the belief that the United States could and should expand across the continent
dispute
to fight with words; to argue
pass
a break or opening that makes it easier to travel across a mountain range
Continental Divide
a stretch of high land along the Rocky Mountains that separates streams and rivers that flow east from those that flow west
forty-niner
a person who went to look for gold in California in 1849
boomtown
a town offering many chances to make money and filled with people just arriving
free state
a state that did not allow slavery
slave state
a state that permitted slavery
Union
another word for the United States; the states that remained united under the Constitution during the Civil War
secede
for a state to break away from the rest of the country
Confederate
having to do with the states that fought against the Union during the Civil War
Stephen Austin
American settler in Texas
Santa Anna
Mexican president and general defeated at San Jacinto
Sam Houston
leader of Texas troups against Mexicans, later president of Texas
Brigham Young
Mormon leader; settled in Utah
James K. Polk
president during the Texas annexation
missionary
someone who travels to a foreign country to do religious work
Henry Clay
proposed the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850
Jefferson Davis
president of the confederacy during the civil war
Mexican War
because of the war, Mexico lost almost half its territory to the United States
Dred Scott
enslaved African who sued for his freedom after living in a free state. His case made it to the Supreme Court, which said enslaved people were not citizens but property.
John Brown
abolitionist who led a rebellion at Harpers Ferry, supported by Northerners in his cause.
