HOA Westward Expansion Vocab

Soil exhaustion

Farm land is unusable after a lot of unsustainable farming (planting one crop repeatedly without crop cycling)

Settlement of Texas (in northern Mexico)

After gaining independence from Spain, Mexico encouraged US emigrants to settle in Texas by offering them land grants

Sam Houston

Leader of the American "war party," demanded independence for Texas

Cotton monoculture

Cotton was the ONLY thing holding up the southern economy

Manifest Destiny

The belief that Americans were destined to spread across the continent (and spread their dominance and culture with them)

Election of 1844

Won by Democrat James Polk (slave owner & hardcore expansionist), who supported the occupation of Oregon and the annexation of Texas

Oregon and Texas

"Oregon fever" - Migrants rapidly traveled to Oregon for its land & trading opportunities (using Oregon Trail)

Texas - Britain encouraged Texas to remain independent and wanted American land; Americans demanded annexation of Texas

Expansion into Texas & Oregon was the main issue of Election of 1844

Texas border dispute

To gain Mexico's northern provinces, Polk sent U.S. soldiers to occupy the gray area b/w the Nueces River (historic border) and the Rio Grande (claimed Texas border), which as he hoped, led to war

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Ended the Mexican American War and gave the U.S. a LOT of Mexican territory (including New Mexico & California, caused tensions bc of the free/slave state fight)

Wilmot Proviso

A ban on slavery in any territories gained from the war (proposed by anti-slavery Democrat David Wilmot and later rejected by the Senate)

"Slave Power" conspiracy

The idea that southerners were using slavery to try and dominate national power

Free Soil Movement

Movement in response to the rejection of the Wilmot Proviso, fighting against slavery and accusing southerners of a "slave power" conspiracy