Chapter 13—The Impending Crisis
I. Looking Westward
A. Manifest Destiny—On what ideas did the concept of Manifest Destiny rest?
1. Racial Justification—What was the racial justification of Manifest Destiny?
B. Americans in Texas—Why had Americans come to Texas in the 1820s? For the most part, who came to Texas and for what?
1. Stephen Austin—Who was Stephen Austin? How did Mexico try to keep Americans out, and how successful was it?
C. Tensions Between the United States and Mexico—What caused tension between Mexico and the U.S.? Who came to power
in Mexico, and what changes did he make? How did Texans respond? What happened at the Alamo and at Goliad?
1. San Jacinto—What happened at San Jacinto, and what was the result?
2. Opposition to Annexation—What did Texans hope for? Who opposed the annexation of Texas, and why?
D. Oregon
1. Disputed Claims—Who claimed Oregon? Why did American interest in Oregon grow?
2. Conflict Between Settlers and Indians—What happened in the early 1840s?
E. Westward Migration—What migrations were occurring in America in between 1840 and 1860? Who was going where?
Who went to California/Oregon?
F. Life on the Trail
1. Oregon Trail—What was the major route west? What was the trip like? What were interactions with Natives like?
II.
Expansion and War
A. The Democrats and Expansion
1. James K. Polk—What two issues did Polk combine and why did he do that? How did Texas become a state?
2. Compromise Over Oregon—What was Polk’s slogan about Oregon? What was the resolution to the Oregon issue?
B. The Southwest and California
1. Texas Boundary in Dispute—How did Mexico react to Texas becoming a state? What was the boundary dispute in Texas?
What did Polk do to antagonize the Mexicans?
2. American interests in California—What two additional areas did Polk want from Mexico, and how did he prepare to acquire
them?
C. The Mexican War
1. Failure of the Slidell Mission—What was Slidell’s offer, and how was it received? What did Polk order Gen. Taylor to do?
What happened?
2. Opposition to the War—Who opposed war with Mexico, and why?
3. Bear Flag Revolution—What was the Bear Flag Revolution, and what were the results?
4. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo—What were the terms of the treaty?
III.
The Sectional Debate—Who ended up opposing Polk?
A. Slavery and the Territories
1. Wilmot Proviso—What was the Wilmot Proviso?
2. Competing Plans—What were the competing plans to deal with the issue of slaver in the territories?
3. Free Soil Party—What did the Free Soil Party’s emergence signal?
B. The California Gold Rush—Where was gold discovered in 1848? What were the effects?
1. Forty-Niners—Who were the forty-niners and how prepared were they to come to California? What other groups came to
California because of the gold rush?
2. Indian Slavery—What were the effects of the gold rush on Native Americans?
C. Rising Sectional Tensions—How did President Taylor encourage California to apply for statehood? What other issues were
upsetting pro-slavery forces in Congress?
1. Sectional Conflict Over Slavery in the Territories—How did California’s admission to the union intensify sectional rivalries?
D. The Compromise of 1850
1. Clay’s Proposed Solution—What were the 4 parts of the Compromise of 1850?
2. New Leadership—What new leaders were coming to power in Congress?
3. Temporary Compromise—How was the Compromise of 1850 finally reached?
IV.
The Crises of the 1850s
A. The Uneasy Truce
1. Opposition to The Fugitive Slave Act—How did Northern states oppose the new Fugitive Slave Act?
B. “Young America”
1. Ostend Manifesto—What was the Ostend Manifesto and how did antislavery northerners view it?
C. Slavery, Railroads, and the West—Where was white settlement spreading (and at whose expense)?
1. Transcontinental Railroad and Slavery—What important issues faced the building of a transcontinental railroad?
2. Gadsden Purchase—How did southerners try to get the railroad, and what was the Gadsden Purchase?
D. The Kansas-Nebraska Controversy—Who was Stephen Douglas and how did he propose to run the railroad through his
section of the country?
1. Kansas-Nebraska Act—How did Douglas attempt to appease southern opposition, and how would “popular sovereignty”
achieve that? What did he propose to do with the Missouri Compromise? Why was Kansas created?
2. Birth of the Republican Party—How and why did the Kansas-Nebraska Act cause the Republican Party to form?
E. “Bleeding Kansas”—How did the North and South compete over Kansas? What events led to bloodshed in Kansas?
1. Pottawatomie Massacre—Who was John Brown and what did he do in Kansas?
F. The Free-Soil Ideology
1. “Free Soil” Ideology—What was the theory of “free soil” and “free labor”?
2. “Slave Power Conspiracy”—What did Northerners fear about a “slave power conspiracy”?
G. The Pro-Slavery Argument
1. The Pro-Slavery Argument—How did Southerners like John C. Calhoun come to view slavery (who was it good for)? How
did Southerners view the Southern lifestyle, compare to the North? What other justifications were used for slavery?
H. Buchanan and Depression
1. Election of 1856—What was particularly significant about Fremont’s vote totals in the presidential election of 1856? What
type of a president was James Buchanan? Why and how did the Republican Party gain strength?
I.
The Dred Scott Decision—What were the facts of the Dred Scott’s case?
1. Taney’s Sweeping Opinion—What was Chief Justice Roger Taney’s decision in the case, and what were the consequences
for the issue of slavery?
J.
Deadlock Over Kansas—What ultimately happened with the status of Kansas?
K. The Emergence of Lincoln
1. Lincoln-Douglas Debates—How did the debates enhance Lincoln’s standing?
2. Lincoln’s Position—What did Lincoln believe about slavery and about African Americans?
L. John Brown’s Raid
1. John Brown’s Raid—What did John Brown do at Harper’s Ferry, and how did Southerners view it?
M. The Election of Lincoln
1. Divided Democrats—How was the Democratic Party divided? How did Republicans appeal to a broad variety of groups with
their party platform? Who won the election of 1860, and what did the vote totals reveal?
2. Disunion—What did some Southern states begin to do after Lincoln’s election?