Early Pacific Northwest History Essay

The Northwest Ordinance is considered if not, one of the most important legislative acts of the Confederation Congress. Officially titled “An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States North West of the River Ohio” the Northwest Ordinance was a document adopted by the Confederation Congress. Sometimes known as the Ordinance of 1787, adopted July 13, 1787, by the Second Continental Congress established a government for the Northwest Territory. This ordinance outlined the process for admitting a new state into the Union, and guaranteed that the newly created states would in fact be equal to all original thirteen states, the Northwest Ordinance also focused on protecting civil liberties and completely outlawed slavery within the new territories. Adopting the Northwest Ordinance ended a long bitter period of debating how to organize the western territories of the United States.

The Oregon Trail was a very important aspect in the history of our country’s development. When Marcus and Narcissa Whitman made the first trip along the Oregon Trail, many Americans saw a window of opportunity. The Oregon Trail was the only practical way to pass through the Rockies. Pioneers crammed themselves into small wagons to try to make it to the unsettled land; however, 10% of these pioneers died on the way due to disease and accidents.

Exploration has always been a central theme in the development of the United States. The Louisiana Purchase, in 1803, made the government more eager to expand west. The newly acquired lands were in need of exploration. A team needed to be established to survey and document the new territory. The Lewis and Clark expedition would answer the unknown questions of the west. The expedition would not have been successful without the leadership, determination, discipline of the Corps of Discovery, and the cooperation of the Native Americans. President Jefferson wanted the leader to have the same passion and intensity toward the discovery of the west as he possessed. Jefferson hand-

American culture has changed over time as the country has grown. It is important to know our history so we can avoid the same mistakes that our ancestors made before us. With knowledge of our history and our prior mistakes, we can learn from them and make better decisions in the future.

Colonizing the New World brought a new stream of products that were exchanged in the Columbian Exchange. Many new products were introduced to the Old World, “Things like Florida oranges, Irish potatoes, French vanilla ice cream, and Colombian coffee are around because the Old World met the New World and exchanges various goods.” (Doc 6). Many areas got products that grew really good in their conditions and then they became specialized in growing that crop. The Age of Exploration also contributed in finding different routes for people to travel by ship through. ”The mariner’s astrolabe was used to determine the latitude of the ship by measuring the noon altitude of the Sun or the meridia altitude of a star of a known declination” (Doc 2). New areas were found for countries to take shorter routes and with people pinpointing their location using the astrolabe, maps might have started to form. Relationships were established with the Indians and fur trade posts were set up. The Dutch established a company when they arrived to the Americas and began a fur trade with the Iroquois Indians. Good relations that were built with the Indian aided those countries in war, since the Indians would form an alliance with

The trail encouraged settlers to travel westward, settlers knew that materials and supplies that determined the success of their transition would be accessible from their new locations.Unfortunately, the trail was relatively short lived due to Mexican taxation of the Santa Fe trail, this short lived boom of westward trail expansion quickly came to an end. being previously been owned by the British the Oregon trail stretched toward the west coast. The trail was now turned over to the U.S when it acquired the Oregon Territory. With simple access to the Pacific ocean the U.S began to openly trade with Asian countries, inducing smoother international trade relations and a surge in international trade

In the colonial era, many explorers went to the new world. These explorers were in search for land and money. But unfortunately the native americans were already there. Many of these tribes disliked the explorers while others welcomed them to their village. Two of these many explorers was Captain John Smith and William Bradford. Each of these men travelled to the new world and had different responses from the natives.

The United States currently occupies around thirty-seven percent of North America, but how has this prosperous country expanded so fast in the last three centuries? The US is currently one of the largest countries in the world and the second largest in North America. Though most Americans know about the original Thirteen Colonies, several of them might have trouble trying to list another major affair through which the United States has expanded westward. Many battles and fights have caused the borders of the United States and the states and territories of the land now deemed to the United States to have changed; along with major purchases of land, the battles and fights have brought America to the current size it is.

     Quite possibly one of the most important purchases in the history of The United States was the one in which Thomas Jefferson enabled the size of the country to double. The territory was the Louisiana Territory, the 820,000 square mile piece of land was bought for 15 million dollars which equaled out to about three cents an acre.      The United States originally only wanted to buy the port of New Orleans. Thomas Jefferson wanted to buy this because there was a risk that the half million Americans living west of the Appalachian would secede from the Union. Purchasing the port would keep them from seceding because they would then have a port that they could easily use to

A historical event that occurred in the Pacific Northwest region was the start of trading between Native Americans from the Pacific Northwest and Europeans. This was an important event because Non-Native Americans were driven to the region because of the idea of making money. This lead to settlements and trading posts throughout the region.The social structure of tribes in this region was also affected by trade. The website http://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/Website/Classroom%20Materials/Curriculum%20Packets/Indians%20&%20Europeans/II.html says, “In return the Europeans sought furs, and it became relatively simple for powerful Native leaders to take control of the acquisition, preperation, and trade of furs within a given area.

The Expedition: In 1803 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark began their journey to explore the unknown west. Since it was America’s first time exploring the west, and never seeing the new land. There were many new plants, animals, Indian tribes, and new land. The expedition helped the Americans settle and move westward with the new land that was ours. The Lewis and Clark expedition finally ended

As such, in 1804, President Thomas Jefferson hired Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the vast territory. Before the expedition started, President Jefferson instructed Lewis and Clark to interact with the Native Americans they encountered on their journey friendly and treat them nicely for it will help to acquire their knowledge and to know everything about their way of life such as religion, occupations, food, clothing, language, relations to other nations, traditions, animals, and how they are killed. This will guide and assist the Americans in taking over the Louisiana territory because they know their weaknesses and strengths. In addition, before they left for the expedition, they bought well known Indian gifts such as glass beads, mirrors, scissors, thimbles, needles, tobacco, knives, peace medals, etc, as an important sign of friendship and allegiance. Lewis and Clark were accompanied by some recruited soldiers, Clark's African-American slave York, Toussaint Charbonneau as an interpreter in the expedition, Toussaint pregnant wife, and the only female in the expedition named Sacagawea, John Ordway, and many

Many different explorers wanted to capture and take control of the land they didn’t own. They knew that the task was not one that would be easy. Lots of different explorers faced the task of removing the Natives as well as the other Countries fighting for the land. The settlers soon began to realize the opportunities they had in front of them. Explorers from Spain, England, Russia, and the new United States, looked with interest toward the Northwest. A major goal of the explorers was to discover the so-called "Northwest Passage" to the Pacific Ocean.

Minnesota is known to be home to the Dakota. The Santee, also known as Eastern Dakota, move their villages and do different things according to the seasons. During the winter they lived off stores of supplies built up over the years. Women processed hides and gathered wood while they men were off hunting. In the spring the men went off to hunt and villagers went to sugar camps. At the sugar camps they made maple sugar and syrup. In the summer families gathered in villages while men hunted and fished and women with children cultivated crops. When the corn had been harvested they went off to harvest the wild rice from canoes. The wild rice grew in lakes so that is why they used canoes. In the fall, the men and their families went to the year’s spot for the annual hunt. All of this was essential to the Dakota’s way of life and culture.

Northwest Canadian Forest Products Limited is a company that owns and operates five saw mills in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. They produce lumber for construction in a few different countries. The President of the company is dealing with a tough situation with one of her mills in Jackson, British Columbia. The mill in Jackson is her least productive mill and she soon has to make a decision that could cost the company a substantial amount of money. She has the choice of either investing 50 million in the weak Jackson mill or to invest more that 50 million in a new mill high demand area. The president has been informed of the many complaints from the managers and supervisors, but nothing seems to be the right solution.