Chapter 13:
Justifying their activities with the doctrine of Manifest Destiny but really drawn by the lure of cheap land, gold, trade opportunities, and even, like the Mormons, religious freedom, Americans moved west of the Mississippi into Indian and Spanish (after 1821, Mexican) lands, as well as into the U.S.-British jointly held Oregon Country. Over time, via the Mexican War, the Oregon Treaty, and essentially overwhelming and overrunning the Indians, the United States came to possess these lands that include the American Southwest from Texas westward and the Pacific Northwest. Settlers flooded into the territories following arduous overland trails, staking their claims, and absorbing or eliminating the inhabitants they found there, be they Californios, Mexicans, or Indians.
