Lesson 6.2 Mexican-American War & 6.3 The Nation Expands

Spent 40 years in the army, much of it defending the frontier against Indians. He also won major victories in the Mexican War. Became the twelfth U.S. president in 1849, but he died early in his second year in office.

• James K. Polk

• Zachary Taylor

• John Tyler

• William H. Harrison

Led American emigrants to settle east of San Antonio, founding the town of Austin.

• Franklin Pierce

• Sam Houston

• Stephen F. Austin

• Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

A charismatic but ruthless general who seized power in Mexico City. He favored a centralized authoritarian government dominated by the military.

• Winfield Scott

• Sam Houston

• Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

• Stephen F. Austin

Received exceptional support from junior officers, including Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman. Captured Mexico City in September 1847 ending the Mexican-American War.

• John C. Fremont

• Winfield Scott

• Fredrick Douglas

• Andrew Jackson

A Jacksonian Democrat and an enslaver, he devoutly believed in Manifest Destiny. From Tennessee and had a vision of expansion.

• James K. Polk

• Henry Clay

• Andrew Jackson

• Zachary Taylor

This treaty helped to make peace with the Americans and allowed the expansionists' goal of Manifest Destiny to be achieved. It forced Mexico to give up the northern third of their country and added 1.2 million square miles of territory to the United States.

• Treaty of Paris

• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

• Mexican Secession

• Gadsden Purchase

In 1853 the United States obtained from Mexico another 29,640 square miles in southern Arizona and New Mexico. This allowed the U.S. to complete construction on the railroad across the continent.

• Voir Dire

• Gadsden Purchase

• Missouri Compromise

• Mexican Cession

A proposed law that would ban slavery in any lands won from Mexico.

• Black Codes

• Jim Crow

• Wilmot Proviso

• Fugitive Slave Act

The style of mining where miners used cheap metal pans, picks and shovels to harvest gold flecks from the sand along the banks and bottoms of rivers and streams.

• Placer Mining

• Hydraulic Mining

• Fracking

• Strip Mining

Another method of mining that employed jets of water to erode gravel hills into long lines of sluices to catch the gold. This type of mining damaged the environment by leveling hills and clogging rivers with sediment.

• Placer Mining

• Hydraulic Mining

• Fracking

• Strip Mining