Mexican–American War

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

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Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/mexicanamerican-war

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the war duration?April 25, 1846 – February 2, 1848
2. What is the primary theater of operations?Mexican territory, including Alta California, Nuevo México, and northeastern Mexico
3. What was the Mexican–American War and when did it happen?The Mexican–American War was a fight between the United States and Mexico that lasted from 1846 to 1848. It happened because both countries disagreed about land borders and how the United States wanted to grow.
4. Why did the United States want to annex Texas?The United States wanted Texas because many settlers from the U.S. lived there and the country wanted to keep expanding westward. Politicians were worried that adding Texas would upset the balance between free and slave states.

Manifest Destiny: The 19th-century doctrine that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable.
Sectionalism: Loyalty to one's own region or section of the country, rather than to the country as a whole, particularly concerning the issue of slavery.
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: The peace treaty that ended the Mexican–American War, establishing the Rio Grande as the Texas border and ceding vast territories to the U.S.
Wilmot Proviso: A proposed amendment to a bill that would have banned slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico, sparking intense debate.