Thy Questions of The Marvelous Chapter XII

1) What was Manifest Destiny?

The duty that God gave the white people to take full control of all American territories and bring life/civilization and technology to the people in order to introduce culture and positive change throughout the land. 

2) The Oregon Territory consisted of what area? Who claimed it?

"The huge area that lay between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains north of California." Wyoming, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana were among the present-day states that were in the territory. U.S. Spain, and Russia had claims in the area.

3) Who were the Mountain Men?

Americans who spent a lot of time in the mountains, engaging in trade with the Native Americans for fur and other goods. They were a huge community and would gather annually to compete and tell tales of adventures past.

4) Why was the Oregon Trail important?
Because it led the pioneers to Oregon, and the depression in the east helped the migration west to settle new land and find new stuff/jobs/wealth
 
5) Discuss the meaning behind the slogan "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight"?
The slogan for the Democratic party on the line of latitude for where they felt the national capital for Oregon country would be. If it wasn't the way they wanted, they would fight (go to war) about it. 

6) James Polk made what promises to the American public during the election of 1844 (list four - you might need to look up on the internet).
Promised to serve only one term.
Promised to colonize the Oregon country.
Promised to lower taxes.
Promised to take California territory from the Mexicans. 

7) Discuss how Texas became independent.
They needed to fight the Mexicans for independence. The Tejanos and Americans proclaimed their independence.  

8) Discuss the battles of The Alamo and San Jacinto.
The Alamo = Less than 200 Texan soldiers hold out for 12 days, fending off 1,000+ Mexican soldiers.
San Jacinto = Surprise attack on the Mexicans, capturing many captives and is the battle that ends with the taking of Santa Anna and the war as a whole.

9) How long did it take the U.S. to annex Texas? Why?
Eight years, and it took a while because the addition of yet another slave state to the nation might upset the balance of things. This was the reason Johnson hadn't done anything with the place, during his administration, but Polk does. 

10) How did the Mexican-American War start? Why did it start? Was it a "Just War"?
The Americans built a fort on the Rio Grande and the Mexicans got all mad and started attacking for it was built on their land which triggered the war. Perhaps it wasn't just because the Texans weren't really supposed to be in the land of the Mexicans and have no right to fight in the war. 

11) What was the American response to the war?

12) List the major battles of the war.
The Alamo. San Jacinto. Buena Vista. Monterey. Mexico City.

13) What was the cost of the war?
$100-125 million...?
 
14) Why was the California Gold Rush important?
Because it led to a lot of people moving west from all areas of the country in hopes to make it big by striking up a fortune in gold. California going 20,000 to 220,000 in a matter of 4 years really helped solidify the western United States and advanced the nation towards collecting more states to the union. Also brought the Mormons over to the west/Utah. 

15) Answer the following questions on page 380 - #6 - #10, #13-#15.
6. They remained on the 49th latitude line.
7. Because he didn't want to disrupt the ratio of slave states to non-slave states.
8. Strength in Numbers! Also, the borders on the east and west side would both be oceans instead of another foreign country. 
9. The invasion of their land. Annexation of Texas. Mexican doesn't sell it's land.
10. Because people were desperate to strike it rich and would buy anything because there was no other place to buy things around for miles. They needed the stuff, and the merchants charged quite a bit to make a fortune.
13. The states of Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, California, Utah, etc. etc. came out of it and the borders were the oceans instead of the foriegn countries/Rio Grande.
14. They were like "These fools be trippin'?" and they weren't all like "Whaaaat?". They felt it was just an excuse to hold land and take over everything. They were greedy little people!!!