Name: __________________________________ Class: _____________ Date: _____________
Lesson Assessment: Territorial Expansion and Manifest Destiny
1. What did President Jefferson use as the legal basis for the Louisiana Purchase?
a) the power of the president to make treaties
b) elastic clause provisions included in Article II
c) the power of the president as commander-in-chief
d) eminent domain powers protected by the Fifth Amendment
2. Why is the Louisiana Purchase an example of a loose interpretation of the Constitution?
a) Acquiring the territory required an amendment to the Constitution.
b) The Constitution did not provide for presidential acquisition of territory.
c) The new territory was to be governed by separate laws from the Constitution.
d) The acquisition required unprecedented cooperation of all three branches of government.
3. Which of the following is the BEST definition of Manifest Destiny?
a) the belief that democratic government was preferential to other options
b) the belief that Native American culture should be preserved for future generations
c) the belief that Americans had military superiority over the natives who lived in the West
d) the belief that Americans had a God-given responsibility to spread civilization westward
4. In the early nineteenth century, the principle of popular sovereignty was proposed for which of
the following?
a) allowing states to nullify federal laws
b) determining the issue of slavery in new states
c) allowing states to vote for secession from the Union
d) determining the outcome of close presidential elections
5. One of the main reasons that President Jefferson wanted to purchase the Louisiana Territory
from France was that it would provide the United States with _________.
a) areas rich in mineral deposits
b) control of the Mississippi River
c) an abundance of freshwater fish
d) the fertile farmland of the Great Plains
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Name: __________________________________ Class: _____________ Date: _____________
Lesson Assessment: Territorial Expansion and Manifest Destiny
6. What issue came to a head as territories requested to be admitted to the Union in the early
1800s?
a) the imposition of taxes
b) eminent domain powers
c) the expansion of slavery
d) universal public education
7. Who led men against Santa Anna’s larger and better trained troops in the 1836 Battle of San
Jacinto?
a) Andrew Jackson
b) Zachary Taylor
c) Davy Crockett
d) Sam Houston
8. Following the Indian Removal Act of 1829, most tribes were moved voluntarily or by force to
the land set aside from them in the West. Which Native American group held on to their land
in a series of wars that lasted until and beyond the 1840s?
a) the Creek
b) the Iroquois
c) the Seminole
d) the Cherokee
9. In 1849, the New York Herald reported, “The spirit of emigration which is carrying off
thousands to California so far from dying away increases and expands every day. All classes
of citizens seem to be under the influence of this extraordinary mania.” This extraordinary
mania refers to the _________.
a) Gold Rush
b) Oregon Trail
c) Trail of Tears
d) Corps of Discovery
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Name: __________________________________ Class: _____________ Date: _____________
Lesson Assessment: Territorial Expansion and Manifest Destiny
10. Individual moral perfectionism and the possibilities for a new social order are key tenets of
_________.
a) popular sovereignty
b) communitarianism
c) transcendentalism
d) manifest destiny
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Name: __________________________________ Class: _____________ Date: _____________
Lesson Assessment: Territorial Expansion and Manifest Destiny
ANSWER KEY
1. a 3. d 5. b 7. d 9. a
2. b 4. b 6. c 8. c 10. c
COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.1 Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and
to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to
support conclusions drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.10 Read and comprehend complex literary and
informational texts independently and proficiently.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.1 Cite strong and thorough evidence to support analysis of
what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.2 Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its
development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined
by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.3 Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of
ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced
and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.10 By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literacy
nonfiction in the grades 9–10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at
the high end of the range. By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literary nonfiction at
the high end of the grades 9–10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support
analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including
determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.2 Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze
their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one
another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.3 Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and
explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the
text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.10 By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literary
nonfiction in the grades 11–CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as
needed at the high end of the range. By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literary
nonfiction at the high end of the grades 11–CCR text complexity band independently and
proficiently.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of
primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the
information.
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Name: __________________________________ Class: _____________ Date: _____________
Lesson Assessment: Territorial Expansion and Manifest Destiny
COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS (CONTINUED)
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or
secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the
course of a text.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are
used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of
history/social science.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.10 By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend
history/social studies texts in the grades 9–10 text complexity band independently and
proficiently.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.3 Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and
determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend
history/social studies texts in the grades 11–CCR text complexity band independently and
proficiently.
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