Thematic Essay Practice: The Impact of Geography

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Thematic Essay Practice: The Impact of Geography

E. Napp

Many important events in United States history have been influenced by geography. Geographic factors or conditions include location, size, climate, natural resources, and physical features. These events in turn have had political, social, and economic impacts on the development of the United States.

The Theme

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Identify two important events in United States history and for each

• Describe how a geographic factor or condition influenced the event

• Discuss the political, social, and/or economic impacts of this event on the development of the United States

The Task

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Suggestions:

• The Louisiana Purchase• The Construction of the Erie

Canal• Migration to California in the

late 1840s• The Purchase of Alaska

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 The Louisiana Purchase (1803) was a land deal between the United States and France, in which the U.S. acquired approximately 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million dollars.

As the United States had expanded westward, navigation of the Mississippi River and access to the port of New Orleans had become critical to American commerce.

The Louisiana Purchase

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Proposed in 1808 and completed in 1825, the canal

links the waters of Lake Erie in the west to the Hudson River in the east…

The Erie Canal

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In order to open the country west of the Appalachian Mountains to settlers and to offer a cheap and safe way to carry produce to a market, the construction of a canal was proposed as early as 1768…

It was not until 1808 that the state legislature funded a survey for a canal that would connect to Lake Erie.

Finally, on July 4, 1817, Governor Dewitt Clinton broke ground for the construction of the canal.

In those early days, it was often sarcastically referred to as “Clinton's Big Ditch”. When finally completed on October 26, 1825, it was the engineering marvel of its day.

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The California Gold Rush, which occurred in the late

1840s, was one of the most compelling events in the history of westward expansion.

Thousands of people caught “gold fever” and decided to go west in order to “see the elephant,” as the great adventure was often called.

Migration to California in the late 1840s

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Lightly populated by American Indians, Spanish missionaries, and traders, California passed into the hands of the United States as a result of the Mexican War of 1846-48.

On January 24, 1848, James Marshall, overseeing construction of a millrace [the rapid current of water that causes a mill wheel to turn] at Sutter’s Mill on the American River, noticed flakes of metal in the water. Various tests, including that the metal could be pounded flat unlike brittle pyrite (fool’s gold), convinced Marshall and his boss John Sutter that the material was in fact real gold.

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Despite their best efforts to keep the discovery a secret, word spread like wildfire and the mill was largely abandoned as workers caught the first cases of “gold fever.”

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On March 30, 1867, the United States reached an

agreement to purchase Alaska from Russia for a price of $7.2 million.

The Treaty with Russia was negotiated and signed by Secretary of State William Seward and Russian Minister to the United States Edouard de Stoeckl.

The Purchase of Alaska

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Critics of the deal to purchase Alaska called it “Seward’s Folly” or “Seward’s Icebox.”

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Opposition to the purchase of Alaska subsided with the Klondike Gold Strike in 1896.

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Identify two important events in United States history and for each

• Describe how a geographic factor or condition influenced the event

• Discuss the political, social, and/or economic impacts of this event on the development of the United States

Which two events will you choose?