Chapter 9 US History Vocabulary

Manifest Destiny

Expansionist

Person who favors expanding the territory or influence of a country

Manifest Destiny

19th Century doctrine that westward expansion of the United States was not only invisible but a God-given right

Santa Fe Trail

Trail developed by traders in the mid-1800s, connecting ==**Independence, Missouri**== to ==**Santa Fe, Mexico.**==

Mountain Men

American trappers who explored the ==**Rocky Mountains**== area in the 1800s.

Oregon Trail

Trail from ==**Independence, Missouri**== to ==**Oregon**==.

Treaty of Fort Laramie

1851 treaty that ==**restricted Indians**== to specific areas ==**away from the major trails**==.

Autonomy

Independent control over one’s own affairs.

Lone Star Republic

Nation formed in 1835 by Texans who declared Independence from Mexico.

Alamo

Fortified former mission in San Antonio was the site of the 1836 defeat and ==**slaughter of Texans**== by Mexicans troops.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

1848 treaty ending the ==**Mexican-American War**==.

Gadsden Purchase

1803 purchase of land (present-day ==**Arizona and New Mexico**==) from Mexico.

Wilmot Proviso

Proposed, but ==**rejected**==, 1846 bill that would have ==**banned slavery in the territory won from Mexico**== in the Mexican-American War.

California Gold Rush

Mass migration to California after the discovery of gold in 1848.

Forty-Niners

Miners who went to California after the discovery of gold in 1848.

Placer Mining

Use of metal ==**pans, picks, and shovels**== to harvest gold from the banks & bottoms of rivers & streams.

Hydraulic Mining

Use of ==**water**== to erode gravel hills into long sluices to catch any gold.

Junipero Serra

==**Franciscan priest**== responsible for setting up a string of missions which were successful in ==**California**==.

Brigham Young

==**Mormon leader**== who led the Mormons from Illinois to New Zion in the ==**Great Salt Lakes, Utah**==. Served as president of the Mormon church for 30 years, and served as the first president of the territory of Utah for 8 years.

Stephen F. Austin

Responsible for setting emigrants east of San Antonio, ==**founding the town of Austin**==. Played a part in the Mexican American-War.

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

Charismatic, ==**Mexican general who seized power**== of the capital city and believed in a strong, centralized government.

Sam Houston

Only American to serve as governor of 2 states (Tennessee and Texas), served as ==**president of the Lone Star Republic**== and gained annexation of Texas to the US.

James K. Polk

Became US president andas responsible for permitting Texas into the Union and acquiring part of the Oregon Territory, which belonged to the British.

Zachary Taylor

==General that led troops in the Mexican war==, to occupy territory between Nueces River and Rio Grande. He seized Monterrey and was part of the Bloody Battle of Buena Vista.

Winfield Scott

Superb officer that trained at the Military Academy at West Point. Played a part in the Mexican-American War.