Deck 17: Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy

Question 1

In the presidential election of 1844, the Whig candidate, Henry Clay,

A) opposed the annexation of Texas.
B) called for immediate annexation of Texas.
C) favored both the postponing and the annexation of Texas.
D) ignored the issue of the annexation of Texas.
E) favored dividing Texas into several states.

Answer 1

favored both the postponing and the annexation of Texas.

Question 2

The nomination of James K. Polk as the Democrats' 1844 presidential candidate was engineered by

A) Democratic expansionists.
B) anti-Texas southerners.
C) Henry Clay.
D) eastern business interests.
E) proslavery forces.

Answer 2

Democratic expansionists.

Question 3

The only member of President Tyler's Whig cabinet who did not resign in protest over his policies was

A) Henry Clay.
B) Zachary Taylor.
C) Robert Walker.
D) Daniel Webster.
E) Millard Fillmore.

Answer 3

Daniel Webster.

Question 4

In the 1840s, the view that God had ordained the growth of an American nation stretching across North America was called

A) continentalism.
B) isolationism.
C) the Pacific Rim strategy.
D) Divine Mandate.
E) Manifest Destiny.

Question 5

The Whigs put Tyler on the ticket as vice-presidential nominee because

A) they wanted a stronger figure behind President William Henry Harrison.
B) he would attract northern votes.
C) he would attract the vote of the states' rightists.
D) a southerner would balance the Midwesterner Harrison.
E) he would vigorously oppose the Democrats' expansionism.

Question 6

John Tyler joined the Whig party primarily because he

A) saw a chance to become the party's nominee for vice president.
B) resented the dictatorial tactics of Andrew Jackson.
C) was forced to resign from the Senate.
D) believed in its pro-bank position.
E) believed it better represented Virginia's interests.

Question 7

Arrange the following in chronological order: (A) annexation of Texas, (B) Webster-Ashburton Treaty, (C) settlement of the Oregon boundary, (D) Aroostook War.

A) A, B, D, C
B) B, D, C, A
C) D, B, A, C
D) C, A, B, D
E) A, D, C, B

Question 8

Arrange in chronological order the United States' acquisition of (A) Oregon, (B) Texas, (C) California.

A) A, B, C
B) C, B, A
C) B, A, C
D) B, C, A
E) A, C, B

Question 9

During an 1837 Canadian rebellion against Britain,

A) the United States stayed neutral in word and action.
B) Canadian rebels staged raids from American territory.
C) the British sank an American ship carrying supplies to Canadian rebels.
D) Canadian rebels were joined by Maine lumberjacks.
E) the U. S. government threatened to intervene and seize Canadian forts.

Question 10

Relations between British and American pioneers in Oregon could best be described as:

A) full of popular resentments on both sides.
B) generally peaceful.
C) marked by growing American economic supremacy.
D) constantly on the brink of war.
E) generally tense, with periods violence.

Question 11

The group that was instrumental in saving the soil of Oregon for the United States was

A) the Lewis and Clark expedition.
B) American fur traders from California.
C) American missionaries to the Indians.
D) U.S. naval forces in Puget Sound.
E) Mormon settlers from Utah.

Question 12

The British-American dispute over the border of Maine was solved

A) by a short war initiated by American lumberjacks.
B) by a compromise that gave each side some territory.
C) when the territory in question was proven to be economically worthless.
D) by the Caroline incident.
E) by admitting Maine into the Union and New Brunswick into Canada.

Question 13

The Aroostook War was the result of

A) a short-lived insurrection in British Canada.
B) the Caroline incident.
C) Canadian weapons and aid given to American Indians.
D) a dispute over the northern boundary of Maine.
E) a fishing dispute between Britain and the United States.

Question 14

Texas was annexed to the United States as a result of

A) Senate approval of the Treaty of Annexation.
B) a joint resolution rather than a treaty.
C) a presidential order by Andrew Jackson.
D) the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.
E) a compromise to admit free-state Iowa at the same time.

Question 15

The major argument against annexing Texas to the United States was that

A) it could involve the country in ruinous wars with Britain and France.
B) it would add strength to the southern "slave power."
C) Texas would be far larger than any existing American state.
D) it would be better to retain an independent Texas as a buffer state.
E) it would lead to tensions and possible war with Mexico.

Question 16

All of the following were reasons why Britain was intensely interested in an independent Texas except

A) such a republic would check the southward surge of the American colossus, who posed a threat to nearby British possessions in the New World.
B) clashes between Texas and America would create a smoke-screen diversion behind which foreign powers could move into the Americas and challenge the Monroe Doctrine.
C) British merchants believed that an independent Texas could be an important free-trade area -to offset the tariff-walled United States.
D) Texas could become a location for the settlement of undesirable British emigrants.
E) the alliance would give abolitionists the opportunity to free slaves in Texas and inflame nearby slaves of the South.

Question 17

After President John Tyler vetoed a bill to establish a new Bank of the United States,

A) he was formally expelled from the Whig party.
B) all but one member of his cabinet resigned.
C) an attempt was made in the House of Representatives to impeach him.
D) Tyler also vetoed a bill to distribute federal land revenues to the states.
E) all of these.

Question 18

The area in dispute between the United States and Britain in 1845 lay between

A) the forty-second parallel and the Columbia River.
B) the Cascade Mountains, the Columbia River, and Puget Sound.
C) the 36 $\degree$ 30' line and the Columbia River.
D) the forty-ninth parallel and the 54 $\degree$ 40' line.
E) the Columbia River, the forty-ninth parallel, and the Pacific Ocean.

Question 19

The earliest known use of the term Manifest Destiny was used by

A) John Tyler.
B) James K. Polk.
C) Ralph Waldo Emerson.
D) John L. O'Sullivan.
E) Mark Twain.

Question 20

Most Americans who migrated to the Oregon Country were attracted by the

A) rich soil of the Willamette River Valley.
B) opportunities for fortunes in lumbering.
C) potential profits in the fur trade.
D) discovery of gold and silver in the Cascade Mountains.
E) hope of finding a better trade route to East Asia.

Question 21

Arrange the following in chronological order: (A) Bear Flag revolt, (B) Slidell mission rejected, (C) declaration of war on Mexico, (D) American troops ordered to the Rio Grande Valley.

A) B, D, C, A
B) A, C, B, D
C) D, B, A, C
D) C, A, D, B
E) A, D, C, B

Question 22

In the Oregon treaty with Britain in 1846, the northern boundary of the United States was established to the Pacific Ocean along the line of

A) 42 $\degree$ .
B) 52 $\degree$ 40'.
C) 54 $\degree$ 40'.
D) 36 $\degree$ 30'.
E) 49 $\degree$ .

Question 23

The two European nations that first competed to control the area around San Francisco Bay were

A) Britain and Spain.
B) France and Spain.
C) Britain and Russia.
D) Portugal and Holland.
E) Spain and Russia.

Question 24

The Wilmot Proviso

A) symbolized the burning issue of slavery in the territories.
B) gained House and Senate approval in 1846.
C) settled once and for all the issue of slavery in California.
D) allowed slavery in the territory taken from Mexico in 1848.
E) left the issue of slavery in New Mexico and Utah to people of those territories.

Question 25

In his quest for California, President James K. Polk

A) openly threatened war with Mexico.
B) schemed behind the scenes to promote a revolution by the Californios.
C) was motivated by his knowledge of gold deposits there.
D) indicated his clear respect for international law.
E) first tried buying the province from Mexico.

Question 26

The largest single addition to American territory in American history was

A) the Louisiana Purchase.
B) the Mexican Cession.
C) the Oregon Country.
D) the Old Northwest.
E) Alaska.

Question 27

In 1846 the United States went to war with Mexico for all of the following reasons except

A) the ideology of Manifest Destiny.
B) the Mexicans were spoiling for a revenge fight with Americans.
C) a clash between Mexican and American troops in disputed territory.
D) the need to adhere to Congress's "spot" resolutions.
E) Polk's desire to acquire California by fair means or foul.

Question 28

One goal of Mexico in its 1846-1848 war with the United States was to

A) demonstrate the strength of Latino culture.
B) regain control of Texas.
C) capture slaves and take them back to Mexico.
D) encourage the breakup of the American Union.
E) provoke a war between the United States and Britain.

Question 29

President Polk's claim that "American blood [had been shed] on the American soil" referred to news of an armed clash between Mexican and American troops near

A) El Paso.
B) the Nueces River.
C) Santa Fe.
D) the Rio Grande.
E) San Antonio.

Question 30

The election of 1844 was notable because

A) the campaign raised no real issues.
B) a genuine and clear mandate emerged.
C) it was fought primarily over a single issue.
D) Polk won the electoral vote but lost the popular vote.
E) it brought the slavery issue into politics.

Question 31

The Wilmot Proviso, introduced into Congress during the Mexican War, declared that

A) no further Mexican territory could be annexed to the United States.
B) slavery would be banned from all territories that Mexico ceded to the United States.
C) the Mexican Cession should be carved into an equal number of slave and free states.
D) English should be the official language in the territory acquired from Mexico.
E) slavery in the territories would be determined by democratic vote.

Question 32

The group most supportive of gaining control of all the Oregon Country was the

A) southern Democrats.
B) Whigs.
C) northern Democrats.
D) Californians.
E) Protestant missionaries.

Question 33

Match each American officer below with his theater of command in the Mexican War.

A) A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4
B) A-3, B-1, C-4, D-2
C) A-3, B-4, C-2, D-1
D) A-2, B-1, C-3, D-4
E) A-4, B-1, C-2, D-3

Question 34

When the war with Mexico began, President James K. Polk

A) advocated taking all of Mexico.
B) had secret plans to acquire New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah.
C) hoped to fight a limited war aimed at conquering California.
D) focused his strategy on invading central Mexico.
E) asserted that he had no intention of expanding slavery.

Question 35

During the Mexican War, the Polk administration was called upon several times to respond to congressional "spot" resolutions demanding to know where American blood had been shed to provoke the war. The resolutions were frequently introduced by

A) Abraham Lincoln.
B) Henry Clay.
C) James K. Polk.
D) David Wilmot.
E) John Quincy Adams.

Question 36

The terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ending the Mexican War included

A) a guarantee of the rights of Mexicans living in New Mexico.
B) American annexation of Texas.
C) the banning of slavery from all territory ceded to the United States.
D) a requirement that Mexico pay $3.25 million in damages to the United States.
E) American payment of $15 million for the cession of northern Mexico.

Question 37

When revolutionary Mexico secularized the government of California,

A) many native Californios turned to Protestantism.
B) slavery became an accepted practice.
C) convicts brought in by Spain were expelled.
D) California's Indians received better treatment.
E) Californios gained control of the land from the Franciscans.

Question 38

The Spanish Franciscan missionaries treated the native inhabitants of California

A) according to the principles of their founder St. Francis.
B) as simple natives who did not need to work unless they wished.
C) very harshly.
D) better than they treated their African slaves.
E) as capable of civilization if educated.

Question 39

Those people most opposed to President James K. Polk's expansionist program were the

A) eastern Democrats.
B) antislavery forces.
C) Anglo-Saxon supremacists.
D) businesspeople.
E) proslavery Whigs.

Question 40

One reason that the British government decided to compromise on the Oregon Country border was

A) that the Hudson's Bay Company decided it would sooner deal with the Americans.
B) that British anti-expansionists opposed acquiring the Columbia country.
C) John Tyler's election to the presidency.
D) that they realized the harbor of Vancouver was as good as that of Seattle.
E) they wanted American support against Spanish and Russian claims on the west coast.

Question 41

President Polk's program for his administration included

A) lower tariffs.
B) a new independent treasury system.
C) acquisition of California.
D) settlement of the Oregon boundary dispute.
E) the annexation of Texas.

Question 42

The Californios' political ascendancy in California ended

A) with the arrival of Franciscan friars.
B) when they were overwhelmed by the American gold rush.
C) when Mexico gained control of the area in 1826.
D) when agriculture became more profitable than mining.
E) when poorer Mexican immigrants began entering California.

Question 43

President John Tyler vetoed the Whig Congress's legislation to

A) end the independent treasury system.
B) create a third Bank of the United States.
C) distribute public land sales revenue to the states.
D) annex Texas.
E) solve the Maine boundary dispute.

Question 44

The Mexican War resulted in

A) a one-third increase in the territorial size of the United States.
B) combat experience for those who would lead the armies in the Civil War.
C) increased respect for American military and naval capabilities.
D) friendlier relations between the United States and Latin American nations.
E) deepened sectional tensions over slavery.

Question 45

Points of controversy between the United States and Mexico in 1845-1846 included

A) damage claims by American citizens against the Mexican government.
B) the immigration of Mormons into Mexican territory.
C) the migration of Mexicans into Louisiana and Arkansas.
D) the refusal of the Mexican government to receive Polk's envoy, John Slidell.
E) American annexation of Texas.

Question 46

Britain was intensely involved with the Republic of Texas because

A) an independent Texas provided a check on American power.
B) Texas could be an important alternative source of cotton.
C) Texas threatened British influence in Central America and northern South America.
D) British abolitionists hoped to use Texas to inflame antislavery action in the South.
E) the British navy wanted bases at Galveston and Corpus Christi.