Crash Course US History: Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny

Flashcards defining key vocabulary, historical figures, battles, treaties, and political movements covered in the lecture on US Westward Expansion, Texas annexation, the Mexican-American War, and the Compromise of 1850.

Manifest Destiny

A phrase coined by journalist John O. Sullivan describing America's supposed God-given right to occupy all land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Tejanos

Spanish-speaking Mexican residents of Texas, who numbered only about 2,000 when Mexico gained independence.

Stephen Austin

The son of Moses Austin who profited by selling smaller parcels of a large land grant in Texas to American settlers, raising the American population there to 7,000.

General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana

The Mexican general who led an army to assert control over Texas, defeating defenders at the Alamo before losing to Texas rebels at San Jacinto.

The Alamo

An 1836 battle site where General Santa Ana's army killed 187 or 188 American defenders, including Davy Crockett.

Battle of San Jacinto

The battle where Texas rebels defeated General Santa Ana and forced Mexico to recognize Texas' independence.

Lone Star Republic

The name taken by Texas after winning independence from Mexico prior to joining the United States.

49th Parallel

The boundary line agreed upon by the United States and Britain to divide Oregon, helping maintain the balance between free and slave states in the Senate.

James K. Polk

The expansionist US President who annexed Texas, split Oregon at the 49th Parallel, and acquired California through the Mexican-American War.

Henry David Thoreau

A Massachusetts transcendentalist jailed for refusing to pay taxes in protest of the Mexican-American War, who authored On Civil Disobedience.

Winfield Scott

An American general nicknamed 'Old Fuss and Feathers' who captured Mexico City in September 1847.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The 1848 peace treaty ending the Mexican-American War in which Mexico confirmed Texas annexation, ceded California and other lands, and received $15,000,000 from the US.

Nativism

An anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant sentiment that arose in the Eastern United States during the mid-nineteenth century.

American Party

A political party dedicated to nativism, commonly referred to as the 'Know Nothings' because members claimed to know nothing about their political views.

Free Soil Party

A political party formed in 1848 that nominated Martin Van Buren and called for limiting the expansion of slavery into Western territories.

Compromise of 1850

A four-part plan brokered by Henry Clay that admitted California as a free state, outlawed the D.C. slave trade, enacted a harsh fugitive slave law, and set up popular sovereignty in remaining Mexican Cession lands.

Popular Sovereignty

The policy allowing local white inhabitants of former Mexican territories to vote on whether their state would allow or ban slavery.