A.P. U.S. History (T and E) Vocab

Territorial and Economic Expansion, 1830-1860

1. Manifest destiny - term used by John L. O'Sullivan to express the popular belief that the US had a divine mission to extend its power and civilization across the breadth of North America; spurred by nationalism, population increase, rapid economic development, technological advances, and reform ideals

2. Texas - Mexican province America wanted

3. Stephen Austin - brought 300 families into Texas and began a steady migration of American settlers into the frontier territory; 1830, Americans outnumbered native Texans 3 to 1

4. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna - dictator of Mexico in 1834, abolished the federal system of government; insisted on enforcing Mexican laws in Texas

5. Sam Houston - led a group of American settlers in a revolt against Houston; declared Texas to be an independent republic in 1836

6. Alamo - Mexican army led by Anna attacked the Alamo in San Antonio, killing everyone; later, Anna was captured and forced to sign a treaty that recognized Texan independence and granted the new republic all the territory north of the Rio Grande.

7. John Tyler - (1841-1845) President, southern Whig who was worried about the growing influence of the Brits in TX; worked to annex Texas but the Senate rejected his treaty of annexation in 1844.

8. Aroostook War - "battle of the maps"; conflict between rival groups of lumbermen on the Maine-Canadian border.

9. Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842) - US Secretary of State Daniel Webster and British ambassador Lord Alexander Ashburton created a treaty splitting New Brunswick territory into Maine and British Canada; also settled boundary of the Minnesota territory (giving iron-rich Mesabi range to US)

10. Oregon territory - on Pacific Coast stretching as far north as the Alaskan border; claimed by Spain, Russia, GB and US.

11. "Fifty-four Forty...