Crash Course: Mexican-American War and the West

Manifest Destiny was...(0:45)

• a remarkably successful play from the mid-1800s

• America's "god given right" to land in the west

• the name of a political party from the mid-1800s

• a failed religious movement from the mid-1800s

The following states were contained in the old territory of Northern Mexico except...(1:40)

• Texas

• Wyoming

• Nevada

• California

• Utah

Why wasn't Texas (who wanted to be slave state) admitted to the Union right away? (3:20)

• because everyone hated Texas

• because Texas was too big

• because Texas didn't have enough people

• because Texas would offset the slave state–free state balance

How did the U.S. fix the slave state–free state imbalance after admitting Texas? (3:50)

• we made a deal with England and admitted Oregon as a free state

• we didn't fix it

• we removed a different slave state from the Union

• we cut Texas in half and made part of it a free state

The narrator mentions the rise of the "nativism" movement in the eastern U.S. What sentiments (beliefs) did the movement hold? (check all that apply) (6:50)

• anti-immigrant sentiments

• anti-American sentiments

• anti-Catholic sentiments

• anti-war sentiments

Why did California's admittance to the Union as a free state make southerners "freak out?"

• because they thought California would be too far away to settle

• because they didn't think the U.S. needed more land

• because they saw it as the beginning of the end of slavery

• because they thought Mexico might try to get California back

What did Henry Clay do about the slavery issue? (10:40)

• he proposed the famous Compromise of 1850

• he singlehandedly freed every slave in the country

• he said he'd kindly ask slave owners to give up their slaves

• he didn't do anything

Which of the following was not part of the Compromise of 1850? (10:50)

• California was to be admitted as a free state

• a new fugitive slave law would be passed

• slavery would be allowed in free states with special permission

• the slave trade would be outlawed in Washington D.C.

Popular sovereignty meant what for the newly acquired western territories?

• it meant nothing

• that slavery would never be allowed

• that slavery would always be allowed

• that the people living there could vote to decide whether to allow slavery or not

John Green mentions an "underlying problem" about the U.S. during this time period. What was it? (12:00)

• the U.S. government was too powerful

• the U.S. didn't govern according to it's own ideals

• the U.S. wasn't trading enough with other countries

• there was no problem