Manifest DestinyReading Assignment

SSUSH 7b, 8d, 8e

  • Describe the westward growth of the United States; include the emerging concept of Manifest Destiny.
  • Describe the war with Mexico and the Wilmot Proviso.
  • Explain how the Compromise of 1850 arose out of territorial expansion and population growth.

1. In your own words, define “manifest destiny”. (253, 351)

2. What three trails moved Americans to the far west? (254-255)

3. What occurred in the California Territory in 1848? Give evidence of the diversity that resulted. (255-256)

4. What did the annexation of Texas to the United States result in? Why? (351-352)

5. Briefly state the roles of James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, John Slidell, and John C. Fremont in the conflict with Mexico. (352-353)

6. What territories were acquired by the United States in the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo? (353)

7. What did the Wilmot Proviso say about the lands acquired from Mexico in the war? Why didn’t the Wilmot Proviso become law? (354)

8. How was the issue of California’s statehood in 1850 similar to and different from the situation in Missouri in 1820? (356)

9. What concessions were made for the pro-slavery South in the Compromise of 1850? (356-357)

10. What concessions were made for anti-slavery forces in the Compromise of 1850? (356-357)

11. What were the effects of the Compromise of 1850? (359)

Sectionalism Reading Assignment

SSUSH 8e, 9a

  • Explain how the Compromise of 1850 arose out of territorial expansion and population growth.

SSUSH9 The student will identify key events, issues, and individuals relating to the causes, course, and consequences of the Civil War.

  • Explain the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the failure of popular sovereignty, Dred Scott case, and John Brown’s Raid.

1. Who was Stephen A. Douglas? What were his two conflicting ambitions? (360)

2. Define popular sovereignty. (360)

3. How did popular sovereignty apply to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854? (360)

4. What did the new Republican Party believe about slavery? (361)

5. What two laws did Republican leaders want repealed? (361)

6. Describe “Bleeding” Kansas. (364)

7. What happened in Congress between Charles Sumner and Preston Brooks? (364)

8. Who was Dred Scott? What was his argument about his status as a slave? (365)

9. What did the Supreme Court rule about slavery in the case of Dred Scott v. Sandford? (365)

10. Who was John Brown? (368)

11. Why did he lead a raid in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia? What was he trying to accomplish? (368)

12. How did both northerners and southerners react to John Brown’s raid? (368)