Chapter 16

Question 1

Protective measure passed by Congressional Whigs, raising tariffs to pre–compromise tariff of 1833 rates.

Answer 1

Tariff of 1842

Question 2

Diplomatic row between the United States and Britain. Developed after British troops set fire to an American steamer carrying supplies across the Niagara River to Canadian insurgents, during Canada’s short-lived insurrection.

Answer 2

Caroline

Question 3

American ship captured by a group of rebelling Virginia slaves. The slaves successfully sought asylum in the Bahamas, raising fears among southern planters that the British West Indies would become a safe haven for runaway slaves.

Answer 3

Creole

Question 4

Series of clashes between American and Canadian lumberjacks in the disputed territory of northern Maine, resolved when a permanent boundary was agreed upon in 1842.

Answer 4

Aroostook War

Question 5

Belief that the United States was destined by God to spread its “empire of liberty” across North America. Served as a justification for mid-nineteenth-century expansionism.

Answer 5

Manifest Destiny

Question 6

Slogan adopted by mid-nineteenth-century expansionists who advocated the occupation of Oregon Territory, jointly held by Britain and the United States. Though President Polk had pledged to seize all of Oregon, to 54°40′, he settled on the forty-ninth parallel as a compromise with the British.

Answer 6

Fifty-four forty or fight

Question 7

Antislavery party that ran candidates in the 1840 and 1844 elections before merging with the Free Soil party. Supporters of the Liberty party sought the eventual abolition of slavery, but in the short term hoped to halt the expansion of slavery into the territories and abolish the domestic slave trade.

Answer 7

Liberty party

Question 8

Revenue-enhancing measure that lowered tariffs from 1842 levels, thereby fueling trade and increasing Treasury receipts.

Answer 8

Walker Tariff

Question 9

Measures introduced by Illinois congressman Abraham Lincoln, questioning President James K. Polk’s justification for war with Mexico. Lincoln requested that Polk clarify precisely where Mexican forces had attacked American troops.

Answer 9

spot resolutions

Question 10

Short-lived California republic, established by local American settlers who revolted against Mexico. Once news of the war with Mexico reached the Americans, they abandoned the Republic in favor of joining the United States.

Answer 10

California Bear Flag Republic

Question 11

Key American victory against Mexican forces in the Mexican War. Elevated General Zachary Taylor to national prominence and helped secure his success in the 1848 presidential election.

Answer 11

Buena Vista

Question 12

Ended the war with Mexico. Mexico agreed to cede territory reaching northwest from Texas to Oregon in exchange for $18.25 million in cash and assumed debts.

Answer 12

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Question 13

Northern Whigs who opposed slavery on moral grounds. Conscience Whigs sought to prevent the annexation of Texas as a slave state, fearing that the new slave territory would only serve to buttress the southern “slave power.”

Answer 13

Conscience Whigs

Question 14

Amendment that sought to prohibit slavery from territories acquired from Mexico. Introduced by Pennsylvania congressman David Wilmot, the failed amendment ratcheted up tensions between North and South over the issue of slavery.

Answer 14

Wilmot Proviso

Question 15

(1790-1862) Tenth president of the United States. A Whig in name only, Tyler opposed central tenets of the Whig platform, including tariffs, internal improvements, and a national bank

Answer 15

John Tyler

Question 16

(1795-1849) Eleventh president of the United States. A North Carolina Democrat, largely unknown on the national stage, Polk campaigned on a platform of American expansion, advocating the annexation of Texas and the “reoccupation” of Oregon. As president, Polk provoked war with Mexico, which added vast tracts of land to the United States but led to a bitter sectional conflict over the expansion of slavery into newly acquired territories.

Answer 16

James K. Polk

Question 17

(1794-1848) American officer during the Mexican War who led a detachment of troops into New Mexico and captured Santa Fe.

Answer 17

Stephen W. Kearny

Question 18

(1813-1890) Explorer who helped overthrow the Mexican government in California after the outbreak of war with Mexico. He later ran for president as the Republican nominee in 1856 but lost the election to Democratic candidate James Buchanan.

Answer 18

John C. Frémont

Question 19

(1786-1866) Military officer and presidential candidate, Scott first made a name for himself as a hero of the War of 1812. During the war with Mexico, he led the American campaign against Mexico City, overcoming tremendous handicaps to lead his men to victory. He later made an unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 1852 as the Whig candidate.

Answer 19

Winfield Scott

Question 20

(1800-1874) American diplomat who negotiated the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, which ended the Mexican War and through which the United States acquired a vast amount of territory from Mexico.

Answer 20

Nicholas P. Trist

Question 21

(1814-1868) Pennsylvania congressman best known for his “Wilmot Proviso,” a failed amendment that would have prohibited slavery from any of the territories acquired from Mexico. He later went on to help organize the Free Soil and Republican parties, supporting Abraham Lincoln in 1860.

Answer 21

David Wilmot