Items to review/know: (USE THIS AS YOUR CHECKLIST FOR READING BEFORE CLASS)

 

  1. What were Polk’s goals as President?
  2. What was John Slidell’s goal in going to Mexico?  What was the result?
  3. How did the war begin, and where?  Did Polk provoke this war?
  4. Who opposed this war?
  5. What was the Wilmot Proviso?  What is the significance of this?
  6. Review the major campaigns of the war, by leader and region:
    1. Gen. Zachary Taylor
    2. Gen. Stephen Kearny
    3. Captain John C. Frémont
    4. Gen. Winfield Scott

**Note: Polk will become very angry with his commanders in the field…

  1. What was the result of the war?
  2. Details of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo (1848)
  3. Why did we go to war with Mexico for Texas and not Great Britain for Oregon?
  4. Later Expansionist Efforts: Ostend Manifesto; Clayton-Bulwer Treaty; Gadsden Purchase
  5. What is the significance of the California Gold Rush?
  6. Where were the great trails? 
  7. How did mining change the West?
  8. Why did people move further West?