The Mexican-American War, California Gold Rush, and Territorial Expansion

Vocabulary terms and definitions highlighting key personalities, political disputes, military events, treaties, and geographic developments related to the Mexican-American War, the California Gold Rush, and the Gadsden Purchase.

Rio Grande Border Dispute

The post-annexation conflict over the boundary of Texas, in which the United States claimed the border extended to the Rio Grande, whereas Mexico maintained the border was the Nueces River.

John Slidell

The U.S. envoy sent to Mexico by President James K. Polk with an offer to purchase California and New Mexico and establish the Rio Grande as the Texas border, whom Mexican officials refused to receive.

Spot Resolution

A congressional challenge introduced by Representative Abraham Lincoln requesting President Polk to identify the exact spot where American blood had been shed on American soil.

Wilmot Proviso

A legislative amendment proposed by Pennsylvania Representative David Wilmot stating that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude should ever exist in any territory acquired from the Republic of Mexico.

Stephen Kearny

The U.S. general nicknamed "The Long Marcher" who marched troops from Kansas to seize New Mexico without a shot being fired before continuing to California to defeat Mexican forces.

Bear Flag Revolt

An $1846$ uprising in Sonoma led by American settlers and John C. Fremont that declared California independent from Mexico, establishing the Republic of California.

Zachary Taylor

The American general nicknamed "Old Rough and Ready" who blockaded the Rio Grande, invaded northern Mexico, and went on to win the U.S. presidential election of $1848$.

Winfield Scott

The American general nicknamed "Old Fuss and Feathers" who executed an amphibious landing at Veracruz and advanced into the Mexican interior to capture Mexico City.

Veracruz Amphibious Landing

A water-to-land military landing commanded by General Winfield Scott during the Mexican-American War that opened the path to capturing Mexico City.

Antonio López de Santa Anna

The former Mexican leader exiled in Cuba who promised President Polk he would end the war if allowed to return to Mexico, but instead raised an army to fight U.S. forces.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The $1848$ treaty ending the Mexican-American War that recognized the Rio Grande as the Texas border, ceded California and New Mexico to the U.S. for $\$15\text{ million}$, and guaranteed civil protections to Mexicans in the ceded land.

Mexican Cession

The territory relinquished by Mexico to the United States in $1848$ for $\$15\text{ million}$, consisting of present-day California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming.

Free-Soil Party

A political party formed in $1848$ by northern antislavery Democrats that nominated Martin Van Buren for president and supported a congressional ban on the extension of slavery into newly acquired territories.

Sutter's Mill

The sawmill site in the California Sierra Nevada Mountains owned by John A. Sutter where gold was discovered in $1848$, initiating the California Gold Rush.

Forty-Niners

The prospectors and fortune seekers from Asia, South America, Europe, and the eastern United States who migrated to California in $1849$ following the discovery of gold.

Boomtowns and Ghost Towns

Rapidly established and volatile mining settlements created by prospectors during the California Gold Rush that were later deserted once mineral resources were exhausted.

Gadsden Purchase

An $1853$ agreement in which the United States paid Mexico $\$10\text{ million}$ for land in southern Arizona and New Mexico to secure a southern transcontinental railroad route and complete the contiguous Lower $48$ states.

Franklin Pierce

The U.S. president who dispatched James Gadsden in $1853$ to purchase a strip of land in southern Arizona and New Mexico from Mexico.