The _____________ ______________ was the practice of awarding government jobs to friends and supporters.

____________ ____________ refers to the rights of states to exercise power independent of the federal government.

4. In 1832, after Congress had passed a new law that lowered the Tariff of 1828 slightly, South Carolina passed the ___________ ___________, declaring the new tariff illegal and threatening to secede from the Union if challenged.

Following tradition, Andrew Jackson left office after two terms and was succeeded by his Vice President _______________ _____________ ______________.

When Martin Van Buren took office, as more and more banks failed, the nation fell into a deep economic panic known as the __________ ____ _________, the worst economic crisis that the nation had experienced, lasting about five years.

In 1840, the Whigs chose ___________ __________ ___________ of Ohio as their presidential candidate. Known as the hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe, the Whigs created an image of their candidate as a “man of the people.”

The ______________ _______________ was a huge area west of the Rocky Mountains that includes the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Wyoming, Montana, and western Canada.

An African American freed from slavery, _______________ _________________, was a fur trader who lived among the Crow Indians and discovered a mountain pass that became a major route to California.

A military officer, ___________ ___________ ____________, was commissioned by the United States government to lead expeditions through many areas across the West, from Wyoming to California.

The first Europeans and Americans who traveled to the Oregon Country were fur traders. Fur was so valuable that it was sometimes referred to as __________ ___________.

One of the most successful fur traders, ___________ ___________ ___________, started his first fur business in St. Louis, selling pelts collected in the American West and Canada to cities in the Northeast and Europe.

Beginning in 1843, wagon trains left every spring for Oregon Country following a route called the __________ __________ that began in Independence, Missouri and ran for 2,000 miles.

By the time that General Santa Anna reached San Antonio in 1836, the Texians had taken up positions in an old Spanish mission called the ____________.

In late 1821, empresario __________ __________ gathered 300 families and began settling in Texas under the terms of a land grant.

To grow California’s economy, newly independent Mexico took land from the missions and gave it to individuals. The landowners set up huge cattle ranches, called ranchos, and became ________________, or ranch operators.

William Becknell led some traders from Franklin, Missouri, up the Arkansas River and across the plains to New Mexico. This route became known as the __________ _________ __________.

At the ________ _______ __________ in 1836, the Texans caught their enemies by surprise, won the battle, and captured General Santa Anna, forcing him to sign a treaty granting Texas independence.

People of Mexican descent born in Texas (Tejas) were called __________.

The ____________ belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which was founded by Joseph Smith in 1830 in upstate New York.

The Mexican-American War officially ended in 1848 when the United States and Mexico signed the __________ _______ ______________, which required Mexico to cede, or give up, all of the territories of Alta California and New Mexico to the United States.

In the 1840s, an editor named John L. O’Sullivan created the term __________ __________, which meant that the United States had the right to spread across the continent of North America.

In the 1844 election, Americans showed their support for westward expansion by electing ________ ________ __________ president.

More than 80,000 people from the United States, Europe, China, Australia, and South America caught “gold fever” and made the journey to California in 1849. They became known as the _________________, a nickname created in reference to the year that they arrived.

Rebels in California declared California an independent republic on June 14, 1846 and nicknamed their new nation the __________ __________ __________.