Chapter 17: Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy: 1841-1848

AP U.S. History Chapter 17: Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy: 1841-1848

Focus Question

Discuss Analyze the impact of territorial expansion on national unity between 1800 and 1850.

Learning Objectives

 Explain the spirit and meaning of the Manifest Destiny that inspired American expansionism in the 1840s.  Outline the major conflicts between Britain and the United States over debts, Maine, Canada, Texas, Oregon, and growing British hostility to slavery.  Explain why the U.S. government increasingly saw the independent Texas Republic as a threat and sought to pursue annexation.  Indicate how the issues of Oregon and Texas became central in the election of 1844 and why Polk’s victory was seen as a mandate for Manifest Destiny.  Explain how President Polk’s goals for his administration, especially the acquisition of California, led to the Texas boundary crisis and war with Mexico.  Describe how the dramatic American victory in the Mexican War led to the breathtaking territorial acquisition of the whole Southwest.  Describe the consequences of the Mexican War, and especially how the Mexican territorial acquisitions explosively opened the slavery question.

Questions

1. Who first used the term "Manifest Destiny"? In what year?

The Accession of "Tyler Too" (360) 2. Why did John Tyler join the Whig party? Why did the Whigs place him on the 1840 ticket?

John Tyler: A President Without a Party (361) 3. What were the after-effects of President John Tyler's veto of a bill to establish a new Bank of the United States? 4. Who was the only member of President Tyler's Whig cabinet who did not resign in protest over his policies?

A War of Words with Britain (361) 5. What factors characterized relations between Britain and the United States in the nineteenth century? How did the Panic of 1837 worsen relations between the two countries? 6. How did both the U.S. and Britain violate neutrality during an 1837 Canadian rebellion against Britain?

Manipulating the Maine Maps (363) 7. What was The Aroostook War? 8. How was the British-American dispute over the border of Maine resolved?

The Lone Star of Texas Shines Alone (363) 9. Why was Britain intensely interested in an independent Texas? 10. Why did some people in Britain hope for a British alliance with Texas?

The Belated Texas Nuptials (364) 11. What were the arguments against annexing Texas to the United States? 12. Through what procedure was Texas annexed to the United States?

Oregon Fever Populates Oregon (365) 13. How were American missionaries to the Indians instrumental in saving the soil of Oregon for the United States? 14. What attracted most Americans who migrated to the Oregon Country? 15. What was the area in dispute between the United States and Great Britain in 1845?

A Mandate (?) for Manifest Destiny (366) 16. What interest group secured the nomination of James K. Polk as the Democrats' 1844 presidential candidate? 17. What view was encapsulated by the term "Manifest Destiny"? 18. Concerning the annexation of Texas, what were the views of the Whig candidate, Henry Clay, in the presidential election of 1844? 19. What issues were the major focus of the election of 1844?

Polk the Purposeful (367) 20. What was the group most intent on the U.S. gaining control of all the Oregon Country? 21. For what reasons did the British government decide to compromise on the Oregon Country border? 22. In the Oregon treaty with Britain in 1846, where was the northern boundary of the United States established? 23. In what ways did Americans respond to the Oregon settlement? 24. According to Senator Thomas Hart Benton, why would all of Texas be annexed, but not all of Oregon?

Misunderstandings with Mexico (368) 25. How did President James K. Polk initially plan for the U.S. to acquire California?

American Blood on American (?) Soil (369) 26. What were the major reasons for which the United States went to war with Mexico in 1846? 27. Upon what incident did President Polk base his claim that "American blood [had been shed] on the American soil"? 28. What were the "spot resolutions" repeatedly introduced by Congressman Abraham Lincoln? 29. What were the goals of Mexico in going to war with the United States? The Mastering of Mexico (370) 30. When the war with Mexico began, how did President Polk hope to fight it?

Fighting Mexico for Peace (372) 31. What were the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, ending the Mexican War? 32. Which Americans most opposed President James K. Polk's expansionist program, including the war with Mexico?

Profit and Loss in Mexico (373) 33. What were the major legacies of the U.S. war with Mexico? 34. How did the Wilmot Proviso symbolize the burning issue of slavery in the territories? What was its provision? 35. How much territory did the Mexican Cession and Texas add to the United States?

Makers of America (374) 36. What factors characterized the missions in California? 37. Who were the first Old World Europeans to come to California? 38. How did the Spanish Franciscan missionaries treat the native inhabitants of California? 39. What happened after the Mexican government secularized authority in California? 40. When did the Californios' political ascendancy in California end?