United States History Student Edition

05 Oregon, Florida, and Manifest Destiny

Rivalry in the Northwest GUIDING QUESTION

READING STRATEGY Integrating Knowledge and Ideas As you read, take notes about key events in the history of the Oregon Country and Florida. List those events on a time line like this one.

Why did Americans want to control the Oregon Country? The Oregon Country was a huge area located north of California between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It included all of what are now Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, plus parts of Montana and Wyoming. The region also contained about half of what is now the Canadian province of British Columbia. In the early 1800s, four nations, as well as numerous Native American peoples, claimed this vast, rugged land. The United States based its claim on Robert Gray’s discovery of the Columbia River in 1792 and the explorations of the Lewis and Clark expedition. The other claimants were Great Britain, which had explored the Columbia River; Spain, which controlled California; and Russia, which had built settlements south from Alaska into Oregon. The Adams-Onís Treaty Many Americans wanted control of Oregon in order to gain access to the Pacific Ocean. In 1819, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams convinced Spain to approve the Adams-Onís Treaty. The Spanish agreed to set the limits of their territory at what is now California’s northern border and to give up all claims to Oregon. In 1824, Russia also gave up its claim to the land south of Alaska.

1810

1820

1830 1840

1850

FLORIDA BENCHMARKS

• SS.8.A.1.2 • SS.8.A.3.16 • SS.8.A.4.1 • SS.8.A.4.2 • SS.8.A.4.4 • SS.8.A.4.17 • SS.8.A.4.18 • SS.8.CG.1.3 • SS.8.E.1.1 • SS.8.G.1.2 • SS.8.G.2.1 • SS.8.G.2.3 • SS.8.G.4.1 • SS.8.G.4.4 • SS.8.G.4.6 • SS.8.G.6.2

Although the territory was not under the direct control of the United States, the fertile Oregon Country attracted settlers to the West.

• ELA.K12.EE.4.1 • ELA.K12.EE.6.1

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