The Spirit of Expansion
Sweeps into Texas
RETEACHING ACTIVITY
Chapter 12, Section 1
Directions: Read the summary. Then use the information to answer the questions
that follow. You will then understand the reasons for American expansion into
the Southwest.
In the 1830’s and 1840’s, Americans believed in
manifest destiny. They felt the United States would and
should expand to the Pacific Ocean by taking over lands
belonging to Mexico. Six reasons are given for the
American belief in manifest destiny.
¯ Farmers and land speculators wanted land.
¯ Merchants and manufacturers wanted new markets for
goods and services.
¯ Immigrants wanted land.
¯ People wanted to control Pacific harbors so they could
expand trade with China.
¯ Debtors wanted to avoid creditors after the panic of
1837.
¯ People wanted to spread the American way of governing.
Texas was part of the Mexican state of Coahuila. In
1821 and 1823, in order to develop the sparsely settled
area, Mexico invited United States settlers by offering
land grants. Settlers had to agree to obey Mexican laws
and practice Roman Catholicism. By 1823 Stephen
Austin, carrying out plans begun by his father, Moses
Austin, had led more than three hundred families to settie in Texas.
By 1830 Mexico had become alarmed at the growing
numbers of Americans entering Texas. Mexico also dis-’
approved of the use of slavery in Texas, since Mexico
had abolished slavery in its territories. It closed the
Texas border to United States immigration and taxed
United States imports. However, Mexico didn’t have
enough troops to enforce these taws, and Americans
kept moving to Texas. Well-known settlers included
Davy Crockett and Sam Houston, two former congressmen from Tennessee. In 1833 Stephen Austin requested
that Texas form a separate state within Mexico. Mexican
troops arrested and imprisoned him.
In 1836 Mexican President Antonio L6pez de Santa
Anna tried to enforce Mexican laws by moving six thousand troops into Texas. His troops attacked the Alamo, a
chapel and fort in San Antonio. The attack raged for
nearly two weeks, ending when Mexican forces scaled
the walls of the Alamo. This Mexican victory ~ost the
lives all of the one hundred eighty-seven United States
defenders as well as sixteen hundred Mexicans. On
March 2, 1836, the Texans drew up a constitution and
declared independence from Mexico. Santa Anna lost
the Battle of San Jacinto six weeks later. After the
battle, he signed a treaty recognizing the independence
of Texas. In September 1836, Sam Houston was elected
the president of the Lone Star Republic, the new name
for Texas.
Support for statehood within the United States was
divided over the slavery issue. President Tyler favored
adding Texas to the United States. In 1845 Texas
became the twenty-eighth state in the Union.
Increased trade with the West and Southwest fed
feelings of expansionism in the United States. Most of
the trade routes were part of the Santa Fe Trail, which
stretched from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe,
New Mexico. Americans learned that Mexican control
over the area was weak. They felt the land was theirs to
take.
1. What does manifest destiny mean?
2. What were three reasons for manifest destiny?
3.What did settlers agree to do in exchange for land in
Mexico?
4. What happened at the Alamo?
What was the result of the Battle of San Jacinto?
6. Who was the first president of the Lone Star Republic?
7. What was the Santa Fe Trail?
Name
Date
Texas
Section 3
&. Ks you read ~is sectior~, aaswer questions about ~e t~me line.
1. Why did Mexico want
Americans to settle in Texas?
Mexico offers lend
Oroets to en’/ooe brinoing seelers to Texas.
2. Why did Americans want to
settle in Texas?
3. What brought American sett!ers into conflict with the Mexican
,:-
The Texas R®volution
~s led b~ Texans eager
to 9ai. independence
,,... -
... ,,.. ,..,,~,..,:
,.. ............
~
4. What happened at the Alamo?
~
5. Why was the United States at first reluctant to annex Texas?
The Repubfic of Texas
is founded.
Sam Houston invites
the Ueited States to
annex the new
republic,
Texas becomes the
~enty-eightb state of
the Union.
Expanding Markets and Moving West
Name
Date
War with Mexico Results in
New Territory
Class
Score
]~ETEACHING ACTIV1TY
Chapter 12, Section 3
Directions: Read each passage carefully. Then on the line provided, writ~ the
letter of the sentence that best states the main idea of the passage. You will then
understand the causes and results of the Mexican War.
__ 1. President Polk was determined to take New
Mexico and California from Mexico. He offered $30
million for them, but he really was prepared to pay up to
$40 million. When the Mexican government flatly
refused to even consider the offer, Polk decided to use
force.
a. The Mexican government refused to sell New
Mexico and California.
b. President Polk was determined to take New
Mexico and California.
c. Americans wanted the territories.
d. Polk decided to use force.
2. The people of Mexico were more united behind the war than were the people of the United States.
This was because most Mexicans felt that they were
defending their land against invaders. In the United
States, the war was popular in the South and West,
where feelings in favor of expansion were especially
strong. In the Northeast, however, many people protested against the war. Some religious groups considered it
immoral to support a struggle that would extend slavery
to new territory. Henry David Thoreau, a New England
protester and author, refused to pay his poll tax. He was
jailed for his action.
a. Mexicans wanted to invade Texas.
b. Popular opinion in the United States was in
support of the war.
c. Popular opinion in the United States was
against the war.
d. In contrast to widespread Mexican support of
the war, United States opinion varied according to region.
__3. For the United States troops, one victory followed another. Although the Mexicans bravely defended
their own soil, U.S. soldiers were fired up by dreams of
expansion. U.S. troops were also well trained. They had
good leaders in Generals Zachary Taylor, Winfield
Scott, and Stephen Kearny. By contrast, the Mexican
army had poor leadership and little equipment. The U.S.
light, mobile weapons overwhelmed the Mexican cavalry. In addition, the United States used its navy.
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a. Mexican soldiers were well trained.
b. The U.S. troops won battles because they had
better equipment and training and a strong
spirit of expansion.
c. The U.S. troops were led bY graduates of the
military academy.
d. The United States Navy fought battles.
__ 4. Mexico lost its northern territories, its capital
city, and thousands of young solders. Santa Anna
stepped down as leader, and a new Mexican government
agreed to make peace. In the Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo, Mexico recognized the Rio Grande River--not
the Nueces--as its border with Texas. The United States
received a huge area of land, including New Mexico and
California. Thus, Mexico lost about a third of its territory. In return, it received $15 million. Later, in the Gadsden Purchase, the U.S. paid $I0 million for land south
of the Gila River.
a. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave the
U.S. New Mexico and California in exchange
for $15 million.
b. Santa Anna stepped down as leader.
c. Mexico lost a third of its land.
d. The Rio Grande became the border between
the U.S. and Mexico.
5. The election of 1848 demonstrated that a Presidential election could be dull and boring. Slavery was
still the main issue being debated in Congress and in the
country at large. A new party, the Free-Soil party, stood
for the abolition of slavery in the territories and gained
10 percent of the popular vote. However’, both major
parties avoided the issue.
a. Slavery was not an issue in 1848.
b. The election of 1848 was dull because both
major parties avoided the issue of slavery.
e. The election supported the Wilmot Proviso.
d. Zachary Taylor was elected in 1848.
93
Date
Name
On to Oregon
Class
Score
ENRICHMENT ACTIVITY
Directions: Read the following information. Then answer the questions.
The spirit of manifest destiny led the nation and sturdy pioneers into Oregon. The Oregon Territory was rich
in natural resources, and good land was abundant. Many
Americans, heating the glowing reports of this fertile
land, were eager to make the difficult two-thousand-mile
trek to Oregon.
Hall Jackson Kelley, a New England teacher and
writer, took several nips t6 the West in the mid-1800’s.
He was so inspired by what he saw in Oregon that he
organized a society to promote settlement of the region
by Americans. The following is Kelley’s proposal for
the settlement of Oregon; it was part of an article that
appeared in a magazine of the time.
Each man and each youth, over fourteen years of
age, will receive two hundred acres of land. Each
unmarried female, over fourteen years, will likewise
receive two hundred acres. Each individual above
that age, will be required to pay $50, for which sum
he will be carried to Oregon and receive a right to
two hundred acres of land...
The local position of [~3regon]; its physical
appearance and productions; its qualities of soil and
climate, suggest, not only the practicability of founding a colony in it; but the consequent beneficial
results to our Republic; and the many valuable blessings it might be made to yield to the settlers, and to
their posterity .... It is the object of these remarks to
notice some of the advantages, which would
inevitably accrue to the government of the United
States, from a colonization of that country .... The
occupancy of it, by three thousand of the active sons
of American freedom, would secure it from the possession of another nation, and from augmenting the
power and physical resources of an enemy.
Summarizing Main Ideas
L What government incentives did Kelley suggest to
encourage Americans to undertake the long and hazardous trip to Oregon?
3. What did Kelley say the United States would gain
from its settlement of Oregon?
Inferring Information
4. From Kelley’s remarks, how did American soc!ety
seem to regard teenagers during this period?
5. For what did pioneer teenagers seem to have
responsibility in the 1800’s?
Analyzing Ideas
6. What would have been the advantages and disadvantages of migrating to Oregon in the 1840’s?
Linking Past to Present
7. How might someone like Hall Kelley encourage
people to colonize a region in outer space?
2. Why did Kelley say that colonization of Oregon
was possible?
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