History Quiz 8
Explore American History: The Polk Era and Beyond
Test your knowledge of American history with a focus on the significant events and figures during the Polk administration and the events leading up to the U.S.-Mexican War. This quiz covers various topics, including territorial expansion and the impact of policies on Native American tribes.
- 25 thought-provoking questions
- Multiple choice format
- Perfect for history buffs and students alike
Why was James K. Polk interested in aquiring California after his election in 1844?
Because Russia wanted it, too.
Because of the two natural harbors in San Francisco and San Diego.
Because of its fisheries.
Because of gold in California.
Professor O'Neil's "Indian" name as a child was
Little Red Feather
Geronimo
Vision of Four Eyes
Bear Claw Master
Led by John C Fremont, a group of American settlers near Sacramento launched a revolt against Mexico; and in June 1846 they proclaimed California an independent republic. This action was the
"second Alamo."
"Bear Flag Revolt."
Golden State Secession.
Opening shot of the U.S.-Mexican War.
Which of the following ideas was Manifest Destiny NOT based on?
Anglo-Saxon racial superiority justified American absorption of inferior peoples and their lands.
Conquest of new territory would prove American military superiority.
America had a specially ordained mission in the world.
New lands would extend the domain of free government and free enterprise.
Chief John Ross was
Cavalry hero of the US-Mexican War
An American naval commander
Guide to Lewis and Clark
Assimilated leader of the Cherokee, forced to walk "trail of tears"
Identify the author of the following primary source quote: "The presence of United States troops on the edge of the disputed territory furthest from the Mexican settlements, was not sufficient to provoke hostilities. We were sent to provoke a fight, but it was essential that Mexico should commence it . . . To this day I regard the war which resulted as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation. It was an instance of a republic following the bad example of European monarchies, in not considering justice in their desire to acquire additional territory."
Ulysses S Grant Memoirs (1885)
Chief John Ross
Andrew Jackson (1830)
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The "Five Civilized Tribes" of the Southeast included all of the following EXCEPT the:
Cherokee
Chickasaw
Creek
Sioux
By the middle of the 1830s, the number of American immigrants into Texas
Began to decline.
Still only numbered in the hundreds.
Only gradually grew through reproduction.
Outnumbered the Mexican Tejano population there by ten times.
The U.S.-Mexican War began when
The U.S. annexed Texas in 1845.
John Fremont annouced the "Bear Flag Republic"
Mexico expelled an American diplomat.
American and Mexican forces clashed over disputed border territory in southern Texas between the Nueces and Rio Grande rivers.
Why did President Polk order General Zachary Taylor across the Nueces to the banks of the Rio Grande in 1846?
To protect cotton planters there
To secure water for the horses in his cavalry
To rescue an American explorer
to provoke a Mexican attack, allowing him to launch a full war against Mexico
Identify the author of the following primary source quote: "[It is] our manifest destiny to overspread and possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federated self-government entrusted to us."
Andrew Jackson (1832)
Ulysses S Grant Memoirs (1885)
John L. O'Sullivan (1845)
Chief John Ross
In Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831), Chief Justice John Marshall recognized Indians as
Aliens
Slaves
Foreigners requiring visas
Domestic dependent nations
Indian guide who served and Lewis and Clark’s translator and adviser:
Dona Marina
Sacagawea
Chief John Ross
Squanto
Texas was annexed by the United States in
1845
1836
1865
1821
Critics of the US-Mexico War of 1846-48 included
Abolitionists
Henry David Thoreau
All of these
Abraham Lincoln
Identify the author of the following primary source quote: "And is it supposed that the wandering savage has a stronger attachment to his home than the settled, civilized Christian? Is it more afflicting to him to leave the graves of his fathers than it is to our brothers and children? Rightly considered, the policy of the General Government toward the red man is not only liberal, but generous. He is unwilling to submit to the laws of the States and mingle with their population. To save him from this alternative, or perhaps utter annihilation, the General Government kindly offers him a new home, and proposes to pay the whole expense of his removal and settlement."
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Ulysses S Grant Memoirs (1885)
Andrew Jackson (1830)
Chief John Ross
When did Mexico concede defeat in the Mexican-American War?
When Zachary Taylor crossed the Rio Grande
When General Winfield Scott captured Mexico City in September 1847
when John C. Fremont claimed California in 1846
when Dennis Kearny secured Southern California
Identify the author of the following primary source quote: "Mexicans now established in territories previously belonging to Mexico, shall be free to continue where they now reside, or to remove, at any time, to the Mexican republic . . . In said territories, property of every kind, now belonging to Mexicans shall be inviolably respected."
Andrew Jackson (1830)
Ulysses S Grant Memoirs (1885)
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Chief John Ross
By the mid-1820s, Americans had established direct links with which Mexican province?
New Mexico
All of these answers are correct.
California
Texas
What city experienced explosive growth as a result of the gold rush in California?
San Francisco
Saint Louis
Salt Lake City
Sacramento
Identify the author of the following primary source quote: "John Marshall has made his decision [in the Worcester v. Georgia case], now let him enforce it."
John L. O'Sullivan (1845)
Chief John Ross
Ulysses S Grant Memoirs (1885)
Andrew Jackson (1832)
Mexico abolished slavery in
1821
1829
1845
1865
Had it passed, the Wilmot Proviso would have
Given legal sanction to the doctrine of popular sovereignty.
Divided Texas into five slave states.
Extended the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific.
Prohibited slavery in any territory won from Mexico.
When Sam Houston assumed office as the president of the new republic of Texas in October 1836, he expected
To see Texas quickly annexed by the United States.
To grow Texas westward into Arizona.
To stay in power for life.
To win reelection in four years.
Which of the following is true about American settlers in Mexico's northern province of Texas in the 1820s-1830s?
They wanted to escape the cotton trade.
They intended to spread the cotton culture and buy slaves for their new cotton plantations.
They mostly came from overcrowded New England.
They relied on the help of Mexicans to turn their farms productive.
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