1.
Texas annexation
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The Texas annexation was the 1845 incorporation of the Republic of Texas into the United States of America, which was admitted to the Union as the 28th state on December 29,1845. The Republic of Texas declared independence from the Republic of Mexico on March 2,1836, at the time the vast majority of the Texian population favored the annexation of the Republic by the United States. Moreover, they wished to avoid a war with Mexico, whose government refused to acknowledge the sovereignty of its rebellious northern province. His official motivation was to outmaneuver suspected diplomatic efforts by the British government for emancipation of slaves in Texas, through secret negotiations with the Houston administration, Tyler secured a treaty of annexation in April 1844. Pro-Texas-annexation southern Democratic delegates denied their anti-annexation leader Martin Van Buren the nomination at their partys convention in May 1844, in alliance with pro-expansion northern Democratic colleagues, they secured the nomination of James K. Polk, who ran on a pro-Texas Manifest Destiny platform. In June 1844, the Senate, with its Whig majority, the pro-annexation Democrat Polk narrowly defeated anti-annexation Whig Henry Clay in the November 1844 presidential election. In December 1844, lame-duck President Tyler called on Congress to pass his treaty by simple majorities in each house, the Democratic-dominated House of Representatives complied with his request by passing an amended bill expanding on the pro-slavery provisions of the Tyler treaty. On March 1,1845, President Tyler signed the annexation bill, when Polk took office the next day, he encouraged Texas to accept the Tyler offer. Texas ratified the agreement with popular approval from Texans, the bill was signed by Polk on December 29,1845, accepting Texas as the 28th state of the Union. Texas formally relinquished its sovereignty to the United States on February 19,1846, first mapped by Spain in 1519, Texas was part of the vast Spanish empire seized by the Spanish Conquistadors from its indigenous people for over 300 years. When the Louisiana territory was acquired by the United States from France in 1803, the boundaries of Texas were determined within the larger geostrategic struggle to demarcate the limits of the United States extensive western lands and of Spains vast possessions in North America. Nonetheless, Texas remained an object of fervent interest to American expansionists, among them Thomas Jefferson, while a majority of southern congressmen acquiesced to the exclusion of slavery from the bulk of the Louisiana Purchase, a significant minority objected. Then-Representative John Tyler of Virginia invoked the Jeffersonian precepts of territorial and commercial growth as a goal to counter the rise of sectional differences over slavery. This doctrine would be revived during the Texas annexation controversy, colonizing empresario Stephen F. Austin managed the regional affairs of the mostly American-born population – 20% of them slaves – under the terms of the generous government land grants. A general lawlessness prevailed in the vast Texas frontier, and Mexicos civic laws went largely unenforced, Mexican authorities, perceiving that they were losing control over Texas and alarmed by the unsuccessful Fredonian Rebellion of 1826, abandoned the policy of benign rule. New restrictions were imposed in 1829–1830, outlawing slavery throughout the nation, military occupation followed, sparking local uprisings and a civil war. Texas conventions in 1832 and 1833 submitted petitions for redress of grievances to overturn the restrictions, in 1835, an army under Mexican President Santa Anna entered its territory of Texas and abolished self-government. Texans responded by declaring their independence from Mexico on March 2,1836, on April 20–21, rebel forces under Texas General Sam Houston defeated the Mexican army at the Battle of San Jacinto
2.
U.S. state
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A U. S. state is a constituent political entity of the United States of America. There are 50 states, which are together in a union with each other. Each state holds administrative jurisdiction over a geographic territory. Due to the shared sovereignty between each state and the government, Americans are citizens of both the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons covered by certain types of court orders. States range in population from just under 600,000 to over 39 million, four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names. States are divided into counties or county-equivalents, which may be assigned some local authority but are not sovereign. County or county-equivalent structure varies widely by state, State governments are allocated power by the people through their individual constitutions. All are grounded in principles, and each provides for a government. States possess a number of powers and rights under the United States Constitution, Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization and incorporation, with the government playing a much larger role than it once did. There is a debate over states rights, which concerns the extent and nature of the states powers and sovereignty in relation to the federal government. States and their residents are represented in the federal Congress, a legislature consisting of the Senate. Each state is represented in the Senate by two senators, and is guaranteed at least one Representative in the House, members of the House are elected from single-member districts. Representatives are distributed among the states in proportion to the most recent constitutionally mandated decennial census, the Constitution grants to Congress the authority to admit new states into the Union. Since the establishment of the United States in 1776, the number of states has expanded from the original 13 to 50, alaska and Hawaii are the most recent states admitted, both in 1959. The Constitution is silent on the question of states have the power to secede from the Union. Shortly after the Civil War, the U. S. Supreme Court, in Texas v. White, as a result, while the governments of the various states share many similar features, they often vary greatly with regard to form and substance
3.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
4.
Nevada
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Nevada is a state in the Western, Mountain West, and Southwestern regions of the United States of America. Nevada is the 7th most extensive, the 34th most populous, nearly three-quarters of Nevadas people live in Clark County, which contains the Las Vegas–Paradise metropolitan area where three of the states four largest incorporated cities are located. Nevada is officially known as the Silver State because of the importance of silver to its history and economy. It is also known as the Battle Born State, because it achieved statehood during the Civil War, as the Sage-brush State, for the plant of the same name. Nevada borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, Nevada is largely desert and semi-arid, much of it located within the Great Basin. Areas south of the Great Basin are located within the Mojave Desert, while Lake Tahoe, about 86% of the states land is managed by various jurisdictions of the U. S. federal government, both civilian and military. Before European contact, Native Americans of the Paiute, Shoshone, the first Europeans to explore the region were Spanish. They called the region Nevada because of the snow covered the mountains in winter. The area formed part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the United States annexed the area in 1848 after its victory in the Mexican–American War, and it was incorporated as part of Utah Territory in 1850. The discovery of silver at the Comstock Lode in 1859 led to a boom that became an impetus to the creation of Nevada Territory out of western Utah Territory in 1861. Nevada became the 36th state on October 31,1864, as the second of two added to the Union during the Civil War. Nevada has a reputation for its libertarian laws, in 1940, with a population of just over 110,000 people, Nevada was by far the least-populated state, with less than half the population of the next least-populated state. However, legalized gambling and lenient marriage and divorce laws transformed Nevada into a major tourist destination in the 20th century, Nevada is the only U. S. state where prostitution is legal, though it is illegal in Clark County, Washoe County and Carson City. The tourism industry remains Nevadas largest employer, with mining continuing as a sector of the economy. The name Nevada comes from the Spanish nevada, meaning snow-covered, most Nevadans pronounce the second syllable of their state name using the vowel of trap. Many from outside the Western United States pronounce it with the vowel of father, although the latter pronunciation is closer to the Spanish pronunciation, it is not the pronunciation preferred by most Nevadans. State Assemblyman Harry Mortenson proposed a bill to recognize the alternate pronunciation of Nevada, though the bill was not supported by most legislators, the Nevadan pronunciation is the de facto official one, since it is the one used by the state legislature. Nevada is almost entirely within the Basin and Range Province, and is broken up by many mountain ranges
5.
Utah
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Utah is a state in the western United States. It became the 45th state admitted to the U. S. on January 4,1896, Utah is the 13th-largest by area, 31st-most-populous, and 10th-least-densely populated of the 50 United States. Utah has a population of more than 3 million, approximately 80% of whom live along the Wasatch Front, Utah is bordered by Colorado to the east, Wyoming to the northeast, Idaho to the north, Arizona to the south, and Nevada to the west. It also touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast, approximately 62% of Utahns are reported to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or LDS, which greatly influences Utahn culture and daily life. The LDS Churchs world headquarters is located in Salt Lake City, Utah is the only state with a majority population belonging to a single church. The state is a center of transportation, education, information technology and research, government services, mining, in 2013, the U. S. Census Bureau estimated that Utah had the second fastest-growing population of any state. St. George was the metropolitan area in the United States from 2000 to 2005. Utah also has the 14th highest median income and the least income inequality of any U. S. state. A2012 Gallup national survey found Utah overall to be the best state to live in based on 13 forward-looking measurements including various economic, lifestyle, the name Utah is derived from the name of the Ute tribe. It means people of the mountains in the Ute language, according to other sources Utah is derived from the Apache name Yudah which means Tall. These Native American tribes are subgroups of the Ute-Aztec Native American ethnicity and were sedentary, the Ancestral Pueblo people built their homes through excavations in mountains, and the Fremont people built houses of straw before disappearing from the region around the 15th century. Another group of Native Americans, the Navajo, settled in the region around the 18th century, in the mid-18th century, other Uto-Aztecan tribes, including the Goshute, the Paiute, the Shoshone, and the Ute people, also settled in the region. These five groups were present when the first European explorers arrived, the southern Utah region was explored by the Spanish in 1540, led by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, while looking for the legendary Cíbola. A group led by two Catholic priests—sometimes called the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition—left Santa Fe in 1776, hoping to find a route to the coast of California, the expedition traveled as far north as Utah Lake and encountered the native residents. The Spanish made further explorations in the region, but were not interested in colonizing the area because of its desert nature, in 1821, the year Mexico achieved its independence from Spain, the region became known as part of its territory of Alta California. European trappers and fur traders explored some areas of Utah in the early 19th century from Canada, the city of Provo, Utah was named for one, Étienne Provost, who visited the area in 1825. The city of Ogden, Utah was named after Peter Skene Ogden, in late 1824, Jim Bridger became the first known English-speaking person to sight the Great Salt Lake. Due to the salinity of its waters, Bridger thought he had found the Pacific Ocean
6.
Arizona
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Arizona is a state in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the Western United States and the Mountain West states and it is the sixth largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona is one of the Four Corners states. It has borders with New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, California, and Mexico, Arizonas border with Mexico is 389 miles long, on the northern border of the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California. Arizona is the 48th state and last of the states to be admitted to the Union. Historically part of the territory of Alta California in New Spain, after being defeated in the Mexican–American War, Mexico ceded much of this territory to the United States in 1848. The southernmost portion of the state was acquired in 1853 through the Gadsden Purchase, Southern Arizona is known for its desert climate, with very hot summers and mild winters. There are ski resorts in the areas of Flagstaff, Alpine, in addition to the Grand Canyon National Park, there are several national forests, national parks, and national monuments. To the European settlers, their pronunciation sounded like Arissona, the area is still known as alĭ ṣonak in the Oodham language. Another possible origin is the Basque phrase haritz ona, as there were numerous Basque sheepherders in the area, There is a misconception that the states name originated from the Spanish term Árida Zona. See also lists of counties, islands, rivers, lakes, state parks, national parks, Arizona is in the Southwestern United States as one of the Four Corners states. Arizona is the sixth largest state by area, ranked after New Mexico, of the states 113,998 square miles, approximately 15% is privately owned. The remaining area is public forest and park land, state trust land, Arizona is well known for its desert Basin and Range region in the states southern portions, which is rich in a landscape of xerophyte plants such as the cactus. This regions topography was shaped by volcanism, followed by the cooling-off. Its climate has hot summers and mild winters. The state is well known for its pine-covered north-central portion of the high country of the Colorado Plateau. Like other states of the Southwest United States, Arizona has an abundance of mountains, despite the states aridity, 27% of Arizona is forest, a percentage comparable to modern-day France or Germany. The worlds largest stand of pine trees is in Arizona
7.
New Mexico
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New Mexico is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. It was admitted to the Union as the 47th state on January 6,1912 and it is usually considered one of the Mountain States. New Mexico is fifth by area, the 36th-most populous, inhabited by Native Americans for thousands of years before European exploration, New Mexico was colonized by the Spanish in 1598 Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain. Later, it was part of independent Mexico before becoming a U. S. territory and eventually a U. S. state as a result of the Mexican–American War. Among U. S. states, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanics, the major Native American nations in the state are Navajo, Pueblo, and Apache peoples. The demography and culture of the state are shaped by these strong Hispanic and Native American influences and its scarlet and gold colors are taken from the royal standards of Spain, along with the ancient sun symbol of the Zia, a Pueblo-related tribe. New Mexico, or Nuevo México in Spanish, is incorrectly believed to have taken its name from the nation of Mexico. The name simply stuck, even though the area had no connection to Mexico or the Mexica Indian tribes, Mexico, formerly a part of New Spain, adopted its name centuries later in 1821, after winning independence from Spanish rule. New Mexico was a part of the independent Mexican Empire and Federal Republic of Mexico for 27 years,1821 through 1848, New Mexico and Mexico developed as neighboring Spanish-speaking communities under Spanish rule, with relatively independent histories. The states total area is 121,412 square miles, the eastern border of New Mexico lies along 103° W longitude with the state of Oklahoma, and 2.2 miles west of 103° W longitude with Texas. On the southern border, Texas makes up the eastern two-thirds, while the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora make up the western third, the western border with Arizona runs along the 109°03 W longitude. The southwestern corner of the state is known as the Bootheel, the 37° N latitude parallel forms the northern boundary with Colorado. The states New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah come together at the Four Corners in the corner of New Mexico. New Mexico, although a state, has very little water. Its surface water area is about 250 square miles, the New Mexican landscape ranges from wide, rose-colored deserts to broken mesas to high, snow-capped peaks. Despite New Mexicos arid image, heavily forested mountain wildernesses cover a significant portion of the state, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the southernmost part of the Rocky Mountains, run roughly north-south along the east side of the Rio Grande in the rugged, pastoral north. The most important of New Mexicos rivers are the Rio Grande, Pecos, Canadian, San Juan, the Rio Grande is tied for the fourth-longest river in the United States. Tourists visiting these sites bring significant money to the state, other areas of geographical and scenic interest include Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument and the Gila Wilderness in the southwest of the state
8.
Colorado
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Colorado is a state in the United States encompassing most of the Southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. Colorado is part of the Western United States, the Southwestern United States, Colorado is the 8th most extensive and the 21st most populous of the 50 United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Colorado was 5,540,545 on July 1,2016, the state was named for the Colorado River, which Spanish travelers named the Río Colorado for the ruddy silt the river carried from the mountains. The Territory of Colorado was organized on February 28,1861, Colorado is nicknamed the Centennial State because it became a state in the same year as the centennial of the United States Declaration of Independence. Colorado is noted for its landscape of mountains, forests, high plains, mesas, canyons, plateaus, rivers. Denver is the capital and the most populous city of Colorado, residents of the state are properly known as Coloradans, although the term Coloradoan has been used archaically and lives on in the title of Fort Collins newspaper, the Coloradoan. Colorado, Wyoming and Utah are the states which have boundaries defined solely by lines of latitude and longitude. The summit of Mount Elbert at 14,440 feet elevation in Lake County is the highest point in Colorado, Colorado is the only U. S. state that lies entirely above 1,000 meters elevation. The point where the Arikaree River flows out of Yuma County, Colorado and this point, which holds the distinction of being the highest low elevation point of any state, is higher than the high elevation points of 18 states and the District of Columbia. A little less than one half of the area of Colorado is flat, East of the Rocky Mountains are the Colorado Eastern Plains of the High Plains, the section of the Great Plains within Nebraska at elevations ranging from roughly 3,350 to 7,500 feet. The Colorado plains were mostly prairies, but they have many patches of forests, buttes. Eastern Colorado is presently covered in farmland and rangeland, along with small farming villages. Precipitation is fair, averaging from 15 to 25 inches annually, corn, wheat, hay, soybeans, and oats are all typical crops, and most of the villages and towns in this region boast both a water tower and a grain elevator. Irrigation water is available from the South Platte, the Arkansas River, and a few other streams, however, heavy use of ground water from wells for irrigation has caused underground water reserves to decline. As well as agriculture, eastern Colorado hosts considerable livestock, such as cattle ranches. Roughly 70% of Colorados population resides along the edge of the Rocky Mountains in the Front Range Urban Corridor between Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Pueblo, Colorado. This region is protected from prevailing storms that blow in from the Pacific Ocean region by the high Rockies in the middle of Colorado. The Front Range includes Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, Loveland, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Greeley and other townships, on the other side of the Rockies, the significant population centers in Western Colorado are the cities of Grand Junction, Durango, and Montrose
9.
Wyoming
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Wyoming /waɪˈoʊmɪŋ/ is a state in the mountain region of the western United States. The state is the tenth largest by area, the least populous, Wyoming is bordered on the north by Montana, on the east by South Dakota and Nebraska, on the south by Colorado, on the southwest by Utah, and on the west by Idaho. Cheyenne is the capital and the most populous city in Wyoming, the state population was estimated at 586,107 in 2015, which is less than the population of 31 of the largest U. S. cities. The Crow, Arapaho, Lakota, and Shoshone were some of the inhabitants of the region. Southwestern Wyoming was included in the Spanish Empire and then Mexican territory until it was ceded to the United States in 1848 at the end of the Mexican–American War. The region acquired the name Wyoming when a bill was introduced to Congress in 1865 to provide a government for the territory of Wyoming. The territory was named after the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania, with the name ultimately being derived from the Munsee word xwé, wamənk, the mineral extraction industry—especially coal, oil, natural gas, and trona—along with the travel and tourism sector are the main drivers behind Wyomings economy. Agriculture has historically been an important component of the economy with the main commodities being livestock, hay, sugar beets, grain. The climate is generally semi-arid and continental, being drier and windier in comparison to the rest of the United States, except for the 1964 election, Wyoming has been a politically conservative state since the 1950s, with the Republican party winning every presidential election. Wyoming is one of three states to have borders along only straight latitudinal and longitudinal lines, rather than being defined by natural landmarks. Wyoming is bordered on the north by Montana, on the east by South Dakota and Nebraska, on the south by Colorado, on the southwest by Utah, and on the west by Idaho. It is the tenth largest state in the United States in total area, from the north border to the south border it is 276 miles, and from the east to the west border is 365 miles at its south end and 342 miles at the north end. The Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming, the state is a great plateau broken by many mountain ranges. Surface elevations range from the summit of Gannett Peak in the Wind River Mountain Range, at 13,804 feet, to the Belle Fourche River valley in the states northeast corner, at 3,125 feet. In the northwest are the Absaroka, Owl Creek, Gros Ventre, Wind River, in the north central are the Big Horn Mountains, in the northeast, the Black Hills, and in the southern region the Laramie, Snowy and Sierra Madre ranges. The Snowy Range in the central part of the state is an extension of the Colorado Rockies in both geology and appearance. The Wind River Range in the west central part of the state is remote and includes more than 40 mountain peaks in excess of 13,000 ft tall in addition to Gannett Peak, the highest peak in the state. The Big Horn Mountains in the central portion are somewhat isolated from the bulk of the Rocky Mountains
10.
Southwestern United States
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The population of the area is around 11 million people, with over half that in Arizona, the most populous cities are Phoenix, El Paso, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, and Tucson. Most of the area was part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain in the Spanish Empire before becoming part of Mexico and it became part of the United States through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Gadsden Purchase. The deserts dominate the southern and western reaches of the area, the two major rivers of the region are the Colorado River, running in the northern and western areas, and the Rio Grande, running in the south. Formed approximately 8000 years ago, the Chihuahuan Desert is a dry desert. The Chihuahuan Desert spreads across the portion of the region, covering from southeastern Arizona, across southern New Mexico. While it is the second largest desert in the United States, only a third of the desert is within the United States, El Paso is the major city in this desert, with other smaller cities being Las Cruces and Roswell in New Mexico. The Chihuahuan is a rain shadow desert, formed two mountain ranges which block oceanic precipitation from reaching the area. The most prolific plants in this region are agave, yucca and creosote bushes, when people think of the desert southwest, the landscape of the Sonoran Desert is what mostly comes to mind. Rainfall averages between 4–12 inches per year, and the deserts most widely known inhabitant is the saguaro cactus and it is bounded on the northwest by the Mojave Desert, to the north by the Colorado Plateau and to the east by the Arizona Mountains forests and the Chihuahuan Desert. The portion of the Sonora Desert which lies in the Southwestern United States is the most populated area within the region. Six of the top ten major population centers of the region are found within its borders, Phoenix, Tucson, Mesa, Chandler, Glendale, also within its borders are Yuma and Prescott Arizona. The most northwest portion of the American Southwest is covered by the Mojave Desert, bordered on the south by the Sonoran Desert and the east by the Colorado Plateau, its range within the region makes up the southeast tip of Nevada, and the northwestern corner of Arizona. In terms of topography, the Mojave is very similar to the Great Basin Desert, the Mojave is the smallest, driest and hottest desert within the United States. The Mojave gets less than six inches of rain annually, the most prolific vegetation is the tall Joshua tree, which grow as tall as 40 feet, and are thought to live almost 1000 years. Other major vegetation includes the Parry saltbush and the Mojave sage, the Colorado Plateau varies from the large stands of forests in the west, including the largest stand of ponderosa pine trees in the world, to the Mesas to the east. Although not called a desert, the Colorado Plateau is mostly made up of high desert, the Plateau is characterized by a series of plateaus and mesas, interspersed with canyons. The most dramatic example is the Grand Canyon, but that is one of many dramatic vistas included within the Plateau, which includes spectacular lava formations, painted deserts, sand dunes, and badlands. One of the most distinctive features of the Plateau is its longevity, the Plateau can be divided into six sections, three of which fall into the Southwest region
11.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
12.
Mexico
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Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a federal republic in the southern half of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States, to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean, to the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea, and to the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost two million square kilometers, Mexico is the sixth largest country in the Americas by total area, Mexico is a federation comprising 31 states and a federal district that is also its capital and most populous city. Other metropolises include Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Toluca, Tijuana, pre-Columbian Mexico was home to many advanced Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Maya and Aztec before first contact with Europeans. In 1521, the Spanish Empire conquered and colonized the territory from its base in Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Three centuries later, this territory became Mexico following recognition in 1821 after the colonys Mexican War of Independence. The tumultuous post-independence period was characterized by instability and many political changes. The Mexican–American War led to the cession of the extensive northern borderlands, one-third of its territory. The Pastry War, the Franco-Mexican War, a civil war, the dictatorship was overthrown in the Mexican Revolution of 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the countrys current political system. Mexico has the fifteenth largest nominal GDP and the eleventh largest by purchasing power parity, the Mexican economy is strongly linked to those of its North American Free Trade Agreement partners, especially the United States. Mexico was the first Latin American member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and it is classified as an upper-middle income country by the World Bank and a newly industrialized country by several analysts. By 2050, Mexico could become the fifth or seventh largest economy. The country is considered both a power and middle power, and is often identified as an emerging global power. Due to its culture and history, Mexico ranks first in the Americas. Mexico is a country, ranking fourth in the world by biodiversity. In 2015 it was the 9th most visited country in the world, Mexico is a member of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G8+5, the G20, the Uniting for Consensus and the Pacific Alliance. Mēxihco is the Nahuatl term for the heartland of the Aztec Empire, namely, the Valley of Mexico, and its people, the Mexica and this became the future State of Mexico as a division of New Spain prior to independence. It is generally considered to be a toponym for the valley became the primary ethnonym for the Aztec Triple Alliance as a result. After New Spain won independence from Spain, representatives decided to name the new country after its capital and this was founded in 1524 on top of the ancient Mexica capital of Mexico-Tenochtitlan
13.
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
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With the defeat of its army and the fall of its capital, Mexico entered into negotiations to end the war. The treaty called for the U. S. to pay $15 million to Mexico, Mexicans in those annexed areas had the choice of relocating to within Mexicos new boundaries or receiving American citizenship with full civil rights. Over 90% chose to become U. S. citizens, the U. S. Senate advised and consented to ratification of the treaty by a vote of 38–14. The opponents of this treaty were led by the Whigs, who had opposed the war and rejected Manifest destiny in general, and rejected this expansion in particular. The peace talks were negotiated by Nicholas Trist, chief clerk of the US State Department, Nicholas Trist negotiated with a special commission representing the collapsed government led by Don José Bernardo Couto, Don Miguel de Atristain, and Don Luis Gonzaga Cuevas of Mexico. Instead, Article V of the treaty simply described the new U. S. –Mexico border. Comparing the boundary in the Adams–Onís Treaty to the Guadalupe Hidalgo boundary, Mexico conceded about 55% of its pre-war, pre-Texas territorial claims, articles VIII and IX ensured safety of existing property rights of Mexican citizens living in the transferred territories. Despite assurances to the contrary, the property rights of Mexican citizens were not honored by the U. S. in accordance with modifications to. The U. S. also agreed to assume $3.25 million in debts that Mexico owed to United States citizens, the residents had one year to choose whether they wanted American or Mexican citizenship, Over 90% chose American citizenship, which included full voting rights. The others returned to Mexico, or in cases in New Mexico were allowed to remain in place as Mexican citizens. Article XII engaged the United States to pay, In consideration of the acquired,15 million dollars. Article XI of the treaty was important to Mexico. S, would return captives of the Indians to Mexico. Mexicans believed that the United States had encouraged and assisted the Comanche and Apache raids that had devastated northern Mexico in the years before the war and this article promised relief to them Article XI, however, proved unenforceable. Destructive Indian raids continued despite a heavy U. S. presence near the Mexican border, Mexico filed 366 claims with the U. S. government for damages done by Comanche and Apache raids between 1848 and 1853. In 1853, in the Treaty of Mesilla concluding the Gadsden Purchase, the remainder of New Mexico and Arizona were peacefully purchased under the Gadsden Purchase, which was carried out in 1853. In this purchase the United States paid an additional $10 million, however, the American Civil War delayed construction of such a route, and it was not until 1881 that the Southern Pacific Railroad finally was completed, fulfilling the purpose of the acquisition. Mexico had claimed the area in question since winning its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence. About 80,000 Mexicans lived in the areas of California, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas during the period of 1845 to 1850, and far fewer in Nevada, in southern and western Colorado, and in Utah
14.
Rio Grande
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The Rio Grande is one of the principal rivers in the southwest United States and northern Mexico. The Rio Grande begins in south-central Colorado in the United States, along the way, it forms part of the Mexico–United States border. According to the International Boundary and Water Commission, its length was 1,896 miles in the late 1980s. Depending on how it is measured, the Rio Grande is the fourth- or fifth-longest river system in North America. The river serves as part of the border between the U. S. state of Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León. A very short stretch of the river serves as part of the boundary between the U. S. states of Texas and New Mexico. Since the mid–20th century, heavy consumption of farms and cities along with many large diversion dams on the river has left only 20% of its natural discharge to flow to the Gulf. Near the rivers mouth, the heavily irrigated lower Rio Grande Valley is an important agricultural region, the Rio Grande is one of 19 Great Waters recognized by Americas Great Waters Coalition. The Rio Grandes watershed covers 182,200 square miles, many endorheic basins are situated within, or adjacent to, the Rio Grandes basin, and these are sometimes included in the river basins total area, increasing its size to about 336,000 square miles. The Rio Grande rises in the part of the Rio Grande National Forest in the U. S. state of Colorado. The river is formed by the joining of several streams at the base of Canby Mountain in the San Juan Mountains and it then continues on a southerly route through the desert cities of Albuquerque, and Las Cruces to El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. In the Albuquerque area, the river flows past a number of historic Pueblo villages, including Sandia Pueblo, below El Paso, it serves as part of the border between the United States and Mexico. The official river border measurement ranges from 889 miles to 1,248 miles, a major tributary, the Rio Conchos, enters at Ojinaga, Chihuahua, below El Paso, and supplies most of the water in the border segment. Other well-known tributaries include the Pecos and the smaller Devils, which join the Rio Grande on the site of Amistad Dam. Despite its name and length, the Rio Grande is not navigable by ocean-going ships, in New Mexico, the river flows through the Rio Grande rift from one sediment-filled basin to another, cutting canyons between the basins and supporting a fragile bosque ecosystem on its flood plain. From El Paso eastward, the flows through desert. Although irrigated agriculture exists throughout most of its stretch, it is extensive in the subtropical Lower Rio Grande Valley. The river ends in a small, sandy delta at the Gulf of Mexico, during portions of 2001 and 2002, the mouth of the Rio Grande was blocked by a sandbar
15.
Republic of Texas
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The Republic of Texas was an independent sovereign country in North America that existed from March 2,1836, to February 19,1846. The citizens of the republic were known as Texians, the Mexican province of Tejas declared its independence from Mexico during the Texas Revolution in 1836. The United States recognized the Republic of Texas in March 1837, the Republic-claimed borders were based upon the Treaties of Velasco between the newly created Texas Republic and Antonio López de Santa Anna of Mexico. The republics southern and western boundary with Mexico continued to be disputed throughout the republics existence, Texas claimed the Rio Grande as its southern boundary, while Mexico insisted that the Nueces River was the boundary. However, the United States again inherited the southern and western border dispute with Mexico, Texas had been one of the Provincias Internas of New Spain, a region known historiographically as Spanish Texas. Though claimed by Spain, it was not formally colonized by them until competing French interests at Fort St. Louis encouraged Spain to establish permanent settlements in the area. Sporadic missionary incursions occurred into the area during the period from the 1690s–1710s, in 1762, France ceded to Spain most of its claims to the interior of North America, including its claim to Texas, as well as the vast interior that became Spanish Louisiana. During the years 1799 to 1803, the height of the Napoleonic Empire, Spain returned Louisiana back to France, starting in 1810, the territories of New Spain north of the Isthmus of Panama sought independence in the Mexican War of Independence. Many Americans fought on the side of Mexico against Spain in filibustering expeditions, one of these, the Gutiérrez–Magee Expedition consisted of a group of about 130 Americans under the leadership of Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara. Gutierrez de Lara initiated Mexicos secession from Spain with efforts contributed by Magee, bolstered by new recruits, and led Samuel Kemper, the expedition gained a series of victories against soldiers led by the Spanish governor, Manuel María de Salcedo. Their victory at the Battle of Rosillo Creek convinced Salcedo to surrender on April 1,1813, on April 6,1813, the victorious Republican Army of the North drafted a constitution and declared the independent Republic of Texas, with Gutiérrez as its president. Soon disillusioned with the Mexican leadership, the Americans under Kemper returned to the United States, the ephemeral Republic of Texas came to an end following the August 18,1813 Battle of Medina, where the Spanish Army crushed the Republican Army of the North. Since Mexican independence had been ratified by Spain shortly thereafter, Austin would later travel to Mexico City to secure the support of the new country in his right to settle. The establishment of Mexican Texas coincided with the Austin-led settlement, leading to animosity between Mexican authorities and ongoing American settlement of Texas, the First Mexican Empire was short lived, being replaced by a republican form of government in 1823. Following Austins lead, additional groups of settlers, known as Empresarios, in 1830, Mexican President Anastasio Bustamante outlawed American immigration to Texas, following several conflicts with the Empresarios over the status of slavery in the region. Angered at the interference of the Mexican government, the Empresarios held the Convention of 1832, on the eve of war, the American settlers in the area outnumbered Mexicans by a considerable margin. Mexican President Antonio López de Santa Anna revoked the 1824 Constitution of Mexico, the Texian leadership under Austin began to organize its own military, and hostilities broke out on October 2,1835 at the Battle of Gonzales, the first engagement of the Texas Revolution. In November,1835 a provisional government known as the Consultation was established to oppose the Santa Anna regime, on March 1,1836 the Convention of 1836 came to order, and the next day declared independence from Mexico, establishing the Republic of Texas
16.
Texas
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Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south
17.
Louisiana Purchase
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The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition of the Louisiana territory by the United States from France in 1803. The U. S. paid fifty million francs and a cancellation of debts worth eighteen million francs for a total of sixty-eight million francs, the Louisiana territory included land from fifteen present U. S. states and two Canadian provinces. Its non-native population was around 60,000 inhabitants, of whom half were African slaves, the Kingdom of France controlled the Louisiana territory from 1699 until it was ceded to Spain in 1762. Napoleon in 1800, hoping to re-establish an empire in North America, however, Frances failure to put down the revolt in Saint-Domingue, coupled with the prospect of renewed warfare with the United Kingdom, prompted Napoleon to sell Louisiana to the United States. The Americans originally sought to purchase only the city of New Orleans and its adjacent coastal lands. The Louisiana Purchase occurred during the term of the third President of the United States, before the purchase was finalized, the decision faced Federalist Party opposition, they argued that it was unconstitutional to acquire any territory. Constitution did not contain provisions for acquiring territory, but he asserted that his constitutional power to negotiate treaties was sufficient. Throughout the second half of the 18th century, Louisiana was a pawn on the chessboard of European politics and it was controlled by the French, who had a few small settlements along the Mississippi and other main rivers. Following French defeat in the Seven Years War, Spain gained control of the territory west of the Mississippi, the United States controlled the area east of the Mississippi and north of New Orleans. The main issue for the Americans was free transit of the Mississippi to the sea, as the lands were being gradually settled by a few American migrants, many Americans, including Jefferson, assumed that the territory would be acquired piece by piece. The risk of power taking it from a weakened Spain made a profound reconsideration of this policy necessary. New Orleans was already important for shipping goods to and from the areas of the United States west of the Appalachian Mountains. Pinckneys Treaty, signed with Spain on October 27,1795, gave American merchants right of deposit in New Orleans, Americans used this right to transport products such as flour, tobacco, pork, bacon, lard, feathers, cider, butter, and cheese. The treaty also recognized American rights to navigate the entire Mississippi, in 1798 Spain revoked this treaty, prohibiting American use of New Orleans, and greatly upsetting the Americans. In 1801, Spanish Governor Don Juan Manuel de Salcedo took over from the Marquess of Casa Calvo, Napoleon Bonaparte had gained Louisiana for French ownership from Spain in 1800 under the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso, but the treaty was kept secret. Louisiana remained nominally under Spanish control, until a transfer of power to France on November 30,1803, another ceremony was held in St. Louis a few months later, in part because during winter conditions the news of the New Orleans formalities did not reach Upper Louisiana. The March 9–10,1804, event is remembered as Three Flags Day, James Monroe and Robert R. Livingston had traveled to Paris to negotiate the purchase of New Orleans in January 1803. Their instructions were to negotiate or purchase control of New Orleans and its environs, the Louisiana Purchase was by far the largest territorial gain in U. S. history
18.
Alaska Purchase
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The Alaska Purchase was the United States acquisition of Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 30,1867, by a treaty ratified by the United States Senate, and signed by president Andrew Johnson. Russia wanted to sell its Alaskan territory, fearing that it might be seized if war broke out with the United Kingdom, Russias primary activities in the territory had been fur trade and missionary work among the Native Alaskans. The land added 586,412 square miles of new territory to the United States, the purchase threatened British control of its Pacific coast colony, giving added impetus to Canadian Confederation, which was realized just three months later, in July 1867. The Dominion of Canada would welcome British Columbia to confederation in 1871, ending US hopes of annexation and an uninterrupted connection of Alaska to the United States. Russia was in a financial position and feared losing Russian America without compensation in some future conflict, especially to the British. The Russians decided that in any war with Britain, their hard-to-defend colony might become a prime target. Therefore, the Russian emperor, Alexander II, decided to sell the territory, perhaps in the hope of starting a bidding war, both the British and the Americans were approached. However, the British expressed little interest in buying Alaska, in 1859 the Russians offered to sell the territory to the United States, hoping that its presence in the region would offset the plans of Russias greatest regional rival, Great Britain. However, no deal was reached, as the risk of an American Civil War was a pressing concern in Washington. Grand Duke Konstantin, a brother of the Tsar, began to press for the handover of Russian America to the United States in 1857. This proposal was a topic in the echelons of the Russian government throughout 1857 and 1858. Konstantins letter was shown to his brother, Tsar Alexander II, supporters of Konstantins proposal to immediately withdraw from North America included Admiral Yevfimy Putyatin and the Russian minister to the United States, Eduard de Stoeckl. Gorchakov agreed with the necessity of abandoning Russian America, but argued for a process leading to its sale. He found a supporter in the minister and former chief manager of the Russian-American Company. Wrangel pressed for some proceeds to be invested in the development of Kamchatka. The Emperor eventually sided with Gorchakov, deciding to postpone negotiations until the end of the RACs patent, over the winter of 1859–1860 de Stoeckl held meetings with American officials, though he had been instructed not to initiate discussions about the sale of the RAC assets. Communicating primarily with Assistant Secretary of State John Appleton and Senator William M. Gwin, while President James Buchanan kept these hearings informal, preparations were made for further negotiations. Senator Gwin tendered an offer of five million dollars for the Russian colony
19.
Alta California
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Alta California, founded in 1769 by Gaspar de Portolà, was a polity of New Spain and after the Mexican War of Independence in 1822, a territory of Mexico. The region included all of the states of California, Nevada, and Utah. Large areas east of the Sierra Nevada and San Gabriel Mountains were claimed to be part of Alta California, to the southeast, beyond the deserts and the Colorado River, lay the Spanish settlements in Arizona. The areas formerly comprising Alta California were ceded to the United States in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the Mexican–American War in 1848, two years later, California joined the union as the 31st state. Other parts of Alta California became all or part of the later U. S. states of Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. The Spanish explored the area of Alta California by sea beginning in the 16th century. During the following two centuries there were plans to settle the area, none of which were effectively carried out. Ultimately, New Spain did not have the resources nor population to settle such a far northern outpost. To ascertain the Russian threat a number of Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest were launched, the Spanish Crown funded the construction and subsidized the operation of the missions, with the goal that the relocation, conversion and enforced labor of Native people would bolster Spanish rule. The first Alta California mission and presidio were established by the Franciscan friar Junípero Serra, the following year,1770, the second mission and presidio were founded in Monterey. In 1773 a boundary between the Baja California missions and the Franciscan missions of Alta California was set by Francisco Palóu, the missionary effort coincided with the construction of presidios and pueblos, which were to be manned and populated by Hispanic people. The first pueblo founded was San José in 1777, followed by Los Ángeles in 1781, by law, mission land and property were to pass to the indigenous population after a period of about ten years, when the natives would become Spanish subjects. In the interim period, the Franciscans were to act as mission administrators who held the land in trust for the Native residents, the transfer of property never occurred under the Franciscans. As the number of Spanish settlers grew in Alta California, the boundaries, conflicts between the Crown and the Church and between Natives and settlers arose. State and ecclesiastical bureaucrats debated over authority of the missions and they advocated that the Natives owned property and had the right to defend it. Governor Diego de Borica is credited with defining Alta and Baja Californias official borders, Mexico won independence in 1822, and Alta California became a territory of Mexico. The Spanish and later Mexican governments rewarded retired soldados de cuera with large grants, known as ranchos, for the raising of cattle. Hides and tallow from the livestock were the primary exports of California until the mid-19th century, the construction, ranching and domestic work on these vast estates was primarily done by Native Americans, who had learned to speak Spanish and ride horses
20.
Texan Santa Fe Expedition
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The Texan Santa Fe Expedition was a commercial and military expedition to secure the Republic of Texass claims to parts of Northern New Mexico for Texas in 1841. The expedition was initiated by the then President of Texas. Lamar, in an attempt to control over the lucrative Santa Fe Trail. The expedition set out from Kenneys Fort near Austin on June 19,1841, the expedition included 21 ox-drawn wagons carrying merchandise estimated to be worth about $200,000. Although officially a trading expedition, the Texas merchants and businessmen were accompanied by an escort of some 320 men. The military escort was led by Hugh McCleod and included a company of artillery, the journey to New Mexico during the summer was blighted by poor preparation and organization, sporadic Indian attacks, and a lack of supplies and fresh water. After losing their Mexican guide, the group struggled to find its way, McCleod was eventually forced to split his force and sent out an advance guard to find a route. The expedition finally arrived in New Mexico in mid-September 1841, several of their scouts were captured, including Capt. William G. Lewis. Having expected to be welcomed on their arrival, the expedition was surprised to be met by a detachment from the Mexican Army of about 1500 men sent out by the governor of New Mexico, Manuel Armijo. One of Armijos relatives who spoke English, probably Manuel Chaves or Mariano Chaves, parleyed with the Texans, both said that Armijo would give the Texans safe conduct and an escort to the border, and Lewis swore to it on his Masonic faith. After the Texans arduous journey, they were in no state to fight a force that outnumbered them so heavily, the New Mexicans gave them some supplies. However, the morning, Armijo arrived with his army, had the Texans bound and treated harshly. That night, the prisoners listened to the council debating the idea, by one vote, the council decided to spare the Texans. The latter were forced to march the 2,000 miles from Santa Fe to Mexico City, over the winter of 1841-42, they were held as prisoners at the Perote Prison in the state of Veracruz, until United States diplomatic efforts secured their release. Furthermore, there is no information on whether Lewis or Chaves knew Armijos real intentions, for the rest of his life, Chaves vehemently insisted that he had personally acted in good faith in dealing with the Texans. Already under serious criticism for his mishandling of the Texan economy, Lamar was widely responsible for the disaster. More importantly, the episode offered clear and convincing proof that Texas did not have the resources to even a tenuous control over its claimed western territories. S. In 1845, Texas was admitted to the Union, the annexation changed the ongoing border dispute from being a quarrel between Mexico and Texas to one involving Mexico and the United States
21.
Mexican War of Independence
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The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict, and the culmination of a political and social process which ended the rule of Spain in 1821 in the territory of New Spain. September 16 is celebrated as Mexican Independence Day, the movement for independence was inspired by the Age of Enlightenment and the liberal revolutions of the last part of the 18th century. By that time the elite of New Spain had begun to reflect on the relations between Spain and its colonial kingdoms. Changes in the social and political structure occasioned by Bourbon Reforms, political events in Europe had a decisive effect on events in most of Spanish America. In 1808, King Charles IV and Ferdinand VII abdicated in favor of French leader Napoleon Bonaparte, the same year, the ayuntamiento of Mexico City, supported by viceroy José de Iturrigaray, claimed sovereignty in the absence of the legitimate king. That led to a coup against the viceroy, when it was suppressed, despite the defeat in Mexico City, small groups of conspirators met in other cities of New Spain to raise movements against colonial rule. From 1810 the independence movement went through stages, as leaders were imprisoned or executed by forces loyal to Spain. Secular priest José María Morelos called the separatist provinces to form the Congress of Chilpancingo, after the defeat of Morelos, the movement survived as a guerrilla war under the leadership of Vicente Guerrero. By 1820, the few rebel groups survived most notably in the Sierra Madre del Sur, the reinstatement of the liberal Constitution of Cadiz in 1820 caused a change of mind among the elite groups who had supported Spanish rule. Monarchist Creoles affected by the constitution decided to support the independence of New Spain, agustín de Iturbide led the military arm of the conspirators and in early 1821 he met Vicente Guerrero. Both proclaimed the Plan of Iguala, which called for the union of all insurgent factions and was supported by both the aristocracy and clergy of New Spain and it called for monarchy in an independent Mexico. Finally, the independence of Mexico was achieved on September 27,1821, after that, the mainland of New Spain was organized as the Mexican Empire. This ephemeral Catholic monarchy changed to a republic in 1823, due to internal conflicts. After some Spanish reconquest attempts, including the expedition of Isidro Barradas in 1829, after the suppression of that mid-16th-century conspiracy, elites raised no substantial challenge to royal rule until the Hidalgo revolt of 1810. Elites in Mexico City in the century did force the removal of a reformist viceroy. The crowd was reported to shout, Long live the King, the attack was against Gelves as a bad representative of the crown and not against the monarchy or colonial rule itself. There was also a conspiracy in the mid-seventeenth century to unite creole elites, blacks. The man pushing this notion called himself Don Guillén Lampart y Guzmán, lamports conspiracy was discovered, and he was arrested by the Inquisition in 1642, and executed fifteen years later for sedition
22.
42nd parallel north
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The 42nd parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 42 degrees north of the Earths equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, at this latitude the sun is visible for 15 hours,15 minutes during the summer solstice and 9 hours,7 minutes during the winter solstice. The area around the parallel in this region is known as the Twin Tiers, part of the water boundary between Canada and the United States passes south of the 42nd parallel. 41st parallel north 43rd parallel north The Twin Tiers region of New York and Pennsylvania The Jefferson region of Oregon and California
23.
Baja California
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Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of Baja California. It has an area of 70,113 km2, or 3. 57% of the mass of Mexico and comprises the northern half of the Baja California Peninsula, north of the 28th parallel. The mainland portion of the state is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean, on the east by Sonora, the U. S. State of Arizona, and the Gulf of California and its northern limit is the U. S. state of California. The state has an population of 3,165,776 much more than the sparsely populated Baja California Sur to the south. Over 75% of the lives in the capital city, Mexicali, in Ensenada. Other important cities include San Felipe, Rosarito and Tecate, additionally, there is a large immigrant population from the United States due to its proximity to San Diego and the cheaper cost of living compared to San Diego. There is also a significant population from Central America, many immigrants moved to Baja California for a better quality of life and the number of higher paying jobs in comparison to the rest of Mexico and Latin America. Baja California is the twelfth largest state by area in Mexico and its geography ranges from beaches to forests and deserts. The backbone of the state is the Sierra de Baja California, where the Picacho del Diablo and this mountain range effectively divides the weather patterns in the state. In the northwest, the weather is semi-dry and mediterranean, in the narrow center, the weather changes to be more humid due to altitude. It is in area where a few valleys can be found, such as the Valle de Guadalupe. To the east of the range, the Sonoran Desert dominates the landscape. In the south, the weather becomes drier and gives way to the Vizcaino Desert, the state is also home to numerous islands off both of its shores. In fact, the westernmost point in Mexico, the Guadalupe Island, is part of Baja California, the Coronado, Todos Santos and Cedros Islands are also on the Pacific Shore. On the Gulf of California, the biggest island is the Angel de la Guarda, separated from the peninsula by the deep, the first people came to the peninsula at least 11,000 years ago. At that time two main groups are thought to have been present on the peninsula. In the south were the Cochimí, in the north were several groups belonging to the Yuman language family, including the Kiliwa, Paipai, Kumeyaay, Cocopa, and Quechan
24.
Sonora
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Sonora, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Sonora, is one of 31 states that, with Mexico City, comprise the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities, the city is Hermosillo. Sonora is located in Northwest Mexico, bordered by the states of Chihuahua to the east, Baja California to the northwest and Sinaloa to the south. To the north, it shares the U. S. –Mexico border with the states of Arizona and New Mexico, and on the west has a significant share of the coastline of the Gulf of California. Sonoras natural geography is divided into three parts, the Sierra Madre Occidental in the east of the state, plains and rolling hills in the center, and the coast on the Gulf of California. It is primarily arid or semiarid deserts and grasslands, with only the highest elevations having sufficient rainfall to support other types of vegetation, Sonora is home to eight indigenous peoples, including the Mayo, the Yaqui, and Seri. It has been important for its agriculture, livestock, and mining since the colonial period. With the Gadsden Purchase, Sonora lost more than a quarter of its territory, from the 20th century to the present, industry, tourism, and agribusiness have dominated the economy, attracting migration from other parts of Mexico. Several theories exist as to the origin of the name Sonora and they encountered the Opata, who could not pronounce Señora, instead saying Senora or Sonora. A third theory, written by Father Cristóbal de Cañas in 1730, states that the name comes from the word for a water well, sonot. The first record of the name Sonora comes from explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, Francisco de Ibarra also traveled through the area in 1567 and referred to the Valles de Señora. Evidence of human existence in the dates back over 10,000 years. The first humans were hunter gatherers who used tools made from stones, seashells. During much of the period, the environmental conditions were less severe than they are today, with similar. The oldest Clovis culture site in North America is believed to be El Fin del Mundo in northwestern Sonora and it was discovered during a 2007 survey. It features occupation dating around 13,390 calibrated years BP, in 2011, remains of Gomphothere were found, the evidence suggests that humans did in fact kill two of them here. Agriculture first appeared around 400 BCE and 200 CE in the river valleys, the lowland central coast, however, seems never truly to have adopted agriculture. Because Sonora and much of the northwest does not share many of the traits of that area
25.
Mexico City
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Mexico City, or City of Mexico, is the capital and most populous city of Mexico. As an alpha global city, Mexico City is one of the most important financial centers in the Americas and it is located in the Valley of Mexico, a large valley in the high plateaus at the center of Mexico, at an altitude of 2,240 metres. The city consists of sixteen municipalities, the 2009 estimated population for the city proper was approximately 8.84 million people, with a land area of 1,485 square kilometres. The Greater Mexico City has a domestic product of US$411 billion in 2011. The city was responsible for generating 15. 8% of Mexicos Gross Domestic Product, as a stand-alone country, in 2013, Mexico City would be the fifth-largest economy in Latin America—five times as large as Costa Ricas and about the same size as Perus. Mexico’s capital is both the oldest capital city in the Americas and one of two founded by Amerindians, the other being Quito. In 1524, the municipality of Mexico City was established, known as México Tenochtitlán, Mexico City served as the political, administrative and financial center of a major part of the Spanish colonial empire. After independence from Spain was achieved, the district was created in 1824. Ever since, the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution has controlled both of them, in recent years, the local government has passed a wave of liberal policies, such as abortion on request, a limited form of euthanasia, no-fault divorce, and same-sex marriage. On January 29,2016, it ceased to be called the Federal District and is now in transition to become the countrys 32nd federal entity, giving it a level of autonomy comparable to that of a state. Because of a clause in the Mexican Constitution, however, as the seat of the powers of the federation, it can never become a state, the city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan was founded by the Mexica people in 1325. According to legend, the Mexicas principal god, Huitzilopochtli indicated the site where they were to build their home by presenting an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its beak. Between 1325 and 1521, Tenochtitlan grew in size and strength, eventually dominating the other city-states around Lake Texcoco, when the Spaniards arrived, the Aztec Empire had reached much of Mesoamerica, touching both the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. After landing in Veracruz, Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés advanced upon Tenochtitlan with the aid of many of the native peoples. Cortés put Moctezuma under house arrest, hoping to rule through him, the Aztecs thought the Spaniards were permanently gone, and they elected a new king, Cuitláhuac, but he soon died, the next king was Cuauhtémoc. Cortés began a siege of Tenochtitlan in May 1521, for three months, the city suffered from the lack of food and water as well as the spread of smallpox brought by the Europeans. Cortés and his allies landed their forces in the south of the island, the Spaniards practically razed Tenochtitlan during the final siege of the conquest. Cortés first settled in Coyoacán, but decided to rebuild the Aztec site to erase all traces of the old order and he did not establish a territory under his own personal rule, but remained loyal to the Spanish crown
26.
Annexation
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Annexation is the political transition of land from the control of one entity to another. It is also the incorporation of unclaimed land into a states sovereignty, in international law it is the forcible transition of one states territory by another state or the legal process by which a city acquires land. Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral and it can also imply a certain measure of coercion, expansionism or unilateralism on the part of the stronger of the merging entities. Because of this, more positive euphemisms like political union/unification or reunification are sometimes seen in discourse, during World War II, the use of annexation deprived whole populations of the safeguards provided by international laws governing military occupations. The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 amplified the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 with respect to the question of the protection of civilians, the team cemented in a brass plaque on Halls Ledge and hoisted the Union Flag to stake the UKs claim. One example of a claimed annexation after World War II is the Kingdom of Norways southward expansion of the dependent territory Queen Maud Land. On most maps there had been an area between Queen Maud Lands borders of 1939 and the South Pole until June 12,2015 when Norway formally claimed to have annexed that area. The Antarctic Treaty, however, states, The treaty does not recognize, dispute, nor establish territorial sovereignty claims, within countries that are subdivided noncontiguously, annexation can also take place whereby a lower-tier subdivision can annex territory under the jurisdiction of a higher-tier subdivision. An example of this is in the United States, where incorporated cities, municipalities can also annex or be annexed by other municipalities, though this is less common in the United States. Laws governing the ability and the extent cities can expand in this fashion are defined by the individual states constitutions, annexation of neighbouring communities occurs in Canada. Irredentism List of national border changes since World War I Texas annexation Adam Roberts, transformative military occupation, applying the laws of war and human rights,100 The American Journal of International Law
27.
John C. Calhoun
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John Caldwell Calhoun was an American statesman and political theorist from South Carolina, and the seventh Vice President of the United States from 1825 to 1832. He is remembered for defending slavery and for advancing the concept of minority rights in politics. He began his career as a nationalist, modernizer, and proponent of a strong national government. His beliefs and warnings heavily influenced the Souths secession from the Union in 1860–1861, Calhoun began his political career in the House of Representatives. He then served as Secretary of War under President James Monroe, Calhoun was a candidate for the presidency in the 1824 election. After failing to support, he let his name be put forth as a candidate for vice president. The Electoral College elected Calhoun for vice president by an overwhelming majority and he served under John Quincy Adams and continued under Andrew Jackson, who defeated Adams in the election of 1828. During his terms as president, he made a record of 31 tie-breaking votes in Congress. Calhoun had a relationship with Jackson primarily due to the Nullification Crisis. In 1832, with only a few remaining in his second term, he resigned as vice president. He sought the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 1844, but lost to surprise nominee James K. Polk, Calhoun served as Secretary of State under John Tyler from 1844 to 1845. As Secretary of State, he supported the annexation of Texas as a means to extend the slave power and he then returned to the Senate, where he opposed the Mexican–American War, the Wilmot Proviso, and the Compromise of 1850 before his death in 1850. Calhoun often served as a virtual party-independent who variously aligned as needed with Democrats, later in life, Calhoun became known as the cast-iron man for his rigid defense of Southern beliefs and practices. His concept of republicanism emphasized approval of slavery and minority rights, as embodied by the Southern states—he owned dozens of slaves in Fort Hill. Calhoun also asserted that slavery, rather than being an evil, was a positive good. To protect minority rights against majority rule, he called for a concurrent majority whereby the minority could sometimes block proposals that it infringed on their liberties. To this end, Calhoun supported states rights and nullification, through which states could declare null, Calhoun was one of the Great Triumvirate or the Immortal Trio of Congressional leaders, along with his Congressional colleagues Daniel Webster and Henry Clay. In 1957, a Senate Committee headed by Senator John F. Kennedy selected Calhoun as one of the five greatest United States Senators of all time
28.
Nicholas Trist
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Nicholas Philip Trist was born in Charlottesville, Virginia and was the grandson of James Madisons former Philadelphia landlady. He attended West Point and studied law under Thomas Jefferson, whose granddaughter he married and he was also private secretary to Andrew Jackson, whom he greatly admired. Trist served as a conduit for James Madison to President Jackson, Trist was appointed U. S. consul in Havana, Cuba by President Jackson. Shortly after arriving there in 1833, Trist invested in a sugar plantation deal that went bad and he made no secret of his pro-slavery views. For a time Trist also served as the consul in Cuba for Portugal, meanwhile, Trist became very unpopular with New England ship captains who believed he was more interested in maintaining good relations with Cuban officials than in defending their interests. Captains and merchants pressed members of Congress for Trists removal and this exposure of the activities of the U. S. consul general, coupled with the angry complaints of ship captains, caused a Congressional investigation and eventual recall of Trist. During the Mexican-American War, President James K. Polk sent Trist to negotiate with the Government of Mexico, if he could not obtain Baja California and additional territory to the south, then he was instructed to offer $20 million. President Polk was unhappy with his envoys conduct and prompted him to order Trist to return to the United States, general Winfield Scott was also unhappy with Trists presence in Mexico, although he and Scott quickly reconciled and began a lifelong friendship. However, the wily diplomat ignored the instructions, known to have an over-fluid pen, he wrote a 65-page letter back to Washington, D. C. explaining his reasons for staying in Mexico. He capitalized on a brilliant opportunity to continue bargaining with Santa Anna, Trist successfully negotiated the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2,1848. A part of instruction was to specifically include Baja California. Travel time for renegotiation was a month each way, Polk had no treaty during his Presidency at the time. Trist later commented on the treaty, My feeling of shame as an American was far stronger than the Mexicans could be, upon return to Washington, however, Trist was immediately fired for his insubordination, and his expenses since the time of the recall order were not paid. Trist did not recover his expenses until 1871, despite a commitment to free trade, Trist supported Republican Abraham Lincoln for President in 1860. While the Lincoln administration did not offer Trist any patronage, he did serve as postmaster of Alexandria, Virginia during the Grant administration, Trist was also a lawyer, planter, and businessman. He died in Alexandria, Virginia on February 11,1874, aged 73
29.
Jefferson Davis
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Jefferson Finis Davis was an American politician who was a Democratic U. S. Representative and Senator from Mississippi, the 23rd U. S. Secretary of War, and he took personal charge of the Confederate war plans but was unable to find a strategy to defeat the more populous and industrialized Union. Davis was born in Kentucky to a prosperous farmer, and grew up on his older brother Josephs large cotton plantations in Mississippi. Joseph Davis also secured his appointment to the U. S, after graduating, Jefferson Davis served six years as a lieutenant in the U. S. Army. He fought in the Mexican–American War, as the colonel of a volunteer regiment and he served as the U. S. Secretary of War from 1853 to 1857 under President Franklin Pierce, and as a Democratic U. S. senator from Mississippi. Before the war, he operated a cotton plantation in Mississippi. After the war had ended, he remained a proud apologist for the cause of slavery for which he, although Davis argued against secession in 1858, he believed that each state was sovereign and had an unquestionable right to secede from the Union. Daviss first wife, Sarah Knox Taylor, died of malaria three months of marriage, and he also struggled with recurring bouts of the disease. He was unhealthy for much of his life, at the age of 36, Davis married again, to 18-year-old Varina Howell, a native of Natchez who had been educated in Philadelphia and had some family ties in the North. Only two survived him, and only one married and had children, many historians attribute the Confederacys weaknesses to the poor leadership of President Davis. Historians agree he was a less effective war leader than his Union counterpart Abraham Lincoln. After Davis was captured in 1865, he was accused of treason and he was never tried and was released after two years. While not disgraced, Davis had been displaced in ex-Confederate affection after the war by his leading general, Davis wrote a memoir entitled The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, which he completed in 1881. By the late 1880s, he began to encourage reconciliation, telling Southerners to be loyal to the Union, ex-Confederates came to appreciate his role in the war, seeing him as a Southern patriot, and he became a hero of the Lost Cause in the post-Reconstruction South. Daviss paternal grandparents each immigrated separately to North America from the region of Snowdonia in North Wales in the early 18th century, the rest of his ancestry was English. After arriving in Philadelphia, Daviss paternal grandfather Evan settled in the colony of Georgia and he married the widow Lydia Emory Williams, who had two sons from a previous marriage. Their son Samuel Emory Davis was born in 1756 and he served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, along with his two older half-brothers. In 1783, after the war, he married Jane Cook and she was born in 1759 to William Cook and his wife Sarah Simpson in what is now Christian County, Kentucky
30.
Daniel Webster
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Daniel Webster was an American politician who twice served in the United States House of Representatives, representing New Hampshire and Massachusetts, served as a U. S. Senator from Massachusetts and was twice the United States Secretary of State, under Presidents William Henry Harrison and John Tyler and he and James G. Blaine were the only two people to serve as Secretary of State under three presidents. Webster also sought the Whig Party nomination for President three times, in 1836,1840 and 1852. As a diplomat he is best known for negotiating the Webster–Ashburton Treaty of 1842 with Great Britain, Webster was an outstanding spokesman for American nationalism with powerful oratory that made him a key Whig leader. He spoke for conservatives and led the opposition to Democrat Andrew Jackson and he was a spokesman for modernization, banking, and industry, but not for the common people who composed the base of his opponents in Jacksonian democracy. He was a thoroughgoing elitist, and he reveled in it, chiefly recognized for his Senate tenure, Webster was a key figure in the institutions Golden days. Webster was the Northern member of the Great Triumvirate, with his colleagues Henry Clay from the West and his Reply to Hayne in 1830 has been regarded as one of the greatest speeches in the Senates history. As with his fellow Whig Henry Clay, Webster wanted to see the Union preserved and they both worked for compromises to stave off the sectionalism that threatened war between the North and the South. Websters support for the Compromise of 1850, devised in part by Clay, in 1957, a Senate committee selected Webster as one of the five greatest U. S. Senators with Clay, Calhoun, Robert La Follette, and Robert A. Taft, Daniel Webster was born on January 18,1782, in Salisbury, New Hampshire, the present-day city of Franklin. He was the son of Abigail and Ebenezer Webster and he and his nine siblings grew up on their parents farm, a small parcel of land granted to his father. His ancestors were among the settlers of Salisbury. Webster attended Phillips Exeter Academy, a school in Exeter. He was chosen Fourth of July orator in Hanover, the town, in 1800. After he graduated from Dartmouth, Webster was apprenticed to the lawyer Thomas W. Thompson in Salisbury, in 1802 Webster began as the headmaster of the Fryeburg Academy, Maine, where he served for one year. When Ezekiels education could no longer be sustained, Webster returned to his apprenticeship, in 1804 he left New Hampshire and got a position in Boston under the prominent attorney Christopher Gore. Clerking for Gore – who was involved in international, national, in 1805 Webster was admitted to the bar. He returned to New Hampshire to set up a practice in Boscawen and he began to speak locally in support of Federalist causes and candidates
31.
New Spain
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New Spain was a colonial territory of the Spanish Empire, in the New World north of the Isthmus of Panama. It was established following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1521, after 1535 the colony was governed by the Viceroy of New Spain, an appointed minister of the King of Spain, who ruled as monarch over the colony. The capital of New Spain was Mexico City and it developed highly regional divisions, which reflect the impact of climate, topography, the presence or absence of dense indigenous populations, and the presence or absence of mineral resources. The areas of central and southern Mexico had dense indigenous populations with complex social, political, silver mining not only became the engine of the economy of New Spain, but vastly enriched Spain, and transformed the global economy. New Spain was the New World terminus of the Philippine trade, although New Spain was a dependency of Spain, it was a kingdom not a colony, subject to the presiding monarch on the Iberian Peninsula. Every privilege and position, economic political, or religious came from him and it was on this basis that the conquest, occupation, and government of the New World was achieved. The Viceroyalty of New Spain was established in 1535 in the Kingdom of New Spain and it was the first New World viceroyalty and one of only two in the Spanish empire until the 18th century Bourbon Reforms. The Spanish Empire comprised the territories in the north overseas Septentrion, from North America, to the west of the continent, New Spain also included the Spanish East Indies. To the east of the continent, it included the Spanish West Indies and this was not occupied by many Spanish settlers and were considered more marginal to Spanish interests than the most densely populated and lucrative areas of central Mexico. To shore up its claims in North America starting in the late 18th century, Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest explored and claimed the coast of what is now British Columbia and Alaska. The indigenous societies of Mesoamerica brought under Spanish control were of unprecedented complexity, the societies could provide the conquistadors, especially Hernán Cortés, a base from which the conquerors could become autonomous, or even independent, of the Crown. As a result, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, since the time of the Catholic Monarchs, central Iberia was governed through councils appointed by the monarch with particular jurisdictions. Thus, the creation of the Council of the Indies became another, the crown had set up the Casa de Contratación in 1503 to regulate contacts between Spain and its overseas possessions. A key function was to gather information about navigation to make trips less risky and they were accompanied by maps of the area discussed, many of which were drawn by indigenous artists. The Francisco Hernández Expedition, the first scientific expedition to the New World, was sent to gather information medicinal plants, an earlier Audiencia had been established in Santo Domingo in 1526 to deal with the Caribbean settlements. That Audiencia, housed in the Casa Reales in Santo Domingo, was charged with encouraging further exploration, management by the Audiencia, which was expected to make executive decisions as a body, proved unwieldy. Therefore, in 1535, King Charles V named Don Antonio de Mendoza as the first Viceroy of New Spain. After the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire in 1532 opened up the vast territories of South America to further conquests, the Crown established an independent Viceroyalty of Peru there in 1540
32.
El Paso, Texas
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El Paso is the seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The city is situated in the far corner of the U. S. state of Texas. El Paso stands on the Rio Grande river across the Mexico–United States border from Ciudad Juárez, the region of over 2.9 million people constitutes the largest bilingual and binational work force in the Western Hemisphere. The city hosts the annual Sun Bowl college football post-season game, El Paso has a strong federal and military presence. William Beaumont Army Medical Center, Biggs Army Airfield, and Fort Bliss call the city home, Fort Bliss is one of the largest military complexes of the United States Army and the largest training area in the United States. Also headquartered in El Paso are the DEA domestic field division 7, El Paso Intelligence Center, Joint Task Force North, Border Patrol El Paso Sector, and U. S. In 2010, El Paso received an All-America City Award, El Paso has been ranked the safest large city in the U. S. for four consecutive years and has ranked in the top three since 1997. As of July 1,2015, the estimate for the city from the U. S. Census was 681,124. Its U. S. metropolitan area covers all of El Paso and Hudspeth counties in Texas, the El Paso MSA forms part of the larger El Paso–Las Cruces CSA, with a population of 1,053,267. The El Paso region has had human settlement for thousands of years, the evidence suggests 10,000 to 12,000 years of human habitation. The earliest known cultures in the region were maize farmers, when the Spanish arrived, the Manso, Suma, and Jumano tribes populated the area. These were subsequently incorporated into the Mestizo culture, along with immigrants from central Mexico, captives from Comanchería, the Mescalero Apache were also present. El Paso del Norte was founded on the bank of the Río Bravo del Norte. El Paso remained the largest settlement in New Mexico until its cession to the U. S. in 1848, the Texas Revolution was generally not felt in the region, as the American population was small, not being more than 10% of the population. However, the region was claimed by Texas as part of the treaty signed with Mexico, during this interregnum, 1836–1848, Americans nonetheless continued to settle the region. The present Texas–New Mexico boundary placing El Paso on the Texas side was drawn in the Compromise of 1850, El Paso County was established in March 1850, with San Elizario as the first county seat. The United States Senate fixed a boundary between Texas and New Mexico at the 32nd parallel, thus largely ignoring history and topography, a military post called The Post opposite El Paso was established in 1854. Further west, a settlement on Coons Rancho called Franklin became the nucleus of the future El Paso, a year later, pioneer Anson Mills completed his plan of the town, calling it El Paso
33.
Santa Fe, New Mexico
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Santa Fe is the capital of the state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of Santa Fe County and this area was occupied for at least several hundred years by indigenous peoples who built villages. The city of Santa Fe, founded by Spanish colonists in 1610, is known as the oldest state capital city in the United States, Santa Fe had a population of 69,204 in 2012. It is the city of a Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Santa Fe County and is part of the larger Albuquerque–Santa Fe–Las Vegas combined statistical area. The citys full name when founded was La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís, the area of Santa Fe was originally occupied by indigenous Tanoan peoples, who lived in numerous Pueblo villages along the Rio Grande. One of the earliest known settlements in what today is downtown Santa Fe came sometime after 900, the river had a year-round flow until the 1700s. By the 20th century the Santa Fe River was a seasonal waterway, as of 2007, the river was recognized as the most endangered river in the United States, according to the conservation group American Rivers. Don Juan de Oñate led the first European effort to colonize the region in 1598, under Juan de Oñate and his son, the capital of the province was the settlement of San Juan de los Caballeros north of Santa Fe near modern Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo. In 1610, he designated it as the capital of the province, Santa Fe remained Spains provincial seat until the outbreak of the Mexican War of Independence in 1810. It was considered important to fur traders based in present-day Saint Louis, when the area was still under Spanish rule, the Chouteau brothers of Saint Louis gained a monopoly on the fur trade, before the United States acquired Missouri under the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The fur trade contributed to the wealth of St. Louis, the citys status as the capital of the Mexican territory of Santa Fe de Nuevo México was formalized in the 1824 Constitution after Mexico achieved independence from Spain. When the Republic of Texas seceded from Mexico in 1836, it claimed Santa Fe as part of the portion of Texas along the Rio Grande. In 1841, a military and trading expedition set out from Austin. Known as the Texan Santa Fe Expedition, the force was prepared and was easily captured by the Mexican army. In 1846, the United States declared war on Mexico, brigadier General Stephen W. Kearny led the main body of his Army of the West of some 1,700 soldiers into Santa Fe to claim it and the whole New Mexico Territory for the United States. By 1848 the U. S. officially gained New Mexico through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, colonel Alexander William Doniphan, under the command of Kearny, recovered ammunition from Santa Fe labeled Spain 1776. This showed that New Mexico had received munitions and other support under Mexican rule, some American visitors at first saw little promise in the remote town. One traveller in 1849 wrote, I can hardly imagine how Santa Fe is supported, the country around it is barren
34.
Southern United States
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The Southern United States, commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South, is a region of the United States of America. The South does not fully match the geographic south of the United States, arizona and New Mexico, which are geographically in the southern part of the country, are rarely considered part, while West Virginia, which separated from Virginia in 1863, commonly is. Some scholars have proposed definitions of the South that do not coincide neatly with state boundaries, while the states of Delaware and Maryland, as well as the District of Columbia permitted slavery prior to the start of the Civil War, they remained with the Union. However, the United States Census Bureau puts them in the South, usually, the South is defined as including the southeastern and south-central United States. The region is known for its culture and history, having developed its own customs, musical styles, and cuisines, the Southern ethnic heritage is diverse and includes strong European, African, and some Native American components. Since the late 1960s, black people have many offices in Southern states, especially in the coastal states of Virginia. Historically, the South relied heavily on agriculture, and was rural until after 1945. It has since become more industrialized and urban and has attracted national and international migrants, the American South is now among the fastest-growing areas in the United States. Houston is the largest city in the Southern United States, sociological research indicates that Southern collective identity stems from political, demographic, and cultural distinctiveness from the rest of the United States. The region contains almost all of the Bible Belt, an area of high Protestant church attendance and predominantly conservative, indeed, studies have shown that Southerners are more conservative than non-Southerners in several areas, including religion, morality, international relations and race relations. Apart from its climate, the experience in the South increasingly resembles the rest of the nation. The arrival of millions of Northerners and millions of Hispanics meant the introduction of cultural values, the process has worked both ways, however, with aspects of Southern culture spreading throughout a greater portion of the rest of the United States in a process termed Southernization. The question of how to define the subregions in the South has been the focus of research for nearly a century, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, the Southern region of the United States includes sixteen states. As of 2010, an estimated 114,555,744 people, or thirty-seven percent of all U. S. residents, lived in the South, the nations most populous region. Other terms related to the South include, The Old South, the New South, usually including the South Atlantic States. The Solid South, region largely controlled by the Democratic Party from 1877 to 1964, before that, blacks were elected to national office and many to local office through the 1880s, Populist-Republican coalitions gained victories for Fusionist candidates for governors in the 1890s. Includes at least all the 11 former Confederate States, Southeastern United States, usually including the Carolinas, the Virginias, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. The Deep South, various definitions, usually including Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, occasionally, parts of adjoining states are included
35.
Second Party System
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Minor parties included the Anti-Masonic Party, an important innovator from 1827 to 1834, the abolitionist Liberty Party in 1840, and the anti-slavery Free Soil Party in 1848 and 1852. The Second Party System reflected and shaped the political, social, economic and cultural currents of the Jacksonian Era, Historian Richard P. McCormick is most responsible for defining the term. He concluded, It was a party system. It formed over a 15-year period that varied by state and it was produced by leaders trying to win the presidency, with contenders building their own national coalitions. Regional effects strongly affected developments, with the Adams forces strongest in New England, for example, for the first time two-party politics was extended to the South and West. In each region the two parties were about equal—the first and only party system showing this, because of the regional balance it was vulnerable to region-specific issues. The same two parties appeared in state, and contested both the electoral vote and state offices. Most critical was the emergence of a two-party South in 1832-34. The Anti-Masonic party flourished in only those states with a second party. Methods varied somewhat but everywhere the political convention replaced the caucus, the parties had an interest of their own, in terms of the office-seeking goals of party activists. The System brought forth a new, popular campaign style, close elections—not charismatic candidates or particular issues—brought out the voters. Party leaders formed the parties to some degree in their own image, among the best-known figures on the Democratic side were, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, John C. Calhoun, James K. Polk, Lewis Cass, and Stephen Douglas, on the Whig side were John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, William H. Seward, and Thurlow Weed. The 1824 presidential election operated without political parties and came down to a four-man race, each candidate, all of whom were nominally Democratic Republicans, had a regional base of support involving factions in the various states. With no electoral college majority, the choice devolved on the United States House of Representatives, Clay was not among the three finalists, but as Speaker of the House he negotiated the settlement. Jackson, despite having won the most popular votes and the most electoral votes, was not elected, John Quincy Adams, son of former President John Adams, was elected, and he immediately chose Clay as Secretary of State. Jackson loudly denounced this corrupt bargain, Campaigning vigorously he launched a crusade against the corruption he saw in Washington. Appealing both to local companies and to state political factions, Jackson assembled a coalition, the embryonic Democratic Party
36.
Mormon pioneers
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At the time of the ceasefire and planning of the exodus in 1846, the territory was owned by the Republic of Mexico, which soon after went to war with the United States over the annexation of Texas. Salt Lake Valley became American territory as a result of this war and these and other reasons caused the body of the Church to move from one place to another--to Ohio, Missouri, and then to Illinois, where church members built the city of Nauvoo. Sidney Rigdon was the First Counselor in the LDS First Presidency, and as its spokesman, Rigdon preached several sermons in Missouri, including the Salt Sermon. These speeches have sometimes seen as contributing to the conflict known as the 1838 Mormon War in Missouri. As a result of the conflict, the Mormons were expelled from the state by Governor Boggs, Rigdon was released on a writ of habeas corpus and made his way to Illinois, where he joined the main body of Mormon refugees in 1839. In 1844 Joseph Smith, and his brother Hyrum Smith were killed by a mob while in custody in the city of Carthage, in 1846, religious tensions reached their peak, and in 1848 mobs burned the Latter-day Saint temple in Nauvoo. During the winter of 1846-47, Latter-day Saint leaders in Winter Quarters and Iowa laid plans for the migration of the number of Saints, their equipment. It was here that Brigham Young first met Thomas L. Kane, Kane obtained permission for the Mormons to winter on Indian territory, and the site was originally called Kanesville. Brigham Young continued to trust Kane throughout his own lifetime, particularly as an intermediary with the often hostile Federal government and this major undertaking was a significant test of leadership capability and the existing administrative network of the recently restructured Church. For his role in the migration, Brigham Young is sometimes referred to as the American Moses. The wary Young insisted the Mormons should settle in a no one else wanted. The initial company would select and break the trail with the expectation that later pioneers would maintain. It was hoped that the group could, wherever possible, establish fords and ferries, in late February, plans were made to gather portable boats, maps, scientific instruments, farm implements and seeds. Techniques for irrigating crops were investigated, a new route on the north side of the Platte River was chosen to avoid major interaction with travelers using the established Oregon Trail on the river’s south side. Given the needs of the volume of Saints who would travel west, Church leaders decided to avoid potential conflicts over grazing rights, water access. In April 1847, Young consulted with members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who had returned from the British mission. John Taylor, Parley P. Pratt and Orson Hyde brought money contributed by the English Saints, fremont’s recent western expedition, and instruments for calculating latitude, elevation, temperature and barometric pressure. Chosen members of the group were gathered together, final supplies were packed
37.
California Gold Rush
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The California Gold Rush began on January 24,1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutters Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought some 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States, the Gold Rush initiated the California Genocide, with 100,000 Native Californians dying between 1848 and 1868. By the time it ended, California had gone from a thinly populated ex-Mexican territory to the state of the first nominee for the Republican Party. The effects of the Gold Rush were substantial, whole indigenous societies were attacked and pushed off their lands by the gold-seekers, called forty-niners. The first to hear confirmed information of the rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands, and Latin America. While most of the newly arrived were Americans, the Gold Rush attracted tens of thousands from Latin America, Europe, Australia, agriculture and ranching expanded throughout the state to meet the needs of the settlers. San Francisco grew from a settlement of about 200 residents in 1846 to a boomtown of about 36,000 by 1852. Roads, churches, schools and other towns were built throughout California, in 1849 a state constitution was written. The new constitution was adopted by vote, and the future states interim first governor. In September,1850, California became a state, at the beginning of the Gold Rush, there was no law regarding property rights in the goldfields and a system of staking claims was developed. Prospectors retrieved the gold from streams and riverbeds using simple techniques, although the mining caused environmental harm, more sophisticated methods of gold recovery were developed and later adopted around the world. New methods of transportation developed as steamships came into regular service, by 1869 railroads were built across the country from California to the eastern United States. At its peak, technological advances reached a point where significant financing was required, Gold worth tens of billions of todays dollars was recovered, which led to great wealth for a few. However, many returned home with more than they had started with. The Mexican–American War ended on February 3,1848, although California was firmly in American hands before that, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided for, among other things, the formal transfer of Upper California to the United States. The California Gold Rush began at Sutters Mill, near Coloma, on January 24,1848, James W. Marshall, a foreman working for Sacramento pioneer John Sutter, found shiny metal in the tailrace of a lumber mill Marshall was building for Sutter on the American River. Marshall brought what he found to John Sutter, and the two tested the metal. However, rumors started to spread and were confirmed in March 1848 by San Francisco newspaper publisher
38.
Compromise of 1850
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The compromise, drafted by Whig Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky and brokered by Clay and Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois, reduced sectional conflict. Controversy arose over the Fugitive Slave provision, the Compromise was greeted with relief, although each side disliked specific provisions. Texas surrendered its claim to New Mexico, as well as its claims north of the Missouri Compromise Line and it retained the Texas Panhandle and the federal government took over the states public debt. California was admitted as a state with its current boundaries. In practice, these lands were generally unsuited to plantation agriculture, the slave trade was banned in the District of Columbia. A more stringent Fugitive Slave Law was enacted, the Compromise became possible after the sudden death of President Zachary Taylor, who, although a slave owner, had favored excluding slavery from the Southwest. Whig leader Henry Clay designed a compromise, which failed to pass in early 1850, upon Clays instruction, Douglas then divided Clays bill into several smaller pieces and narrowly won their passage over the opposition of those with stronger views on both sides. A state the size of Texas attracted interest from both residents and pro and anti-slavery camps on a national scale. Texas claimed land north of the 36°30 demarcation line for slavery set by the 1820 Missouri Compromise, the Texas Annexation resolution had required that if any new states were formed out of Texas lands, those north of the Missouri Compromise line would become free states. The eventual Compromise of 1850 preserved the Union, but only for another decade, passed by the House in August 1846 and February 1847 but not the Senate. Later an effort failed to attach the proviso to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the line was again proposed by the Nashville Convention of June 1850. Popular sovereignty, developed by Lewis Cass and Douglas as the eventual Democratic Party position, none of the area would be left as an unorganized or organized territory, avoiding the question of slavery in the territories. Changing Texass borders, Senator Thomas Hart Benton in December 1849 or January 1850, Texass western and northern boundaries would be the 102nd meridian west and 34th parallel north. First draft of the compromise of 1850, Texass northwestern boundary would be a diagonal line from the Rio Grande 20 miles north of El Paso to the Red River at the 100th meridian west. On January 29,1850, Whig Senator Henry Clay gave a speech called for compromise on the issues dividing the Union. However, Clays specific proposals for achieving a compromise, including his idea for Texas boundary, were not adopted in a single bill, upon Clays urging, Senator Stephen A. Douglas, Democrat of Illinois, divided Clays bill into several smaller bills, and passed each separately. When he instructed Douglas, Clay was nearly dead and unable to guide the congressional debate any further, the Compromise of 1850 was formally proposed by Clay and guided to passage by Douglas over Northern Whig and Southern Democrat opposition. Texass boundaries were set at their present form, El Paso, where Texas had established county government, was left in Texas, Slave trade was abolished in Washington, D. C
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Wilmot Proviso
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The Wilmot Proviso proposed an American law to ban slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico in the Mexican War. The conflict over the proviso was one of the events leading to the American Civil War. It passed the House but failed in the Senate, where the South had greater representation and it was reintroduced in February 1847 and again passed the House and failed in the Senate. In 1848, an attempt to make it part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo also failed, sectional political disputes over slavery in the Southwest continued until the Compromise of 1850. President John Tyler signed the bill on March 1,1845, as many expected, the annexation led to war with Mexico. After the capture of New Mexico and California in the first phases of the war, the key to this was the determination of the future status of slavery in any new territory. Both major political parties had labored long to keep divisive slavery issues out of national politics, however, midway through Polks term, Democratic dissatisfaction with the administration was growing within the Martin Van Buren, or Barnburner, wing of the Democratic Party over other issues. Polk was seen more and more as enforcing strict party loyalty primarily to serve southern interests, the Whigs faced a different scenario. The victory of James K. Polk over Henry Clay in the 1844 presidential election had caught the southern Whigs by surprise. In the South in particular, there was already the realization, or perhaps fear and their political goal was to avoid any sectional debate over slavery which would expose the sectional divisions within the party. On Saturday August 8,1846 President Polk submitted to Congress a request for $2,000,000 in order to facilitate negotiations with Mexico over the settlement of the war. The request came with no public warning after Polk had failed to arrange for approval of the bill with no Congressional debate, with Congress scheduled to adjourn that Monday, Democratic leadership arranged for the bill to be immediately considered in a special night session. Debate was to be limited to two hours with no speech to last more than ten minutes. Wilmot had a record of supporting the Polk administration and was close to many Southerners. With the likelihood that Wilmot would have no trouble gaining the floor in the House debate, the vote to add the proviso to the bill was then called, and it passed by 83–64. A last-ditch effort by southerners to table the bill was defeated by 94–78. Most ominously, these all fell overwhelmingly along sectional rather than party lines. The Senate took up the late in its Monday session
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David Wilmot
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David Wilmot was a U. S. politician, he was elected to the U. S. Congress, serving 1845–1851, and to the U. S. Senate, serving 1861–1863 to fill the remainder of a term. Wilmot was a Democrat, a Free Soiler, and a Republican and he was a sponsor and eponym of the Wilmot Proviso, intended to ban slavery in western lands gained from Mexico in the Mexican–American War of 1846–1848. The proposal repeatedly passed the House of Representatives, but was defeated in the Senate, however, it caused great anger and consternation in the South, and increased the prominence of the slavery issue on the national stage. Wilmot was instrumental in establishing the Republican Party in Pennsylvania and his opposition to slavery did not include the evolving abolitionist position of immediately ending the institution in the entire country. His views on race were instead related to defense of free labor and, by today’s standards. He also served as a District Judge and on the US Court of Claims, David Wilmot was born in Bethany, Pennsylvania, to Randall and Mary Wilmot. His father was a merchant, and Davids early life was a comfortable one. He was educated at the local Beech Woods Academy and later at the Cayuga Lake Academy in Aurora, moving to Wilkes-Barre in 1832, he read law under George W. Woodward and was admitted to the bar in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, in August 1834. In 1836 he married Anna Morgan, the couple had three children, none of whom survived childhood. Wilmot practiced law for some time in Towanda, Pennsylvania, and was involved in politics as a strong supporter of Andrew Jackson. Wilmot was elected Representative from Pennsylvanias 12th congressional district as a Democrat in 1844 and he served from 1845 until 1851, in the 29th, 30th and 31st Congresses. He initially supported the policies of President James Polk, also, as a Representative of a largely agrarian district, he voted for the Walker Tariff of 1846, which made a moderate reduction in tariff rates. Only gradually did Wilmot come to believe that the South was dominating the government to the detriment of the rest of the nation. Although Wilmot opposed the extension of slavery into the territories, he supported Polk in the initiation of the Mexican-American War, and was still considered a Democratic Party loyalist. But on August 8,1846, a bill for $2 million to be used by the president in negotiating a treaty of peace with Mexico was introduced in the House of Representatives. Wilmot modeled the language for what would usually be referred to as the Wilmot Proviso after the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, although known as the Wilmot Proviso, it originated with Jacob Brinkerhoff of Ohio, Wilmot being selected to present it only because his party standing was more regular. The House, after first voting down a counter-proposal simply to extend the Missouri Compromise line across the Mexican Cession, passed the proviso by a vote of 83–64. This led to an attempt to table the entire appropriations bill rather than pass it with the obnoxious proviso attached, the Senate adjourned rather than approve the bill with the proviso
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United States House of Representatives
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The United States House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the United States Congress which, along with the Senate, composes the legislature of the United States. The composition and powers of the House are established by Article One of the United States Constitution, since its inception in 1789, all representatives are elected popularly. The total number of voting representatives is fixed by law at 435, the House is charged with the passage of federal legislation, known as bills, which, after concurrence by the Senate, are sent to the President for consideration. The presiding officer is the Speaker of the House, who is elected by the members thereof and is traditionally the leader of the controlling party. He or she and other leaders are chosen by the Democratic Caucus or the Republican Conferences. The House meets in the wing of the United States Capitol. Under the Articles of Confederation, the Congress of the Confederation was a body in which each state was equally represented. All states except Rhode Island agreed to send delegates, the issue of how to structure Congress was one of the most divisive among the founders during the Convention. The House is referred to as the house, with the Senate being the upper house. Both houses approval is necessary for the passage of legislation, the Virginia Plan drew the support of delegates from large states such as Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, as it called for representation based on population. The smaller states, however, favored the New Jersey Plan, the Constitution was ratified by the requisite number of states in 1788, but its implementation was set for March 4,1789. The House began work on April 1,1789, when it achieved a quorum for the first time, during the first half of the 19th century, the House was frequently in conflict with the Senate over regionally divisive issues, including slavery. The North was much more populous than the South, and therefore dominated the House of Representatives, However, the North held no such advantage in the Senate, where the equal representation of states prevailed. Regional conflict was most pronounced over the issue of slavery, One example of a provision repeatedly supported by the House but blocked by the Senate was the Wilmot Proviso, which sought to ban slavery in the land gained during the Mexican–American War. Conflict over slavery and other issues persisted until the Civil War, the war culminated in the Souths defeat and in the abolition of slavery. Because all southern senators except Andrew Johnson resigned their seats at the beginning of the war, the years of Reconstruction that followed witnessed large majorities for the Republican Party, which many Americans associated with the Unions victory in the Civil War and the ending of slavery. The Reconstruction period ended in about 1877, the ensuing era, the Democratic and the Republican Party held majorities in the House at various times. The late 19th and early 20th centuries also saw an increase in the power of the Speaker of the House
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United States Senate
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The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress which, along with the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, composes the legislature of the United States. The composition and powers of the Senate are established by Article One of the United States Constitution. S. From 1789 until 1913, Senators were appointed by the legislatures of the states represented, following the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913. The Senate chamber is located in the wing of the Capitol, in Washington. It further has the responsibility of conducting trials of those impeached by the House, in the early 20th century, the practice of majority and minority parties electing their floor leaders began, although they are not constitutional officers. This idea of having one chamber represent people equally, while the other gives equal representation to states regardless of population, was known as the Connecticut Compromise, there was also a desire to have two Houses that could act as an internal check on each other. One was intended to be a Peoples House directly elected by the people, the other was intended to represent the states to such extent as they retained their sovereignty except for the powers expressly delegated to the national government. The Senate was thus not designed to serve the people of the United States equally, the Constitution provides that the approval of both chambers is necessary for the passage of legislation. First convened in 1789, the Senate of the United States was formed on the example of the ancient Roman Senate, the name is derived from the senatus, Latin for council of elders. James Madison made the comment about the Senate, In England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people. An agrarian law would take place. If these observations be just, our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation, landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests, and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority, the senate, therefore, ought to be this body, and to answer these purposes, the people ought to have permanency and stability. The Constitution stipulates that no constitutional amendment may be created to deprive a state of its equal suffrage in the Senate without that states consent, the District of Columbia and all other territories are not entitled to representation in either House of the Congress. The District of Columbia elects two senators, but they are officials of the D. C. city government. The United States has had 50 states since 1959, thus the Senate has had 100 senators since 1959. In 1787, Virginia had roughly ten times the population of Rhode Island, whereas today California has roughly 70 times the population of Wyoming and this means some citizens are effectively two orders of magnitude better represented in the Senate than those in other states. Seats in the House of Representatives are approximately proportionate to the population of each state, before the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, Senators were elected by the individual state legislatures
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William W. Wick
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William Watson Wick was a U. S. In 1800 Wick moved with his family to the Western Reserve following his fathers acceptance of missionary work in the region, after his fathers death in 1815, He moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and amongst other endeavors taught school and dabbled in the study of medicine. Deciding upon a career in the law he undertook study in a law office and was admitted to the bar at Franklin, Indiana and he served as Clerk of the State House of Representatives in 1820 and the State Senate in 1821. In between judicial assignments he served as Indianas Secretary of State and as the Prosecuting Attorney for the circuit from 1829-1831. In 1838, Wick was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-sixth Congress, failing in his bid for re-election he returned to private practice in Indianapolis. In 1844, Wick was re-elected to congress serving until the expiration of the Thirtieth Congress in 1849, while in congress, Wick offered an amendment to the Wilmont Proviso that would have extended the Missouri Compromise line to the pacific coast. Viewed from the perspective of our time, Wick was openly racist - He feared free blacks flooding the urban northeast and he also served on the Board of Directors of the American Colonization Society the body that helped set up Liberia as a homeland for free blacks. Later he served as Adjutant General in the State Militia and he sat as a judge of the Circuit Court for a fourth time for less than two months in the Autumn of 1859. He moved to Franklin, Indiana, in 1857, where he continued the practice of law and he was interred in Greenlawn Cemetery. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress and this article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http, //bioguide. congress. gov
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Stephen A. Douglas
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Stephen Arnold Douglas was an American politician from Illinois and the designer of the Kansas–Nebraska Act. He was a U. S. representative, a U. S. senator, Douglas had previously defeated Lincoln in a Senate contest, noted for the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858. He was nicknamed the Little Giant because he was short in physical stature, Douglas was well known as a resourceful party leader, and an adroit, ready, skillful tactician in debate and passage of legislation. He was a champion of the Young America movement which sought to modernize politics and replace the agrarian, as chairman of the Committee on Territories, Douglas dominated the Senate in the 1850s. Opposition to this led to the formation of the Republican Party, Douglas initially endorsed the Dred Scott decision of 1857. But during the 1858 Senate campaign, he argued its effect could be negated by popular sovereignty and he also opposed the efforts of President James Buchanan and his Southern allies to enact a Federal slave code and impose the Lecompton Constitution on Kansas. In 1860, the conflict over slavery led to the split in the Democratic Party in the 1860 Convention, hardline pro-slavery Southerners rejected Douglas, and nominated their own candidate, Vice President John C. Breckinridge, while the Northern Democrats nominated Douglas, Douglas deeply believed in democracy, arguing the will of the people should always be decisive. When civil war came in April 1861, he rallied his supporters to the Union cause with all his energies and he was born Stephen Arnold Douglass in Brandon, Vermont, to Stephen Arnold Douglass and Sarah Fisk. Douglas dropped the s from his name some years later. His father, a physician and Middlebury College graduate, died suddenly when Stephen was just a few months old and he grew up with his mother and was educated in the local schools. As a teenager, he was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker in Middlebury and his mother remarried in 1830 and moved to western New York. Although he wished to attend Middlebury College like his father, his family couldnt support his continued formal education, instead, he began to teach school while studying law with Walter and Levi Hubbell. While studying law he became friendly with Henry B, payne, a law student in another attorneys office. Payne later became a prominent businessman and politician in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1833 Douglas migrated first to Cleveland, and then to Winchester, Illinois, where he served as an itinerant teacher and opened a school for three months at three dollars a pupil. He then settled in Jacksonville, Illinois, where he was admitted to the bar, Douglas became a member of the Masonic fraternity in Springfield Lodge No.4 in Springfield, Illinois in 1839. He was a member of several Masonic organizations in Springfield, in March 1847 he married Martha Martin, the 21-year-old daughter of wealthy Colonel Robert Martin of North Carolina. The year after their marriage, her father died and bequeathed Martha a 2, 500-acre cotton plantation with 100 slaves on the Pearl River in Lawrence County, Mississippi
