The United States 1840

The state of Arkansas was admitted as the 25th state in 1836. The forced removal of the Five Civilized Tribes of Indians from the eastern homelands was then at its height, and the main routes of the ‘Trail of Tears’ ran through the new state to the designated resettlement zones in the Indian territory of Oklahoma. Meanwhile Texas was declaring its independence from Mexico, and storing up border disputes for future profitable exploitation after its annexation by the Union. Michigan was admitted as the 26th state (1837) and Iowa Territory organized in 1838. The Northeastern borders with British Canada continued to breed vexatious feuding over boundaries including the bloodless Aroostook War (1838–39) and the short-lived ‘Republic of Indian Stream’ (1832–35). The first settlers managed to negotiate the Oregon Trail and arrive at the Columbia River in September 1840, a prelude to the ‘Great Migration’ of 1843.