Humanities 2013

Mexican-American War Webquest

Using the Northern Illinois Libraries' website The Mexican-American War, (http://dig.lib.niu.edu/mexicanwar/about.html), read about this pivotal moment in America's westward expansion and answer the following questions. Type your answers to your questions in a Word document. Title the document “Mexican-American War Questions” and be sure to put your name on your document. Also, please make sure to use complete sentences!

On the left side of the screen you will see five boxes: "Home," "History of the War," "Primary Sources," Teacher's Tent," and "About this Site." Placing your cursor over the second two boxes will bring up pop-up menus. You will use these drop down menus to answer the following questions.

History of the War:

--Overview (pop-up menu)

1) Why did the United States fight Mexico? What did the United States gain as a result?

2) Why did the Mexican-American War increase sectional tensions between the North and South?

--Origins (pop-up menu)

3) When did Mexico become an independent country, and from whom?

4) What role did the region of Texas play in the growing tensions between Mexico and the United States?

(OPEN YOUR UNITED STATES HISTORY ATLASES TO PAGE 15 TO VIEW A MAP OF THE LAND INVOLVED IN THE TEXAS REVOLUTION OF 1835-6)

5) How did the United States initially attempt to acquire territory from Mexico? What happened?

6) Where does the phrase "Manifest Destiny" come from, and how does it apply to the Mexican-American War?

(Skip Military Campaigns—though feel free to read if you are interested!)

(Turn over)

--Impact (pop-up menu)

7) What were the main elements of the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo?

8) How did Americans react to the results of the Mexican-American War?

9) What was the Wilmot Proviso? Even though it never became law, why was it so important?

(OPEN YOUR UNITED STATES HISTORY ATLASES TO PAGE 17 TO VIEW A MAP OF THE LAND INVOLVED IN THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR)

Now place your cursor over the "Primary Sources" box, and then click on "Maps & Images" on the pop-up menu. At the bottom of the screen, click on the button labeled "browse all images." Then look at the bottom of the screen and click on the button that says "all" so that you can see all the images at once.

Primary Sources:

10) Focus on the way individuals are portrayed in their portraits and the way the war is portrayed in paintings of battles and other scenes. What do these images tell you about the creators' attitudes about Mexico? What do these images tell you about the country's attitude toward territorial acquisition and westward expansion?

Of particular note—make sure you view the images "Taylor and His Battles" (toward the bottom).