| A | B |
|---|
| renezvous | yearly meeting where mountain men traded furs for supplies |
| pass | an opening between mountains |
| emigrate | to leave ones country to live in another |
| prarie schooner | lightweight, covered wagon |
| annex | to add or make a part of |
| Tejanos | people of Mexican heritage who consider Texas their home |
| empressario | person who agreed to recruit settlers to Texas for Spain in the early 1800s |
| reform | improvement or change for the better |
| Bear Flag Republic | the state of California that claimed independence from Mexico in 1846 |
| cede | to give up, as land |
| forty-niner | gold seekers who went to California in 1849 |
| prospector | miner who explored areas for mineral desposits such as gold |
| vigilante | member of an organization of citizens who takes the law into his or her hands |
| Robert Gray | claimed the Oregon Territory for the United States and named the Columbia River |
| John Jacob Astor | one of the first fur trapers to set up a trading posts in the OregonTerritory |
| James Beckworth | discovered a pass through the Sierra Mountains to California |
| Jim Bridger | discovered the South Pass through the Rocky Mountains |
| Jedediah Smith | discovered the area of Yellowstone National Park |
| Manuel Lisa | Founded Fort Manuel on the Upper Missouri River |
| Marcus and Narcissa Whitman | one of the first couples to settle in the Oregon Territory and established a mission |
| James K. Polk | 11th President of the United States declaraed 54'40" and started the Mexican War |
| Stephan F. Austin | leader of the Old Three Hundred, which were a group of settlers who came from the US to live in Texas |
| Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna | head of the Mexican Government and Army |
| William Travis, Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett | died defending the Alamo |
| Juan Seguin | a Tejano who help fight to gain Texas's Independent |
| Zachary Taylor | General who set up a post north of the Rio Grande and later captured Monterrey |
| Winfield Scott | General who lead troops in capturing Mexico City |
| Stephan Kearny | General who helped capture New Mexico and California |
| Brigham Young | lead the Mormons to Utah's Salt Lake Valley |
| Joseph Smith | Original founder of the Mormons, killed in Illinois, because of his beliefs |
| John Sutter | owner of the mill where gold was first discovered in California |
| John Marshall | discovered gold in California |
| Biddy Mason | woman who became rich from selling supplies and homes during the California gold rush |
| Oregon Trail | the route by which most people travled to the Oregon Territory |
| Independence, MO | The location where the Oregon Trail began |
| San Antonio | location of the Alamo |
| Goliard | the location of a massacre by the Mexican army which executed 350 Texans |
| Gonzales | where the first shots were fired in the fight for Texas's Independence |
| Mexican Cession | The United States accquried California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico for 15 million dollars |
| Gadsen Purchase | This purchase in New Mexico and Arizona for 10 million dollars completed the present day boundary between The US and Mexico |
