14.4 Spanning a Continent pp. 462-467

Objectives: Investigate why Mormons settled in what is now Utah. Explain how California’s population boomed in 1849.

Review: 1. What region included the present-day states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Wyoming, Montana, and Canada? 2. The rough-and-tumble explorers who trapped furs in the Oregon Country were called __________________ ______________. 3. Define rendezvous— 4. Name the African American mountain man who discovered a pass through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 5. The _______________ _______________, which linked Independence, Missouri, with the Oregon Country, became a major highway across the country. 6. Define annex— 7. What was James K. Polk’s campaign slogan in 1844? 8. What parallel (latitude line) was finally accepted as the dividing line in the Oregon Country between the U.S. and British Canada?

Review: 9. Define Tejanos— 10. Define empresarios— 11. Who carried out his father’s plan for organizing a colony in Texas? 12. List three things American colonists had to agree to before moving into Texas. 13. Who was the new head of the Mexican government? 14. What is considered the first battle in the Texas war for independence? 15. Where did fewer than 200 Texans hold off a massive Mexican army for nearly two weeks before being defeated and annihilated? 16. List three famous defenders at the Alamo. 17. Where were hundreds of Texas prisoners massacred? 18. Where did the intense final battle of the Texas war for independence occur? 19. Who was elected president of the Republic of Texas?

Review: 20. Define manifest destiny— 21. In what year did Texas become a state? 22. Which river did the U.S. consider to be its border with Mexico? 23. Which river did Mexico regard as the border? 24. Why did some Congressmen vote against war with Mexico? 25. Where did Mexican forces make a heroic last stand before U.S. troops took over Mexico City? 26. Independent California was known as the _________________ _______________ Republic. 27. Name the treaty that officially ended the Mexican War. 28. For how much money did the U.S. acquire California and New Mexico from Mexico? 29. What has the territory acquired from Mexico become known as? 30. What 1853 land acquisition completed the border between the U.S. and Mexico?

A. The Mormons (pp. 462-463) Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are known as Mormons. The founder of the Mormon religion was Joseph Smith. Smith believed that property should be held in common. He also supported polygamy, or plural wives (the church ended this practice in 1890).

B. Journey into the Desert (p. 463) Harassed by neighbors suspicious of their beliefs, the Mormons moved from New York to Ohio to Missouri and then to Illinois. In 1844 a mob attacked and killed Smith. His successor, Brigham Young, decided to lead the Mormons to shelter in the Far West. Eventually more than 15,000 people made the difficult journey following Young to the Utah Territory.

C. Salt Lake City (p. 463) During the 1850s the Mormons built 1,043 miles of canals and irrigated 154,000 acres of formerly dry, arid land. In 1850 Congress recognized Young as the governor of the Utah Territory. By 1860 about 30,000 Mormons lived in Salt Lake City and more than 90 other towns in present-day Utah.

D. Rushing to California (p. 464) In 1848 gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in northern California. The gold seekers who stampeded to California became known as the forty-niners, for the year, 1849, in which many of them came. In 1849 alone, more than 80,000 people crossed the continent in order to seek their fortune in gold.

E. Life in the Mining Towns (p. 464-465) Mining Towns were built almost overnight. Mining towns had no police or prisons, so robbers posed a real threat to gold prospectors, or miners. Townspeople who took the law into their own hands—without judge or jury—were called vigilantes.

F. Dreams of Freedom (pp. 465-466) California’s population grew so rapidly that it was admitted into the Union as a free state in 1850. Lured by tales of gold and quick fortunes, thousands of Chinese poured into California from 1849 to 1851. Alarmed at the rising tide of Asian immigration, lawmakers passed legislation forcing the Chinese miners to pay a heavy tax or quit mining.

Review: Who was the founder of the Mormons? List two controversial Mormon beliefs. Who moved the Mormons to Utah? What was discovered at Sutter’s Mill? What were the gold seekers who stampeded to California known as? When did California become a state?