Ch 8: Manifest Destiny & American Expansion: Help and Review
About This Chapter
Who's it for?
Anyone who needs help understanding middle school U.S. history material will benefit from taking this course. You will be able to grasp the subject matter faster, retain critical knowledge longer and earn better grades. You're in the right place if you:
- Have fallen behind in understanding the Mexican-American War or the Texas annexation problem.
- Need an efficient way to learn about Manifest Destiny and American expansion.
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- Struggle with learning disabilities or learning differences, including autism and ADHD.
- Experience difficulty understanding your teachers.
- Missed class time and need to catch up.
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- Start at the beginning, or identify the topics that you need help with.
- Watch and learn from fun videos, reviewing as needed.
- Refer to the video transcripts to reinforce your learning.
- Test your understanding of each lesson with short quizzes.
- Submit questions to one of our instructors for personalized support if you need extra help.
- Verify you're ready by completing the Manifest Destiny and American Expansion chapter exam.
Why it works:
- Study Efficiently: Skip what you know, review what you don't.
- Retain What You Learn: Engaging animations and real-life examples make topics easy to grasp.
- Be Ready on Test Day: Use the Manifest Destiny and American Expansion chapter exam to be prepared.
- Get Extra Support: Ask our subject-matter experts any relevant question. They're here to help!
- Study With Flexibility: Watch videos on any web-ready device.
Students will review:
In this chapter, you'll learn the answers to questions including:
- What was the relationship between westward migration and Manifest Destiny?
- Why did it take so long to annex Texas into the United States?
- What were some of President Polk's key accomplishments?
- How did the Mexican-American War start?
- How did the California gold rush affect the presidency of Zachary Taylor?
- What were the end results of President Fillmore's Compromise of 1850?
- Why did Americans dislike President Pierce's economic and political policies?
1. The Oregon Trail: Westward Migration to the Pacific Ocean
Throughout the first half of the 19th century, the United States expanded its borders all the way to the Pacific Ocean, fulfilling its manifest destiny. Find out about the reasons people wanted this land, the path that took them there and the politicians who supported it all.
2. Manifest Destiny's Texas Annexation Problem
Find out why it took five presidents (Jackson, Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler and Polk) to get Texas annexed into the U.S. and added as a state during the era of Manifest Destiny.
3. President John Tyler: American Expansion and Sectional Concerns
In the presidential election of 1840, 'Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too!' prevailed. But with President Harrison's death just a month later, Vice President John Tyler took the oath of office. Was 'His Accidency' really as bad a president as some critics suggest?
4. President James K. Polk's Accomplishments in the Lower 48 States
President James Polk may be obscure, but he wasn't insignificant. Learn about his controversial territorial acquisitions that define most of what Americans today call the 'Lower 48' states.
5. The Mexican-American War, Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo & the Wilmot Proviso
The controversial Mexican-American War lasted from 1846-1848. In this lesson, discover how the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo expanded the southern part of the United States all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
6. Election of 1848 and the California Gold Rush
General Zachary Taylor was elected president in 1848, hoping to see the peaceful addition of land from the Mexican cession. 'Old Rough and Ready' wasn't prepared for the California gold rush.
7. President Fillmore and the Compromise of 1850
Following President Zachary Taylor's death, Millard Fillmore took office. He supported the Compromise of 1850 that added new states from the Mexican cession and attempted to resolve long-standing controversies over slavery.
8. President Franklin Pierce's Politics and Economics
In the wake of the Compromise of 1850, President Franklin Pierce pursued an aggressive agenda of expansion. In this lesson, find out why it inflamed sectional tensions, and why he wasn't re-nominated for a second term.
9. Who Was Crazy Horse? - History & Explanation
Many Indian Chiefs were great warriors that earned the respect of their people and of white Europeans. The Oglala Sioux Tribe had a leader whose name would become infamous. Learn here about Chief Crazy Horse.
10. The Annexation of Puerto Rico in 1898
As a strategic move during the Spanish-American War, American forces invaded the island of Puerto Rico. When the war ended, The Treaty of Paris recognized Puerto Rico as an American territory.
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Other Chapters
Other chapters within the Middle School US History: Help and Review course
- First Contacts in the Americas: Help and Review
- Settling North America & the Colonies: Help and Review
- The Revolutionary War: Help and Review
- The Making of a Nation after the American Revolution: Help and Review
- Virginia Dynasty: Help and Review
- The Jacksonian Democracy: Help and Review
- Everyday Life in Antebellum America: Help and Review
- Buildup to the American Civil War: Help and Review
- The American Civil War: Help and Review
- After the Civil War - Reconstruction: Help and Review
- American Industrialization of the Late 19th Century: Help and Review
- The Progressive Era of the Early 20th Century: Help and Review
- American Imperialism & World War l: Help and Review
- 1920s America: Help and Review
- America and the Great Depression: Help and Review
- America and the Second World War: Help and Review
- Post-War and the Cold War: Help and Review
- Civil Rights Movements in America: Help and Review
- America in the 1970s: Help and Review
- America in the 1980s: Help and Review
- America from 1992 to the Present: Help and Review
