Home > United States territorial acquisitions

• The Louisiana Purchase, completed 1803, was negotiated by Robert Livingston during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson; the territory was acquired from France.

• Red River Basin, acquired in 1818 by treaty from Great Britain

• Florida Purchase, made in 1819 from Spain, under the administration of John Quincy Adams

• Texas Annexation of 1845Events January 29 The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe is published for the first time New York Evening Mirror . March 1 President John Tyler signs a bill authorizing the United States to annex the Republic of Texas. March 3 Florida is admitted as the 27th U.: In 1836Events January Book by Maria Monk claims that she was sexually exploited in a Canadian convent February 3 United States Whig Party holds its first convention in Albany, New York. February 23 The siege of the Alamo begins in San Antonio, Texas. February 24 the Republic of TexasAlternative use: Republic of Texas (group The Republic of Texas was a shortlived country roughly corresponding to the present day state of Texas in the United States of America. The northern boundaries with the United States were defined by the Adams-Onis voted to be annexed by the United States. Despite the fact that Mexican leader Antonio López de Santa AnnaAntonio Lopez de Santa Anna Perez de Lebron (sometimes spelled de Santa Ana ( February 21, 1794 21 June 1876) was a Mexican general and dictator. Antonio Lopez was born to lower-middle class parents in Xalapa, while Mexico was still known as the colony of warned that annexation would be "equivalent to a declaration of war against the Mexican Republic," President John TylerJohn Tyler Order 10th President Term of Office April 6, 1841 March 3, 1845 Followed William Henry Harrison Succeeded by James Knox Polk Date of Birth March 29, 1790 Place of Birth Greenway, Virginia Date of Death January 18, 1862 Place of Death Richmond, signed a treaty of annexation with Texas in April 1844Events January 15 University of Notre Dame receives its charter from Indiana. February 27 The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti. February 28 A gun on the USS Princeton explodes while the boat is on a Potomac River cruise, killing two United, causing the Mexican War. After James Polk, a strong supporter of territorial expansion, won the presidency, but before he took office, Congress approved the annexation of Texas on February 28, 1845. On December 29, 1845, Texas became the twenty-eighth state.

• Oregon Country, ceded to the U.S. by the Great Britain in 1846 under the Oregon Treaty, the two countries had jointly controlled the area since 1818

• Mexican Cession lands were a product of the Mexican War and the subsequent Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed February 2, 1848. In this treaty, Mexico gave the U.S. parts of what is Texas, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming, and the whole of California, Nevada and Utah and recognized the Rio Grande as Texas' Southern border. The United States paid Mexico $15 million. In addition, the United States agreed to pay claims made by American citizens against Mexico, which amounted to more than $3 million.

• Gadsden Purchase of 1853, United States purchased a strip of land along the Mexican border for $10 million, now in New Mexico and Arizona. This territory was later used for the southern transcontinental railroad.

• Alaska Purchase from Russia in 1867.

• Hawaii, annexed 1896 upon the request of a government made up mainly of American settlers who had overthrown the Kingdom of Hawaii.

• Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, taken from Spain after the Spanish-American War in 1898. The Philippines became an independent nation in 1946.

• American Samoa, occupied in 1899, made a formal territory in 1929.

• U.S. Virgin Islands, bought from the Danish Crown for $25 million on January 17, 1917 during the First World War. Virgin Islands inhabitants became American citizens in 1927.

• Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Northern Mariana Islands and Palau, occupied by the United States during World War II, formalised under the UN trusteeship system in 1947. The Marshall Islands became independent in 1986 and Palau in 1994.