Title: Reading Check 3: War, Slavery, and Gold
Course: The American West: Power, Place, and Memory > Section: Week 5 · September 21–25, 2026: Manifest Destiny, War, Slavery, and Gold

Q: Which development most directly connected western expansion to sectional conflict?
- Slavery debates in acquired territories
- Telegraph invention by itself
- Declining trade with Atlantic ports
- The disappearance of political parties
A: Slavery debates in acquired territories

Q: A strong interpretation of Manifest Destiny should treat it as what?
- A neutral geographic description
- An ideology justifying expansion
- A belief shared by every resident
- A phrase invented after 1900
A: An ideology justifying expansion

Q: What did the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo do?
- It created the Louisiana Purchase
- It ended the U.S.–Mexico War
- It ended the American Civil War
- It abolished slavery throughout the nation
A: It ended the U.S.–Mexico War

Q: Name one piece of evidence from this unit and explain how its creator, audience, or collection context affects how a historian may use it.

Q: Make a one-sentence claim answering this unit question: Was U.S. continental expansion a national project, a sectional crisis, an imperial war—or all three? Then identify one limitation, uncertainty, or counterexample that keeps the claim from becoming too broad.