Chapter+17+Reading+Objectives

__**After reading this chapter, you should be able to:**__ 1. Explain the spirit and meaning of Manifest Destiny that inspired American expansionism in the 1840s. (pg. 396-8) 2. Outline the major conflicts between Britain and the United States over debts, Maine, Canada, Texas, Oregon, and growing British hostility to slavery. (pg. 398-400) 3. Explain why the US government increasingly saw the independent Texas Republic as a threat and sought to pursue annexation. (pg. 400-1) 4. Indicate how the issues of Oregon and Texas became central in the election of 1844 and why Polk’s victory was seen as a mandate for Manifest Destiny. (pg. 401-4) 5. Explain how President Polk’s goals for his administration, especially the acquisition of California led to the Texas boundary crisis and war with Mexico. (pg. 404-7) 6. Describe how the dramatic American victory in the Mexican War led to the breathtaking territorial acquisition of the whole Southwest. (pg. 407-11) 7. Describe the consequences of the Mexican War, and especially how the Mexican territorial acquisitions explosively opened the slavery question. (pg. 411-4)