Name
Date
REVIEW
CALIFORNIA CONTENT
STANDARD 8.8.6
Texan Independence and
the Mexican-American War
Specific Objective: Describe the Texas War for Independence and the MexicanAmerican War, including territorial settlements, the aftermath of the wars, and the
effects the wars had on the lives of Americans, including Mexican Americans today.
Read the summary below to answer questions on the next page.
Copyright © McDougal Littell/Houghton Mifflin Company
Texas War for Independence
1829 Texas belonged to Mexico. Most people living there were American.
1833 Texas asked to be a self-governing state within Mexico. Mexico refused and war
broke out.
1836 Texas became an independent republic. It was called the Lone Star Republic.
It had its own army and navy. Sam Houston was elected president. Texas
applied for statehood.
Mexican-American War
1845 Congress admitted Texas to the Union. However, Mexico still claimed Texas and
saw Congress’s vote as an act of war. Mexico and the United States disagreed
about the border between them.
The United States claimed that the Rio Grande was its southern border. Mexico said it
was the Nueces River, which was more than 100 miles north at some points. The United
States offered Mexico $25 million for Texas, California, and New Mexico. Mexico refused
and war broke out in 1846 on the Rio Grande.
Territorial Settlements
1848 The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War.
• Texas was now part of the United States.
• The Rio Grande became the border between the United States and Mexico.
• Mexico gave up an area that is now California, Nevada, Utah, most of
Arizona, and parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming.
1853 In the Gadsden Purchase, Mexico sold the United States a strip of land in what
is now southern New Mexico and Arizona for $10 million.
Mexican Americans
Mexico gave up nearly half its land when it lost the war with the United States. About
80,000 Mexicans were suddenly Americans. The United States promised to protect these
Mexicanos. But life for them changed. They became a minority in a country that spoke a
different language and had a different culture. They lost economic and political power.
Many also lost their land when American courts did not recognize land grants from the
Mexican government.’
CSS Specific Objective 8.8.6: Review 141
Name
Date
PRACTICE
Texan Independence and
the Mexican-American War
CALIFORNIA CONTENT
STANDARD 8.8.6
Directions: Choose the letter of the best answer. Use the map to answer questions 1 and 2.
Lands from Mexico, 1845-1853
WYOMING
(1890)
NEVADA
(1864)
UTAH
(1896)
COLORADO
(1876)
KANSAS
(1861)
CALIFORNIA
(1850)
ARIZONA
(1912)
OKLAHOMA
(1907)
;; ;;
;;
;
PAC I F I C
OCEAN
;;
NEW MEXICO
(1912)
Mexican Cession
(1848)
;;
Texas Annexation
(1845)
1
MEXICO
;;
Gadsden Purchase
(1853)
The Texas Annexation in 1845 also
included part of
A
North Dakota.
B
Nebraska.
C
New Mexico.
D
Missouri.
TEXAS
(1845)
Gulf of Mexico
3
2 After the war with Mexico, the United
States added land in which states in
addition to Texas?
A
Oregon, Oklahoma, and Kansas
B
Oregon, New Mexico, and Colorado
C
North Dakota, Oklahoma, Wyoming,
Nevada, and Utah
D
California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona,
New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming
142 CSS Specific Objective 8.8.6: Practice
4
Which of the following events
happened last?
A
Texas became independent from
Mexico.
B
Texas became an American state.
C
Mexico and the United States fought
a war.
D
Mexico became independent from
Spain.
When Mexico ceded its land to the
United States, 80,000 Mexicanos
suddenly became
A
exiled.
B
homeless.
C
a minority.
D
wealthy.
Copyright © McDougal Littell/Houghton Mifflin Company
Present-day
state boundaries