Name: _______________________________
USVA History
Chapter 9.4 – The War with Mexico
Main Idea - Tensions over the U.S. annexation of _________________ led to war with
__________________________, resulting in huge _____________________ gains for the
United States
Polk Urges War
President Polk won his election on the campaign promise the U.S. would fulfill it's
____________________ _________________, and expand further ________________.
Tension with ________________ over the annexation of Texas allowed him to provoke
____________________ into a war.
Conflicts began over disagreements over the U.S. and Mexican ______________________
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
Mexico established the border at the _________________________ River
U.S. claimed it had rights to land all the way up to the _________ _______________
Polk orders Gen. Zachary "old rough and ready" Taylor to set up a __________________
at the __________ _____________________
How do you think sectionalism affected U.S. desire to go to war?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
North-________________________________________________________________________
South-________________________________________________________________________
The War Begins
Mexico responds to Taylor's ________________ by sending troops across the Rio Grande
resulting in a skirmish ending with 9 ________________ troops being killed
Polk now has reason to ask congress to declare war
"American ________________________ on American _____________________________"
Senate votes for war 40 - 2 without knowledge of what REALLY happened at the Rio Grande
The War in Mexico
The Mexican army had ___________________ training and leadership this is in contrast to the
U.S. military who had the _______________ officers fresh out of west point including
__________________________ and ________________________________
What happened to Santa Ana?
Santa Ana who was exiled in ______________ devised a scheme to regain his
_______________________ in Mexico and control of the military.
Who was Winfield Scott? What did he have in common with Notre Dame’s 2012 football team?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
America Gains the Spoils of War
Cost of the Mexican-American war= _____________________________ soldiers
What was gained= Enlarged U.S. territory by ______________
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Mexico agreed to the ________________________ border and gave the southwest territory to
the U.S. which would become the states of
-New Mexico, California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and Wyoming
The U.S. paid Mexico ___________________________ dollars for the territory
The Gadsden Purchase
-1853 President ______________________ would authorize _____________________ to pay
Mexico an additional $10 million for a piece of territory south of the ______________River this
would establish the current borders of the ______________________________.
The California Gold Rush
On May 29, 1848 the San Francisco newspaper "The Californian" published an article reporting
that there had been gold found in the Sierra Nevadas
Migration to California went from 400 in 1848 to 44,000 in 1850
-_____________________- People who went to California in search of gold during the “Gold
Rush”
the term forty niner refers to those who rushed to California after hearing the first confirmed
reports that there was gold in California in _______________= _______________