Social Studies Chapter 12, Section 3 Flashcards
Manifest destiny and New Mexico
As more and more Americans settled there, the Americans got tingly with the feeling of Manifest Destiny
William Becknell
A trader from St. Louis who brought wagons full of stuff to the New Mexico Territory to trade and sold them for a huge profit so he got more stuff and sold that for a huge profit which brought many new traders to the New Mexico territory who followed his trail called the Santa Fe Trail
Spanish missions
They built them to convert the Native Americans to Catholicism and had 21 missions from San Diego to Sonoma
Junipero Serra
A Father who built a chain of missions through California
Ranchos
Ranchers who bought the land the missions were on and made them into rancheros which used the Native Americans to work the farms to make it kind of like the Southern plantations
Why California is desirable
It has great, fertile land that was great for farming, it had a beautiful coast and view of the Pacific Ocean, and it had great ports
Dispute over Texas border
The Americans wanted it at the Rio Grande River(the present- day border) and the Mexicans wanted it at the Nueces River(150 miles north of Rio Grande)
Polk pulls Mexico into a war
Mexico said they wanted to take back Texas so Polk tells Zachary Taylor to build a fort in the disputed territory between Mexico and Texas so Mexico attacks it thinking it is in their country
Zachary Taylor
A general in the American army who was told to build a fort in the disputed territory in Texas and later secured the border to make that area part of the US
How Americans felt about war with Mexico
Some Americans were opposed to the war, like the Whigs, Abraham Lincoln, and Frederick Douglass
Polk’s three-part plan for war – the plan and how it worked
His plan was to first, secure the Texas border at the Rio Grande, then, seize the New Mexico Territory and California, and finally capture Mexico City to have something to bargain for in the treaty after the war. The first part was carried out within a few months, and the second and third parts were carried out in the summer with the second part being split into two parts with New Mexico captured easily and California captured after a little fighting and the third part being carried out a year after the first two
Bear Flag Republic
What the Republic of California was called when Sonoma was seized
John Sloat
A naval squadron who conquered the coast of California making it so Mexico didn’t control California
Jon Fremont
A man who wanted to conquer all of California from Sonoma by going South
Winfield Scott
An American general who makes a three- week siege on Veracruz and takes it, then takes a 300 mile march to Mexico City and takes it
