Term | Definition |
Manifest Destiny | The idea popular in the United States during the 1800's that the country must expand its boundaries to the Pacific |
Mountain Men | Frontiersmen living in the mountain wilderness |
Rendezvous | A meeting |
Emigrants | A person who leaves a country or region to live elsewhere |
Oregon Trail | A trail pioneer traveled to Oregon |
Stephen F. Austin | Stephen F. Austin received permission from the new Mexican government to organize the colony |
Tejanos | Mexicans who claim Texas as his home |
Alamo | When Santa Anna's army reached San Antonio in late February they found a small Texan force barricaded inside a nearby mission. |
Sam Houston | The government named him as the new commander |
Annex | To add a territory to one's own territory |
Battle of San Jancinto | it was between Houston and Santa Anna where they battled and Houston captured Santa Anna. Santa Anna later signed a treaty |
John C. Fremont | An army officer, wrote of the region's mild climate and natural resouces |
Rancheros | Mexican ranch owners |
Rancho | Huge properties for raising livestock set up by Mexican settlers in California |
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo | Mexico gave up Texas and agreed to the Rio Grande as the border between Texas and Mexico |
Mexican Cession | Mexico gave California and New Mexico to the United States for the price of $15 million. |
Gadsden Purchase | A strip of land along the southern edge of a present-day Arizona and New Mexico |
Fort-Niners | People who arrived in California for gold in 1849 |
Boomtowns | A community experiencing a sudden growth in business or population |
Vigilantes | People who take the law into their own hands |
Levi Stauss | Inventor of Levis, sold miners sturdy denim pants |
Mormons | Members of Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints |
Brigham Young | The leader of the Mormons |