US History - Chapter 8

Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny

the idea that America was divinely ordained to possess the entire North American continent

Stephen Austen

The son of Moses Austin who became empresario in his place.

Empresario System

Empresarios (contractors) would buy large tracts of land in Texas, which was owned by Mexico. In return, the empresarios promised to fill the land with settlers and govern their settlements.

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

• Elected president of Mexico in 1833

• Discarded the Mexican Constitution and declared himself dictator

Sam Houston

• A veteran of the War of 1812 who joined the Texan forces against Mexico.

• Served two terms as the president of the Republic of Texas

Alamo

A Spanish mission where Texan forces (including Jim Bowie and William Travis) held their post to block a Mexican advance. The Texan forces were defeated.

Lone Star Republic

Another name for the Republic of Texas

Bear Flag Republic

Another name for California

Battle of San Jacinto

• 800 Texans defeated the Mexicans, killing 630 and capturing 730 men, including Santa Anna

• The Texans won their independence from Mexico, and Sam Houston was elected president of the Lone Star Republic in 1836.

James K. Polk

• Presidential candidate for the Democrats

• “Young Hickory”

• Won the election of 1844

Polk’s Goals

1. Lower the tariff

2. Restore independent treasury

3. Settle Oregon question

4. Acquire California

Only two of the four were accomplished.

Zachary Taylor

• a general who Polk sent into the disputed area between the two rivers (Rio Grande and Nueces River) with orders to keep the Mexican forces from crossing the Rio Grande.

• “Old Rough and Ready”

Wilmot Proviso

An amendment proposed by David Wilmot that prohibited slavery or involuntary servitude in any territory acquired from Mexico

Spot Resolution

called for the administration to announce the exact spot of the Mexican attack

John C. Fremont

• “Pathfinder of the West”

• Led a group of 60 men into California on a surveying trip, but if war broke out with Mexico, his expedition would become a military operation

• Led the California campaign

Winfield Scott

• Led the Mexico city campaign

• Led the Central Mexico campaign and defeated Santa Anna

• “Old Fuss and Feathers”

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

• Mexico ceded New Mexico and California to the US

• Recognized American claims to Texas southward to the Rio Grande

• US paid Mexico $15 million and agreed to pay $3.25 million in debts that Mexico owed to American citizens

Mexican Cession

totaled over 500k square miles and included the future states of California, Utah, Nevada, and parts of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Wyoming

Results of the Mexican War

• Opened the Pacific coast and its ports to trade

• Zachary Taylor became a hero and would eventually enter the White House

• The war was a training ground for US soldiers, many of whom would later fight one another in the Civil War

• Reopened national controversy, as the status of slavery in the Mexican Cession would be fiercely contested

Gadsden Purchase

land the US paid for which was on the southern border of Arizona and New Mexico

California Gold Rush

Prospectors from all over the country came to California to look for gold

Reasons to go West

• land

• gold

• religion

Forty-niners

the first wave of gold hunters who came in 1849

Marcus and Narcissa Whitman

• Missionary couple who brought in a thousand settlers to Oregon in 1841

• Killed by Native Americans because they thought that it was the couple’s fault for their people’s death

Mormons

• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

• Founded by Joseph Smith in 1830

• Practiced polygamy, which was considered heavily unorthodox by others

Brigham Young

• The leader of the Mormons after the death of Joseph Smith

• Led the Mormons to Utah, where they founded Salt Lake City in 1847

Jedediah Smith

• Rediscovered the South Pass through the Rockies

• Discovered the first overland route to California

Santa Fe Trail

a commercial trade route

Oregon Trail

• the main route for pioneers and missionaries to the West

• Consisted of the ruts left by preceding wagons

• the trail had branches that reached into California

California Trail

• followed the Oregon Trail for 1200 miles until it turned to the southwest after Fort Hall

• Donner party

Mormon Trail

Mormons fled from Illinois and crossed through Iowa to Council Bluffs to escape persecution