United States History 17A
Study Guide 11
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Study Guide 11
Nation of Nations
Chapter Fourteen
Westward Expansion and the Rise of the Slavery Issue
Answer the following questions:
1. Who is being described in this quote: "They attacked the villages of the Plains Indians, ruthlessly massacred women and children, and forced defeated tribes to live on reservations and serve their economic interests." What lured these conquerors west? Why were they not as greatly affected by diseases like smallpox as others? 
I. Manifest (And not so Manifest) Destiny
2. What were four components of the doctrine of 'manifest destiny'?
3. Spain's California settlements were anchored by four coastal ___ located at ___. Between them lay 21 ___ run by ___ which controlled ___ tended by ____.
4. Mexico won its independence from Spain in ___ (year). In 1833, the Mexican Congress stripped the ___ of its lands. These were turned over to ___ ,  usually in grants of ____ . Who provided the labor?
5. At first, the new government in Mexico encouraged American immigration to ___ . What famous family received a grant of land to establish a colony there? Where did 90 % of the new arrivals come from? Who did they bring with them?
6. The religion of most settlers from the States into this area was _____ .How did the Mexican government treat these churches? And in 1829, Mexico abolished ___ .
7. Who proclaimed himself dictator of Mexico in 1834? Why did he lead a military expedition north into Texas? How did settlers in Texas react to this? What did they proclaim on March 2, 1836? How did the new Texas constitution deal with slavery?
8. What happened at the Alamo in San Antonio? After this, who became the commander of the Texas forces?
9. After his defeat at the battle of San Jacinto, Santa Anna signed treaties with what 2 provisions in them?
10. Who became the first president of Texas? Between 1836 - 1845, how did Texas attract over 100,000 new settlers? In what year did Texas finally enter the union as a slave state? 
II. The Political Origins of Expansion
11. Who became president of the United States in 1845? What party did he represent? What did this president hope to gain on the Pacific coast? What was his position on the southern boundary of Texas?
12. For what two reasons did the admission of Texas to the union anger the Mexican government? .
13. When Mexico broke off diplomatic relations with the United States, where did Polk send American troops under General Zachary Taylor?
14. What was the Slidell mission? What did Polk do when Slidell's mission failed? How did the Mexicans regard this action?
15. What did Polk hope the Mexican army might do? What happened? When?
16. Why were the Whigs in a dilemma over the Mexican War? What did they do about it?
17. What were the terms of the 'Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo' of1848? 
III. Escape From Crisis
18. In terms of slavery, what were the two competing plans for organizing the territory acquired from Mexico?
19. What were the 4 provisions of the Compromise of 1850? After it became law, what was the new total of free and slave states?
20. For Northerners, what was the hardest measure to swallow in the Compromise of 1850? Why? (2 reasons) 
Chapter Fifteen
The Union Broken
I. Sectional Changes in American Society
21. What was the driving force for economic growth after 1839? How did this shift the direction of western trade, thus isolating the south from participating in this growth? In addition, in the 1850s, this isolation of the south was magnified by the lack of bridges over the Ohio River.
22. As the industrialization in the north grew in the 1850s, fueled by the largest influx of immigrants in American history, in what were southerners investing? Why did immigrants prefer settling in the north?
23. What were two concerns of southerners as the north surged further ahead of the south in population? 
II. The Political Realignment of the 1850s.
24. Under the terms of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, what was the status of slavery in the unorganized portion of the Louisiana Purchase territory (the Kansas and Nebraska territories)?
According to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, what would now determine the status of slavery in these territories? Who sponsored this new act? 
   The Kansas-Nebraska Act divided the the two major parties, (Whigs and Democrats) along sectional lines. The southern democrats, who had left the party in 1832 in opposition to Andrew Jackson, returned to the Democratic party. The remaining Whigs joined with Free-Soilers to form the Republican Party. The major plank of the Republican Party platform was opposition to the expansion of slavery in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. They believed that slavery degraded labor and would inevitably drive free labor out of the territories. They compared themselves to the founders of the nation battling against the tyranny of the slave power - the rich southern planters - who were determined to oppress the liberty of the free people in the west by forcing slavery into it.
   Ironically, many southerners also came to see themselves as carrying on the tradition of the founders of the republic. Southerners, however, saw the north as the agent of tyranny trying to stifle their rights, and they saw themselves as the heirs of those who fought against that tyranny to protect their liberty and property, (slaves). The American hero the south eventually chose to symbolize their struggle against northern oppression, and to be the focal point of the great seal of the Confederate States of America, was George Washington.
   Thus, by the mid 1850s, not only had the country realigned itself politically along sectional (north/south) lines, but it was realigning economically as well, with the south increasingly out of the loop in the rise of industry and population. And both sections saw themselves as the legitimate heirs of the traditions of the American Revolution.
   It was in the territories that the issues polarizing the north and south became focused in the later 1850s.
III. The Worsening Crisis
25. What were the 2 parts of the Supreme Court decision in the Dred Scott case?
26. Why did southerners rejoice at and Republicans denounce the Supreme Court's decision in the Dred Scott case?
27. How did southerner secessionists regard the economic depression that began in 1857?
28. What was the Lecompton constitution? How did Douglas respond to it? How did southern democrats respond to him as a result?
29. How, according to Douglas, countering Lincoln, could the nation endure half slave and half free?
30. Although he opposed the expansion of slavery beyond the south, Lincoln opposed allowing African-Americans to ___ , ___ , or ____ . However, Lincoln believed that there was no reason in the world why African-Americans were not entitled to ___ . Did Lincoln believe that African-Americans were his equal in any way? 
IV. The Road to War
31. What did John Brown hope to accomplish by attacking the federal armory at Harper's Ferry on October 16, 1859? Why didn't any slaves rally to his standard?
32. Although only a minority of northerners endorsed Brown, southerners were ___ , and firmly convinced that ___ .
33. Who did the Democrats nominate for president in 1860, and what was their platform regarding slavery in the territories? When this happened, most of the southern democrats walked out and eventually nominated ___ , on a platform supporting ___ ?
34. By 1860, what were the southern radicals in the Congress demanding?
35. Who did the Republicans nominate? What percent of the popular vote did he receive?
36. Many southerners saw Lincoln's election as a blow of terrible finality, because with Republicans opposed to ___ , the south's power base could only ____ ?
37. For southern radicals it was not unrealistic to believe that Lincoln would use federal aid to ___ ? For radical southerners, this change -- plus adding new free states -- would ____ ? What now seemed the only alternative to protect southern equality and liberty?
38. What were the two parts of John Crittenden's effort to compromise in 1860? Why was this compromise effort doomed to failure?
39. In his inaugural address, what did Lincoln say to try to reassure southerners? However, what did he say about the Union?
40. Who was the newly elected president of the Confederate States of America? How did he view secession? How did he view Lincoln's decision to hold and try to resupply Fort Sumter?
41. With the firing on Fort Sumter by southern forces under the command of General Beauregard, the Civil War had begun. What was the date?  Where is Fort Sumter?

 

 
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Revised April 24, 2008
by Tom Gallup, e-mail address: tom_gallup@westvalley.edu
West Valley College
http://www.westvalley.edu/wvc/ss/gallup/gallup.html