Ch 11 Flashcards
mountain men
Men hired by eastern companies to trap animals for fur in the Rocky Mountains and other western regions of the United States
John Jacob Astor
American fur trade and financier, he founded the fur-trading post of Astoria and the American Fur Company
Jim Beckwourth
African American explorer and mountain man who spent time in the unsettled western United States and later recounted his exciting life in a book
Oregon Trail
A 2,000 mile rail stretching through the Great Plains from wester Missouri to the Oregon Territory
Mormon
A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Santa Fe Trail
An important trade trail west from Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico
Brigham Young
American religious leader who headed the Mormon Church after the murder of Joseph Smith, he moved the community to Utah, leading thousands along what came to be known as the Mormon Trail to the main settlement at Salt Lake City
empresarios
Agents who were contracted by the Mexican republic to bring settlers to Texas in the early 1800s
Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla
Mexican priest and revolutionist, he led a rebellion of about 80,000 impoverished Indians and mestizos against Spain in the hope of improving living conditions; though defeated, the rebellion eventually grew and helped lead to Mexican independence
Stephen F Austin
American colonizer in Texas, he was imprisoned for urging Texas statehood after Santa Anna suspended Mexico’s constitution. After helping Texas win independence from Mexico, he became secretary of state for the Texas Republic
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
Mexican general and politician, he was president of Mexico and became a dictator. He fought in the Texas Revolution and seized the Alamo but was defeated and captured by Sam Houston at San Jacinto
Alamo
Spanish mission in San Antonio, Texas, that was the site of a famous battle of the Texas Revolution in 1836
Battle of San Jacinto
The final battle of the Texas Revolution; resulted in the defeat of the Mexican army and independence for Texas
manifest destiny
A belief shared by many Americans in the mid-1800s that the United States should expand across the continent to the Pacific Ocean
James K Polk
Eleventh president of the United states, he settled the Oregon boundary with Great Britain and successfully conducted the Mexican-American war
vaqueros
Mexican cowboys in the West who tended cattle and horses
Californios
Spanish colonists in California in the 1800s
Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo
Californio leader who urged equal rights for Mexicans living in California after the state was captured in the Mexican-American War
Bear Flag Revolt
A revolt against Mexico by American settlers in California who declared the territory an independent republic
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
A treaty that ended the Mexican-AmericanWar and gave the United States much of Mexico’s northern territory
Gadsden Purchase
U.S purchase of land from Mexico that included the southern parts of presentday Arizona and New Mexico
forty-niner
a gold-seeker who moved to California during the gold rush
Donner party
A group of western travelers who were stranded in the Sierra Nevada during the winter of 1846-47; only 45 of the party’s 87 members survived
John Sutter
American pioneer who built Sutter’s Fort, a trading post on the California frontier; gold was discovered leading to the California gold rush
