Ch. 13: The Impending Crisis
Review Questions
For what reasons, did the American population move westward in the 1830s & 1840s?




Fertile Land
Economic Opportunity
Religious Freedom/Conversion
A sense of adventure
What present-day states were part of Mexican Territory in 1825?




California
New Mexico
Texas
Arizona
For what reasons, did Texans revolt in 1836?

The Texans were dissatisfied with Mexican Rule.
Describe the Battle at the Alamo. Why was it significant?

The Battle at the Alamo was part of the Texas Revolution. The Mexican Army attacked & killed
some 200 Texan revolutionaries. The Alamo was significant because it became a rallying cry or
moral cause that allowed the Texans to eventually win their independence.
Which Mexican policy irritated Anglo-American settlers in the early 1830s?

How long did the Lone Star Republic/Texas exist before annexation by the U.S.?
Who was the hero of San Jacinto & the first president of the Lone Star Republic?
The most important overland route for American migration to the west was?
Primary opposition to the annexation of Texas came from whom?
What was included in Presidential candidates James K. Polk’s political platform in the Election of 1844?
Define Manifest Destiny. What arguments were made for it?
Disagreement over what territory produced the slogan “Fifty-Four Forty or Fight”?
Why did Polk’s foreign policy almost produce a war with Great Britain over Oregon?
Why did James K. Polk go to war with Mexico? (Be sure to consider the ulterior motive as well as the
immediate cause)
How did James K. Polk the Mexican-American War?
During what conflict did the “Siege of the Alamo” take place?
What were the provisions of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo?
Whom did Congressman Preston Brooks attack on the Senate floor & why?
Define Popular Sovereignty. How & where did Senator Stephen Douglas apply it?
Why was their a rush to develop/settle the Kansas & Nebraska territories?
How did Senator Stephen Douglas gain southern support for the Kansas-Nebraska Act?
What was the impact of the Kansas-Nebraska Act? What political party did it give birth to?
Why did the Republican Party grow rapidly?
Why did Popular Sovereignty fail in the Kansas-Nebraska Act?
A dress rehearsal for civil war took place in what state? What is this event’s nickname?
Describe the Dred Scott case. What decisions were made by the courts?
In the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates what position did Abraham Lincoln take on slavery? What did
these debates do for Lincoln?
What was the result of John Brown’s Raid for southerners? How did they feel about the plot?
What soon to be famous general thwarted John Brown’s Raid?
Who won the Election of 1860? What did his election lead to?
Open-Ended Topics
Manifest Destiny & the Mexican-American War
Popular Sovereignty & “Bleeding Kansas”
“Bleeding Kansas”, John Brown’s Raid, the election of 1860 & its contribution to Southern Secession