CHRONOLOGY

1841

  • – Vice President John Tyler becomes president when William Henry Harrison dies.

1844

  • – James K. Polk is elected president.

1845

  • – Texas enters Union as slave state.

1846

  • – Congress declares war on Mexico.
  • – United States and Great Britain divide Oregon Country.

1848

  • – Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

1849

  • – California gold rush begins.