Deck 14: Western Expansion and the Rise of the Slavery Issue 1820-1850

Question 1

The chapter introduction tells the story of the Sioux migration to the Great Plains to make the point that

A) the American ideology of Manifest Destiny meant manifest destruction for tribal cultures.
B) Mexican advancement northward, as well as Anglo-American advancement westward, put pressure on the Plains tribes.
C) frontiers were multidimensional and mobile, involved a variety of peoples and cultures, and ultimately proved as disruptive to the settled East as to the contested West.
D) the United States not only had to resort to war and diplomacy to expand its borders, it also had to cope within its borders with native peoples who attacked the emigrants on the Overland Trail.

Answer 1

frontiers were multidimensional and mobile, involved a variety of peoples and cultures, and ultimately proved as disruptive to the settled East as to the contested West.

Question 2

Which of the following was NOT a United States territorial acquisition in the 1840s?

A) Texas
B) Oregon south of the 49^th parallel
C) the area between the Rockies and California
D) the area between the Rockies and the Missouri River

Answer 2

the area between the Rockies and the Missouri River

Question 3

The doctrine of Manifest Destiny

A) developed in the 1820s as a popular response to the Monroe Doctrine.
B) developed in the 1830s as a southern and western reaction against evangelical millennialism.
C) was used to recruit Americans to migrate to Texas to protect slavery and U.S. interests.
D) was used to justify U.S. expansion southward and westward.

Answer 3

was used to justify U.S. expansion southward and westward.

Question 4

Which of the following ideas was Manifest Destiny NOT based on?

A) Anglo-Saxon racial superiority justified American absorption of inferior peoples and their lands.
B) New lands would extend the domain of free government and free enterprise.
C) Conquest of new territory would prove American military superiority.
D) America had a specially ordained mission in the world.

Question 5

Manifest Destiny was a popular national creed, but there was a long-term cost. The sectional crisis of the 1850s was precipitated not only by the rising abolitionist movement in the North, but also by a question raised by expansion to the West:

A) Will the transcontinental railroad link the West to the North or to the South?
B) Will more southerners or northerners settle the West?
C) What will be the status of slavery in the new territories?
D) Will westerners tend to vote Democrat or Whig?

Question 6

Three "frontiers"transformed Plains Indian culture long before white settlers pushed their settlement frontier west of the Mississippi River. Which of following did NOT transform Plains Indian culture during this period?

A) liquor
B) firearms
C) the horse
D) disease

Question 7

Mexico's northern frontier provinces developed

A) with little influence or control from Mexico City.
B) according to plans conceived in and directed from Mexico City.
C) under the predominant influence of the Catholic Church.
D) despite a failure of the Mexican government to provide incentives for settlement.

Question 8

In the early 1830s the Mexican Congress turned vast landholdings in the Mexican borderlands over to

A) rancheros.
B) Catholic padres.
C) mining barons.
D) bureaucrats appointed by the central government in Mexico City.

Question 9

By the mid-1820s, Americans had established direct links with which Mexican province?

A) Texas
B) New Mexico
C) California
D) All these answers are correct.

Question 10

Which of the following contributed to the growing discontent and eventual revolt of Americans in Texas?

A) the lack of political participation of Texans in their local government
B) the government's refusal to provide land for settlers
C) the Mexican government's ban on Catholic churches in Texas
D) the Mexican government's ban on slavery

Question 11

After successfully defeating the Mexican army, Texas

A) became a self-governing province within the Mexican federation.
B) forced the Mexican government to recognize its independence.
C) became an independent nation, unrecognized by Mexico.
D) was admitted to the United States.

Question 12

The trek west on the Overland Trail

A) followed Lewis and Clark's route across the plains; and established agricultural societies that were deliberately different from those in the East.
B) followed traditional gender roles despite women's quest to act like men; and once in the West, the emigrants developed a new frontier society where women had little influence.
C) was difficult and stressful on everyone involved but placed a special strain on women.
D) was plagued by periodic attacks by hostile Indians, but the U.S. government refused to provide a military presence before the Civil War.

Question 13

Plains Indians responded to the increasing numbers of emigrants on the Overland Trail by

A) demanding compensation from both the government and the emigrants.
B) refusing to trade with the emigrants.
C) attacking the wagon trains.
D) migrating away from the main corridor of travel.

Question 14

________ initiated the politics of Manifest Destiny by pushing the annexation of the Texan Republic. He did so because, as the first vice president to become president, he alienated his own party leaders and had to find an issue that would attract popular support for his bid for a second term.

A) Daniel Webster
B) John Tyler
C) Millard Fillmore
D) James K. Polk

Question 15

Texas was finally annexed by

A) treaty with Texas when John Tyler first forced the issue.
B) a joint resolution of Congress in early 1845.
C) joint resolution after Polk became president.
D) treaty with Mexico at the end of the Mexican War.

Question 16

The Mexican War began when

A) the U.S. annexed Texas.
B) Mexico expelled an American diplomat.
C) Taylor's force of Texans crossed the Rio Grande River into Mexico.
D) American and Mexican forces clashed over disputed border territory in southern Texas.

Question 17

Which of the following is NOT an accurate statement concerning the consequences of the Mexican War?

A) Mexico ceded California and the interior southwest to the United States.
B) The acquisition of new territories pushed the slavery issue to the forefront of national politics.
C) The war temporarily unified the country as both parties and all sections supported President Polk and approved the war effort.
D) A proposal was introduced in Congress to ban slavery in any new territory; and though it never passed, the idea became central to the antislavery movement in the 1850s.

Question 18

Had it passed, the Wilmot Proviso would have

A) divided Texas into five slave states.
B) prohibited slavery in any territory won from Mexico.
C) extended the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific.
D) given legal sanction to the doctrine of popular sovereignty.

Question 19

The settlements of the Mormons in Utah

A) at first exhibited the typical character of a raw, disproportionately male, disorderly frontier area.
B) at first developed as a scattered, unplanned series of refugee encampments.
C) were established as family-centered communities dominated by church leaders.
D) were established on land grants obtained from the federal government.

Question 20

Which of the following was an important moderate or mediating position on slavery in the 1850s?

A) Slavery should be abolished in the District of Columbia.
B) Slaves should be gradually emancipated (with compensation).
C) Territorial voters should determine whether they will become a slave or free state.
D) Whichever position is most popular in a national vote should prevail.

Question 21

The doctrine of popular sovereignty was most closely associated with

A) Stephen A. Douglas.
B) Daniel Webster.
C) Zachary Taylor.
D) David Wilmot.

Question 22

The antislavery message of the Free Soil supporters was first introduced in what form?

A) as a label for a new political party that attracted supporters from among both Whigs and Democrats
B) as a proposed legislated policy: the Wilmot Proviso
C) as a method by which new territories would be organized in the Compromise of 1850
D) as a lengthy essay by a widely read editor, William Lloyd Garrison

Question 23

In the 1848 election campaign, which party set forth a clear position on the slavery issue?

A) Whig Party
B) Democratic Party
C) Free Soil Party
D) All these answers are correct.

Question 24

Which of the following was included in the aging Henry Clay's proposed compromise package to "escape from crisis"?

A) admission of California as a slave state
B) admission of Texas as a free state
C) abolition of the slave trade in Washington, D. C.
D) strengthening Texas's fugitive slave law

Question 25

Which of the following was influential in securing passage of the Compromise of 1850?

A) Senator Douglas took over leadership of the Congress.
B) The president, who had threatened to veto the plan, died.
C) Each bill was passed with the same number of supporters.
D) Clay originally submitted the compromise as an Omnibus Bill.

Question 26

The final Compromise of 1850, originally introduced by Henry Clay as a single "Omnibus Bill,"passed as five separate pieces of legislation. Which of the following was NOT included?

A) California was admitted as a free state.
B) New Mexico was organized as a territory that could choose for itself whether to be slave or free.
C) Slavery was abolished in the District of Columbia.
D) Provisions for capturing runaway slaves were strengthened.

Question 27

A famous novel by the daughter of Lyman Beecher rallied northern hostility toward one particular component of the Compromise of 1850,

A) the provision that Mormon Utah could decide for itself whether to be slave or free.
B) the fugitive slave law, which allowed southerners to more easily reclaim their runaway slaves.
C) the re-drawing of the Texas boundary.
D) the failure to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia.

Question 28

The idea that America was predetermined by providence or fate to expand its boundaries over most of the North American continent is generally known as ________.

Question 29

The government of the newly independent nation of Mexico invited U.S. settlers to immigrate to its frontier border province of ________.

Question 30

The ________ Country, jointly held by the U.S. and Britain, was divided between them in 1846.

Question 31

The ________ was a proposal, introduced in Congress but never passed, that would have banned slavery in any territories acquired from Mexico.

Question 32

The one component of the Compromise of 1850 that was a clear concession to southern interests was a stronger federal law providing for seizure of ________.

Question 33

During what time-period did the Sioux Indians expand westward onto the Great Plains? Discuss at least two factors that helped them expand.

Question 34

List three issues that led to friction between Americans in Texas and the Mexican government before independence. How did each one increase tensions? Was one more important than the others?

Question 35

Trace the events that led to the war with Mexico. How did American actions contribute to the outbreak of war? What about Mexican actions?

Question 36

Compare and contrast the experience of men and women on the Overland Trail.

Question 37

Which political party most strongly opposed the Mexican War? Which geographical area of the country most opposed it? In each case, explain why.

Question 38

Congress had to decide how to deal with the issue of slavery in the territory it acquired after the Mexican War. Describe the four options proposed for dealing with the issue.

Question 39

List the provisions of the Compromise of 1850. Which provisions favored the North? Which ones favored the South?

Question 40

Name at least three events that contributed to the rise of the slavery issue in American politics in the 1840s. Why did each one have this effect?

Question 41

Explain the distinctive features of Chinese immigration to California.

Question 42

Why is it misleading to focus on the frontier only as the westward movement of whites? Discuss the experiences of the Sioux, the Chinese, and the Mexican residents of the borderlands in answering the question.

Question 43

Describe the doctrine of Manifest Destiny. Why did it arise in the 1840s?

Question 44

Compare and contrast the development of Salt Lake City and San Francisco. What accounts for the differences between the two cities?

Question 45

Why wasn't the Compromise of 1850 a true sectional compromise? How did this fact weaken compromise in the future?