Name:
Date:
The Mexican-American War
Timeline
Go back over the reading and fill in the timeline below.
1821
Mexico begins offering land grants to agents called empresarios.
What did the empresarios do in return?
1825
By this date, empresario Stephen Austin had issued 297 land grants to a
group of people known as Texas’s Old Three Hundred.
What did each of these families receive?
Why did Americans want to extend the boundary of the United States to
the Rio Grande?
1830
Mexico sealed its borders to American immigrants.
Why?
Did this action have any effect on immigration? Explain.
1833
FebruaryMarch
1836
Stephen Austin traveled to Mexico City to present petitions for greater self-government for Texas to
Mexican president Antonio López de Santa Anna.
How did Santa Anna respond?
Santa Anna attacked Texans at the Alamo.
Describe what happened at the Alamo.
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Name:
Date:
April
1836
The Texans, led by Sam Houston, defeated Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto.
Describe what happened at the Battle of San Jacinto.
What was the Treaty of Velasco?
September
1836
1838
The Republic of Texas is formed.
Who is its president?
Sam Houston invited the United States to annex, or incorporate, the Republic of Texas into the
United States.
Why was US opinion divided in response to this proposal?
What role did the election of 1844 play in the annexation of Texas?
Polk sided with Texans’ claims that the southern border of Texas extended to the Rio Grande. Where
did Mexico claim Texas border stopped?
1845
March
1846
Texas becomes the 18th state in the union.
How did Mexico respond to this?
President Polk issued orders for Zachary Taylor to march to the Rio Grande and blockade the river.
How did Mexico respond to this action?
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Name:
Date:
April
1846
War with Mexico begins.
Explain the differences between how the Northerners and Southerners viewed war with Mexico.
When President Polk asked Congress to declare war on Mexico, he claimed that the Mexicans had
caused the war by shedding “American blood on American soil.” How did Abraham Lincoln respond to
this claim?
Summer
1846
Stephen Kearny marched to Santa Fe, New Mexico and acquired the New Mexico Territory, then
took control of California.
How easy or hard was it to gain New Mexico? Explain.
February
1848
The United States and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the war.
How did US territory change as a result of the war?
The Mexican cession included what present-day states?
What were Mexicans living in these territories guaranteed?
1853
The Gadsden Purchase occurred.
What was the Gadsden Purchase?
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Name:
Date:
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