The Aztec Civilization Easier - Aztecs were a wandering Native American tribe who came to Mexico during the 13th century. There they built a great civilization including cities, pyramids, and temples. In 1519 Spanish conquistadors arrived in Mexico and defeated the Aztecs. Harder - Aztec comes from the word Azteca, which is derived from Aztlán ("White Land"). Aztlán is believed to have been the northwestern region of today's Mexico.
On October 31, 1803 the United States Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase Treaty by a vote of twenty-four to seven. The agreement, which provided for the purchase of the western half of the Mississippi River basin from France at a price of $15 million, or approximately four cents per acre, doubled the size of the country and paved the way for westward expansion beyond the Mississippi. James Madison, the Secretary of State, on the very same day, wrote a letter to William C. C. Claiborne informing him a Treaty with France ceding Louisiana to the United States had been ratified. Two Commissions were enclosed with the letter; one authorizing Mr. Claiborne and General Wilkinson, either jointly or separately, to receive possession and the other appointing Mr. Claiborne Governor of the ceded territory. Claiborne and Wilkinson took possession of the new territory, in New Orleans, on December 20, 1802.
Spanish and English sailors are believed to have sighted the Oregon coast in the 1500s and 1600s. Capt. James Cook, seeking the Northwest Passage, charted some of the coastline in 1778. In 1792, Capt. Robert Gray, in the Columbia, discovered the river named after his ship and claimed the area for the U.S. And In 1805 the Lewis and Clark expedition explored the area.
Thomas Gibbons, another steamboat operator, competed with Aaron Ogden on this same route but held a federal coasting license issued by an act of Congress. Ogden filed a complaint in New York court to stop Gibbons from operating his boats, claiming that the monopoly granted by New York was legal even though he operated on shared, interstate waters. Gibbons disagreed arguing that the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the sole power over interstate commerce. After losing twice in New York courts, Gibbons appealed the case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court determined that the commerce clause of the Constitution grants the federal government the power to determine how interstate commerce is conducted.
The city was founded in 1781 by Felipe do Neve, a Spanish governor. The small pueblo, whose original title was “The Town of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of Porciuncula,” consisted of 44 settlers of mixed cultural backgrounds. Control of Los Angeles would shift hands quite often. It remained under Spanish rule until 1821, when it became a part of Mexico following the Mexican secession from Spain. The Mexican hold over the California region was brief, as it came under the control of the United States in 1848 at the end of the Mexican-American War.
As white colonists began to spread their influence across the continent, it was inevitable that they would run into the expanding Spanish empire to the south. The first major conflict was in Texas. The United States won the battle, and as a result, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in 1848. In it, Mexico ceded much of its territory in the Southwest to the United States. The transfer was complete in 1853 with the Gadsden Purchase.
Human history in California begins with indigenous Americans first arriving in California some 13,000-15,000 years ago. Exploration and settlement by Europeans along the coasts and in the inland valleys began in the 16th century. California was acquired by the United States under the terms of the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo following the defeat of Mexico in the Mexican–American War. American westward expansion into Mexico intensified with the California Gold Rush, beginning in 1849. California joined the Union as a free state in 1850, due to the compromise of 1850.
The new territory doubles the nation in size. 1804 Under Jefferson’s authority, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark lead the “Corps of Discovery” to explore the new territory. They intend to locate the Northwest passage, map the regions, describe the plant and animal life the encounter, and make alliances with Indian tribes. 1808 James Madison is elected president, and during his first term has to deal with disputes with Britain, France, and Spain. Tensions with Britain rise.
Madison case took place in the year of 1803. It had formed the groundwork for the exercise of the judicial review of Article III of the Constitution the United States. It was the first time in Western history that a court vacated a law by saying it was "unconstitutional", an accomplishment called the judicial review. The decision had provided service to define the "checks and balances" of the American formation of government. Federalism is a political idea in how a group of members are tied together by a band with a governing representative leader.
The Texas Declaration of Independence The Texas Declaration of Independence was the formal declaration of independence of The Republic of Texas from Mexico. At the Convention of 1836 at Washington –on-the-Brazos the declaration was officially adopted on March 2, and then formally signed the following day after errors had been corrected. There were 59 signatures on the Declaration of Independence. Only ten of the men had lived in Texas for more than six years, while one-quarter of them had been in Texas for less than a year. (10) The Texas Revolution was launched in October of 1835 by settlers in Mexican Texas.