In 1803 the United States doubled its size by purchasing the Louisiana Territory from France for about $15 million.
Missing Word
Louisiana
The Louisiana Territory, bought from Napoleon's France in 1803, stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. It was the first great step in the nation's westward expansion.
Category: Louisiana Purchase
Question 2
In May 1804 the Corps of Discovery set out from near St. Louis by boat up the Missouri River, the route that led toward the Rocky Mountains.
Missing Word
Missouri
The Missouri River runs from the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi near St. Louis. Lewis and Clark followed it upstream across the plains before crossing the mountains.
Category: Lewis and Clark
Question 3
President Thomas Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis west in part to expand trade and strengthen American claims in the newly purchased lands.
Missing Word
Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson organized the expedition after the Louisiana Purchase, also asking it to record the region's geography, plants, animals and Native peoples.
Category: Lewis and Clark
Question 4
The 1848 discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill set off a rush of migrants from around the world to California, the Pacific coast region newly taken from Mexico.
Missing Word
California
Gold was found at Sutter's Mill in January 1848, just before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo transferred the region to the United States. The Gold Rush that followed brought rapid population growth, including many immigrants from China, and led to statehood in 1850.
Category: California Gold Rush
Question 5
Andrew Jackson's 1818 invasion of Spanish Florida is known as part of the First Seminole War, named for the Native nation he pursued there.
Missing Word
Seminole
The Seminole of Florida resisted American raids and sheltered self-emancipated enslaved people. Jackson's campaign against them exposed Spain's weakness and led to the cession of Florida.
Category: Florida and Spain
Question 6
Americans who led private armed expeditions to seize land in Texas, Central America or the Caribbean were called filibusters, a word now also used for a Senate delaying tactic.
Missing Word
filibusters
Filibusters were private adventurers who invaded foreign territory without government approval, hoping to seize land for themselves or for the United States. The same word later came to mean a long speech used to block a Senate vote.
Category: Florida and Spain
Question 7
Spain and then Mexico granted large tracts of Texas land to agents known by the Spanish title empresarios, who in return recruited and settled colonists.
Missing Word
empresarios
Empresarios were colonization agents who received land grants in exchange for bringing settlers. Stephen F. Austin was the most famous of them.
Category: Texas Independence
Question 8
Texas residents of Mexican descent, some of whom fought beside Anglo-American settlers for independence in 1836, were known by the regional term Tejanos.
Missing Word
Tejanos
Tejanos were the Mexican residents of Texas. Some wealthy Tejanos supported independence in 1836, but after independence many lost land and status to Anglo-American newcomers.
Category: Texas Independence
Question 9
Mexican law required American settlers in Texas to join the Roman Catholic Church, though most of them remained Protestant in practice.
Missing Word
Catholic
Mexico made Roman Catholicism the official religion and barred other public worship. Protestant settlers' resentment of this rule was one source of tension before the revolution.
Category: Texas Independence
Question 10
Sam Houston commanded the Texan army that defeated Santa Anna and was elected president of the Republic of Texas in 1836.
Missing Word
Houston
Sam Houston led the surprise attack at San Jacinto that captured Santa Anna, then became the first elected president of the Lone Star Republic.
Category: Texas Independence
Question 11
In 1846 President James K. Polk sent troops into the land Mexico claimed north of the Rio Grande, and the clash that followed led to war.
Missing Word
Polk
James K. Polk, a Tennessee Democrat, won the 1844 election as an expansionist and took office in March 1845, days after President John Tyler signed the joint resolution annexing Texas. After Mexico refused to sell its northern lands, Polk ordered troops into the disputed strip, and when fighting broke out there he asked Congress to declare war.
Category: Mexican-American War
Question 12
The slogan "Fifty-four forty or fight!" referred to a claimed northern boundary of the Oregon Country, which Britain and the United States divided at the 49th parallel in 1846.
Missing Word
Oregon
The Oregon Country was the Pacific Northwest region jointly occupied by Britain and the United States. Polk accepted a compromise boundary at the 49th parallel rather than fight for 54°40′.
Category: Mexican-American War
Question 13
General Zachary Taylor, who became a national hero through victories in northern Mexico such as Buena Vista, was elected president in 1848.
Missing Word
Taylor
Zachary Taylor led the American army in northern Mexico, winning battles at Palo Alto, Monterrey and Buena Vista, and his fame made him the Whig candidate and winner of the 1848 presidential election.
Category: Mexican-American War
Question 14
General Winfield Scott landed at Veracruz in March 1847 and captured Mexico City that September.
Missing Word
Scott
Winfield Scott commanded the invasion of central Mexico. His capture of Mexico City forced Mexico to negotiate the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
Category: Mexican-American War
Question 15
Kentucky senator Henry Clay proposed the package of measures that became the Compromise of 1850.
Missing Word
Clay
Henry Clay, known as the Great Compromiser, had also helped craft the Missouri Compromise. His 1850 proposals were passed as separate bills after his omnibus bill failed.
Category: Slavery in the West