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Chapter 9 Summary: Manifest Destiny (1800-1850)
SSUSH7: Students will explain the process of economic growth, its regional and
national impact in the first half of the 19th century, and the different responses to it.
SSUSH7b. Describe the westward growth of the United States; include the
emerging concept of Manifest Destiny.
UNITED STATES STUDY QUESTIONS
Ch. 9, Section 1
1. What factors contributed to the move west?
People moved west because of abundant land, the ideology of Manifest Destiny, to
seek trade with Asian nations and overcome the Panic of 1837.
2. What was Manifest Destiny and how did it encourage people to settle the West?
It was the idea that the United States had a God-given right to control most or all of
North American (from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean). It helped
movtivate settlers to go west and justified U.S. expansion.
3. Explain the difference in the Santa Fe Trail and the Oregon Trail?
The Santa Fe Trail led from Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Traders (trading with Mexico) traveled to Santa Fe, where they sold cloth, guns, and
knives and bought silver, gold, furs, horses, and mules. The Missionaries reach out
for more land. The Oregon Trail stretched from Independence, Missouri to
Portland, Oregon became more of a family or religious trail. By 1844, about 5,000
Americans had established farms in Oregon.
4. Explain the cause and effect of the Black Hawk War.
White settlers confronted Native Americans living on the lands they desired. The
Native Americans were forced to move west. Gradually Native Americans give up
their homelands in one treaty after another. In 1851, the government signed the
Fort Laramie Treaty with many Native American groups in which they gave up the
territories away from the major trails in order for the federal government to protect
migrants.
Ch. 9, Section 2
SSUSH8 The student will explain the relationship between growing north-south divisions
and westward expansion.
SSUSH8d. Describe the war with Mexico and the Wilmot Proviso.
1. Why did the Mexican government encourage Americans to settle in Texas?
Mexico wanted Americans to settle in Texas because they wanted protection of the
territory from raids by hostile Native Americans and American horse thieves. Also,
they thought this policy would encourage more to convert to Catholicism and be less
of a threat to them.
2. Why did the United States and Mexico come into conflict over Texas?
Conflict: Language differences (English vs. Spanish); Religious differences (most
Americans were Protestant and did not adopt Roman Catholicism as agreed);
Slavery (Americans continued slavery, though outlawed in Mexico); Americans
wanted more freedom and government stability than Mexico was willing or able to
offer.
3. What occurred at the Alamo? What was its significance?
ALAMO:Santa Anna’s troops laid seige for 12 days; Mexican troops finally scaled
the walls and killed nearly all Texan defenders. The significance (to the Texans):
The battle was most responsible for the TEXANS winning Texas its freedom from
Mexico.
4. Why did Texas’s request for annexation to the United States cause controversy?
Many Americans were at first reluctant to annex Texas because the Northerners
opposed slavery; objected to the annexation of another slave territory; opposed the
expansion of slavery; did not want slave state to outnumber the free states; many
feared annexation would lead to war with Mexico.
5. Why did Polk compromise with the British?
He knew that there would be war with Mexico over the annexation of Texas and did
not want to fight another war with Britain over the Oregon Territory.
Ch. 9, Section 3
1. What was cause and effect of the Mexican-American War?
Causes: Expansionists pursue Manifest Destiny, Texas wins independence from
Mexico, Boundary disputes arise between Mexico and Texas, United States annexes
Texas, President Polk send U.S. troops into disputed area of Texas, and Mexican
and U.S. troops clash in Texas. Effect: United States wins quick victory, Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo cedes Southwest to United States, Wilmot Proviso is proposed,
then defeated in Congress, Issue of Slavery in West divides nation, Mexican
Americans in West lose many rights, Americans migrate to California during Gold
Rush.
2. What made the Wilmot Proviso so divisive?
It made slavery a prominent issue, splitting the two main political parties along
North-South lines, or proslavery and anti-slavery lines.
3. What were the effects of the California Gold Rush?
The Gold Rush brought people from around the world rushing to California, it also
brought about the quick addition of California to the Union. Many people
(Mexicans) faced discrimination, Native Americans were killed; there was
overcrowding, lonliness, disease, and violence.