MICDS US History

Read Born Modern: An Overview of the West by Richard White.  The article can be found on the HistoryNOW.org website and is linked on the unit IV primary/secondary sources.  Click here for a direct link to the article.  Make sure that you can identify the thesis statement and evidence that White offers.

Read Mintz's Westward Expansion Module: The Texas Question, The Mexican War, The War's Significance, & The Gold Rush pages.  What did Texas decide to do immediately after declaring independence, and why was that controversial?  What were the reasons given by American critics of the Mexican War, and what were the significances of the war?  What city was most heavily affected by the Gold Rush?

Read Mintz's Westward Expansion Module: Opening the West, Pathfinders, Go West, Life on the Trail, & Manifest Destiny pages.  Why did Americans begin to move west in the 1820s, 1830s, & 1840s?  How did the process of travelling West change Americans?  What was the idea behind Manifest Destiny, and what does the term mean?

Read the Monroe Doctrine (http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=23).  What are the four main principles or points that James Monroe makes in this speech?

Read Mintz's Jeffersonian Era Module: Louisiana Purchase & Second War of Independence pages + Jacksonian Era Module: Indian Removal.  What event in Haiti influenced the Louisiana Purchase, and how?  What was America's "Second War of Independence," and what were some of the reasons Americans wanted to go to war?  What were the two conflicting policies towards Indians (from Jefferson to Jackson's presidencies), and what was the Trail of Tears?