The first event is The Treaty of Paris following the Revolutionary War. This treaty acknowledged the former 13 colonies as the United States. However this treaty didn’t define the borders very well and led to many disputes. This was in 1783.In 1803 the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million. This was one of the most well known purchases as it nearly doubled the size of the United States at that time. However a lot of this land had belonged to Indians and no one had explored it. This was the reason why they decided to fund Lewis and Clark’s expedition up the Missouri River to see what it was like.An American named Jonathan Lambert from Salem, Massachusetts laid claim to a small island in the South Atlantic called Tristan da Cunha in 1810. This island was used as a naval and piracy base against British shipping. However Jonathan died in the first year of the war and shortly after the war the island was abandoned. Britain quickly took control to prevent the French from gaining a foothold against them.Florida was one of the most disputed territories after President Madison claimed West Florida for the U.S. in 1810.The Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819 finally settled the issue with Spain giving up their claims on Florida. Spain also gave up any claim that they had on the Oregon Territory. The U.S. also gained a small part of central Colorado because of a error surveying it previously.Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842 defined the border between United States and Canada (which was still a British colony at the time).In 1845 Texas was still considered its own country. However in 1836 The Republic of Texas voted to allow the United States to annex Texas as a state. In late 1844 the President of Texas signed a treaty to allow this to happen. So in February 1845 Texas became the 28th state.The Oregon Territory up to this point had been jointly controlled by the U.S. and the United Kingdom. In 1846 the Oregon Treaty was signed and Oregon was divided at the 49th parallel. However the San Juan Islands in that area were still controlled by both countries until 1872 when the U.S. took over control.In 1848 following the Mexican-American war Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe. As a result of this treaty Mexico gave the United States parts of Texas, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Wyoming. We also got all of California, Nevada, and Utah. It also set the southern border of Texas as the Rio Grande.The Guano Islands Act of 1856 allows the U.S. to claim unoccupied islands. Baker Island, Howland Island, and Navassa Island were annexed under its provisions in 1857. Today ownership of Navassa is disputed between the U.S. and Haiti. Johnston Atoll was claimed by the U.S. and Hawaiʻi. This changed when the U.S. formally anexed Hawai’i in 1858.The last piece of land that the United States gained was Alaska. Alaska was bought from Russia in 1867 for $7,200,000.First SiteSecond Site
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