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Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Days 129 & 130: Mexican American War & Gold Rush

March 5 & 6, 2012     Day 129 + 130

LA Book: 2 pages

Math Books: 4 pages

Reading: Finish Soft Rain  *Book Report to come later this week.

Mexican American War 3 x 6 & Web Quest

3 Vocabulary

1.  Annexation: To join or add, especially something large, to add territory by conquest or occupation

2. Cessation: A ceasing or stopping; discontinuance

3. Rio Grande: A river in North America south west to the Gulf of Mexico


3 Sentences

1.       The Mexican American War was during the wake of the 1845 annexation of Texas, which was considered part of its territory despite the Texas Revolution 1846.

2. After the Americans occupied parts of New Mexico and California they tried to invade parts of Northwest Mexico and Northeastern Mexico, this turned into a battle which the Americans won but the Mexicans would still not agree to the cessation of its northern territories.

3. The Mexicans accepted the border line of each country to be the Rio Grande River, just west of the flowing into the Gulf of Mexico.

3 Facts & Details

1. Zachary Taylor led the American army during the Mexican American War, his nickname was “rough and ready”

2. The Mexicans surrendered the war on March 27, 1848

3. At first James Polk offered 30,000,000 dollars to Mexico for its northern territories, Mexico declined



3 Questions

1. How much money did Pres. Polk offer Mexico for the Rio Grande border and all land north? A: 30,000

2. How much land was added to the United States as a result of the Mex. American War? A: More than 500,000 square miles

3. How is Henry David Thoreau connected to the Mexican American War? A: Henry David Thoreau was told to pay six years of taxes and then refused because of his opposition of the Mexican Americans war and slavery


3 Images (or more if you want)





3 People

1. President James Polk: President at the time of the Mexican American War, offered 30,000,000 dollars to Mexico for its land, supported the war

2.  John Slidell: Louisiana Lawyer, and naval officer, sent to Mexico by Polk to negotiate the Rio Grande border issue

3. George McClellan, Ulysses S. Grant, and Robert E. Lee:  Soldiers of the Mexican American War


BONUS: What did you learn about President Zachary Taylor? And how is he related to the Mexican American War?

Zachary Taylor was a Mexican American War hero; he helped win 500,000 square miles of land from Mexico. Taylor also stood up for his political beliefs against slavery. Taylor was against the Missouri Compromise and thought that California should be a free state, many people believed that as well, although many other people did not.


Gold Rush 3 x 6 & WebQuest  

3 Vocabulary

1. “Forty-niners”: A prospector who went to California in 1849 searching for gold

2. Panning: A form of placer mining that extracts gold from a placer deposit using a pan

3. Boomtown: A community that experiences a sudden or rapid increase in population, The California Gold Rush is a very famous example of a boomtown creation


3 Sentences

1. Not all of the forty-niners seeking gold in the Western United States were American. In fact about half of them came from countries all over the world including, Mexico, France, Turkey, China, Germany, and Australia.

2. At first, the gold could be picked up off of the ground, but later the gold had to be recovered from the streams using simple techniques such as panning.

3. San Francisco went from a town with nearly 200 residents to a boomtown with more than 36,000 by 1852.

3 Facts & Details

1. Very few people actually made any money off of the gold they found.

2. In Gold Rush California success followed a willingness to try and fail and try and fail and these people believed that getting gold wasn’t by the help of God, but by luck

3. Samuel Brannon made more money than the gold rush miners selling thousands of shovels and pans


3 Questions

1. What year did the California Gold Rush start? A: 1849

2. Approximately how many people came to California in search of gold? Were they all Americans? A: over 300,000 people and about half of them were foreign

3. What happened to most of the people who rushed to California to find gold? A: they didn’t find any and just stayed there


3 Images (or more if you want)






3 People

1. James W. Marshall: An American carpenter and sawmill operator who struck gold in 1848 setting the stage for the California Gold Rush

2. John Sutter: The man with a dream of starting a new city in California but his dream was ruined by the discovery of gold

3. Samuel Brannan: A San Francisco merchant who made more money than any of the prospectors of the California Gold Rush just by selling pans and shovels

Summary: Amanda Goes West

Link to book
Amanda, set off for Texas on her 14th birthday with her family. She didn’t like the journey but she enjoyed the destination. She met a young boy named Andrew and her neighbor Samantha and they all became good friends. There are two more Amanda books that I will read about her life as a young 19th century American woman soon. I really like this book because I get to learn Amanda’s story and dress her up in these beautiful dresses.

1 comment:

  1. In Montana, the city of Butte experienced a "Copper Rush' that made it the largest city west of the Mississippi river. Once the copper was mined out, a few years later, there was a "Silver Rush" and then a "Gold Rush." Today with the price of copper so high, they are going back into the old mines again.

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