Territorial Expansion in U.S. History Quiz

Thomas Jefferson negotiated the Louisiana Purchase to double the size of the United States and gain control of the port of New Orleans.

William Seward, then Secretary of State under President Andrew Johnson, negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867.

Abraham Lincoln, during his presidency, signed the Pacific Railway Acts of 1862 and 1864, authorizing the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad.

James K. Polk oversaw the annexation of California as part of the Mexican Cession following the Mexican-American War.

As a result of the Oregon Treaty, the United States acquired present-day Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming.

The United States acquired Florida from Spain in 1819 through the Adams-Onís Treaty, which also established the western boundary of the Louisiana Purchase.

James K. Polk was the president when Texas was annexed to the United States in 1845, leading to the Mexican-American War.

The United States acquired Puerto Rico from Spain after the Spanish-American War, leading to its status as a U.S. territory.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed in 1848, ended the Mexican-American War and ceded territories including California, Texas, and New Mexico to the United States.

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806) to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Territory.

The main reason behind the U.S. acquisition of the Gadsden Purchase in 1853 was to gain control of strategic transportation routes, particularly for a southern transcontinental railroad.

William McKinley was in office when the United States acquired the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico as territories following the Spanish-American War.

The main reason for the U.S. acquisition of the Canal Zone was to control a vital transportation route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, facilitating global maritime trade and military mobility.

The Oregon Treaty, signed in 1846, established the boundary between the United States and Canada at the 49th parallel west of the Rocky Mountains, resolving territorial disputes.

Theodore Roosevelt declared the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine in 1904, asserting the right of the United States to intervene in Latin American countries to maintain stability.