Westward Expansion Flash Cards
(20 cards)
What does Manifest Destiny mean?
Belief America would take over the entire continent.
Why did Americans want to expand to the Pacific Ocean?
- Spread freedom
- Believed god wanted them to expand
- They felt America meant to control the west.
What impact did Westward Expansion have on Native Americans?
Lose access to their ancestral land.
How did majority of Americans move west?
Prairie schooners
How did the Adam-Onis treaty help further Westward Expansion?
- Made Spain and Russia give up the Oregon country
- limit territory at what is now California’s Northern border
Who are “mountain men” and why were they living on the frontier?
- tough, independent men who spent most of their time alone in rocky mountains
- they were fur traders and made hats by beaver skin.
What was the result of the Oregon Treaty?
Land was split at the forty-ninth parallel, 49N latitude.
Why did AMerica move into Mexico, specifically the area of Texas?
Settle for land and to develop land.
What happened at the Alamo? What impact did it have?
- 183 Americans were killed
- The impact is the Battle becoming an enduring symbol for resistance and struggle.
What is the Lone Star Republic?
Mainly Texas’s fight and conflict/struggles to become independent.
What does it mean to annex something?
To attach or add specifically to something larger or more important
Why did the United States fight a war with Mexico?
President Polk’s deal of the border was rejected by Mexico/border dispute.
What was the result of the Mexican American War?
- Signed treaty
- Border us at Rio Grande, U.S receives land for $15 million
What does it mean to cede?
To give up or surrender.
Why did the population in California grow and diversify?
- Discovery of gold
What does it mean to be a 49er?
Most people arrived to California in 1949 to see if they could become rich.
What hardships did miners face in California?
California was a long way from home.
- there was no railroad to take them west.
Were prospectors successful in mining for gold? Why or why not?
No they were not successful.
- wasn’t a lot of golf and weren’t prepared.
What are boomtowns and ghost towns?
- boomtowns: villages that were built up on because gold was nearby
- ghost towns: people would leave boomtowns which would turn into ghost towns.
What was Congress’ biggest concern regarding adding Tates to thee country in the 1800s?
California was a free state, affects balance of powers.
