the United States Constitution was ratified in 1789. With the defeat of the Southern Confederacy and the subsequent passage of the XIII, XIV and XV amendments to the Constitution, the Civil War’s lasting effects include abolishing the institution of slavery in America and firmly redefining the United States as a single, indivisible nation rather than a loosely bound collection of independent states.

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The California Gold Rush was the largest mass migration in American history since it brought about 300,000 people to California. It all started on January 24, 1848, when James W. Marshall found gold on his piece of land at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma. The news of gold quickly spread around. People from Oregon, Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii) and Latin America were the first to hear the breaking news, so they were the first to arrive in order to test their luck in California by the end of 1848. Soon the others from the rest of US, Europe, Australia and China followed and since they mainly arrived during 1849 they were called the “forty-niners”.

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America the Story of Us: Gold Rush | History

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In the 19th century US, Manifest Destiny was a belief that was widely held that the destiny of American settlers was to expand and move across the continent to spread their traditions and their institutions, while at the same time enlightening more primitive nations. And the American settlers of the time considered Indians and Hispanics to be inferior and therefore deserving of cultivation. The settlers considered the United States to be the best possible way to organize a country so they felt the need to remake the world in the image of their own country.

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The Oregon Trail started Independence Missouri, and ended in Oregon.  It was called the Oregon Trail because it ended in Oregon.  Many people started on this trail, and some never finished, finding homes along the way, or maybe even dying.  The trail was hard, about 2,000 miles.  Lewis and Clark took this trail, and they went through the starting point in Independence to go to Washington DC.

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Life in a wagon was hard, even harder for claustrophobic people.  You encountered a lot of hardships.  You had to spend months, even years in those small spaces, and when you got there, you had to build a house, and that also took a very long time.

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Lewis and Clark had to deal with a lot of hardships, like storms, extreme heat, cold temperatures, hail storms, dust clouds, animals, (Lewis and Clark encountered at least 40 bears on the expedition), our wagon breaking, running out of food, people dying, oxen running out of food, oxen dying, and the indians.  You also needed to make sure that you left at the right time.  Some left around March, and it was too cold.  If you left in July, you would have grass that was too dry for your oxen.

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Thomas Jefferson was a
founding father and third
president of the United States.
He was born in 1743 in
Virginia. At that time Virginia
was a British colony. Thomas
grew up on a farm. As a
child, he enjoyed reading.  Thomas went to the College
of William and Mary. In
1767 he became a lawyer.
He was a great thinker and
writer. Thomas wrote about
the colonists' rights. In 1776
Thomas wrote the Declaration
of Independence.  Thomas went to the College
of William and Mary. In
1767 he became a lawyer.
He was a great thinker and
writer. Thomas wrote about
the colonists' rights. In 1776
Thomas wrote the Declaration
of Independence.  As president, Thomas
helped the United States
buy the Louisiana Territory.
In 1809 Thomas returned to
his home in Virginia. There
he helped build the University
of Virginia. Thomas died
on July 4, 1826.  As president, Thomas helped
double the size of the United
States. He is remembered as
a man who helped found and
grow the country. But most
of all we remember him as
the "Father of the Declaration
of Independence. "

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Sacagawea became famous
for her role in the Lewis and
Clark Expedition in 1805.
In 1788 she was born in
a Shoshone Indian camp in
today's Idaho. As a child,
she gathered nuts, berries,
and roots for her mother.  When Sacagawea was 12,
Hidatsa warriors attacked
the Shoshone camp. They
took Sacagawea captive.
When Sacagawea was 16,
a fur trader named Toussaint
Charbonneau married her.
They had a son together.  When Sacagawea was 12,
Hidatsa warriors attacked
the Shoshone camp. They
took Sacagawea captive.
When Sacagawea was 16,
a fur trader named Toussaint
Charbonneau married her.
They had a son together.  As a woman, Sacagawea
showed tribes that the group
was peaceful. She also told
the group what plants to eat
or use for medicine.
With her help, the explorers
reached the Pacific Ocean.  Sacagawea returned to her
village in 1806. She left with
Charbonneau for Missouri
in 1809. She died in 1812.
Today, people remember
Sacagawea for her strength
and courage. People have
built monuments in her honor.

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When Jefferson gave them their job, they started in St. Louis, Missouri, and ended in what know we now call Oregon.  They used the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers to get to the Pacific.  On their way back, their final stop was Washington DC when they were treated like national heroes.

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Many Americans got things from The New Orleans Port.  When the port shut down, the Americans panicked.  Thomas Jefferson decided to buy it.  When they offered to buy New Orleans to France for One Million dollars.  France turned it down.  They paid 15 million dollars to buy the Louisiana side.  They called it the Louisiana Purchase.  The president, Thomas Jefferson, chose Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to lead an expedition on the new land.

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Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark were American
explorers. They mapped a
route through the frontier
to the Pacific Ocean.
Clark was born in 1770
in Virginia. Lewis was born
in 1774 in Virginia.  Lewis was trained to run his
family's lands. At age 20
Lewis joined the army and
served on the frontier.
Clark grew up on the Ohio
and Kentucky frontier.
He served as an officer
under Lewis in the army.  President Thomas Jefferson
asked Lewis to explore the
West. He wanted to find
a Northwest Passage.
Lewis planned an expedition.
Lewis asked Clark to help him
lead the group. They set out
from Missouri in May 1804.The men reached present-day
North Dakota in October.
There they hired interpreters,
including Sacagawea. During
their travels, they met many
American Indian tribes.
They reached the Pacific
Ocean in November 1805.  Lewis and Clark returned
home in September 1806.
They kept journals about the
expedition. They helped
people learn about the West.
Lewis died in 1809. Clark
died in 1838. But their trip
opened the West to settlers.