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AP U.S. History Videos 294 videos

AP U.S. History Exam 2.45
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AP U.S. History Exam 2.45. The journey shown on the map was an example of...what?

AP U.S. History Exam 2.26
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AP U.S. History Exam 2.26. This speech reinforced a shift in the focus of the war that Lincoln established by...what?

AP U.S. History Exam 1.2
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What did the Spanish messengers bring with them to North America? Hint: you probably wouldn't be thrilled to get this for your next birthday. 

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AP U.S. History Exam 1.21 177 Views


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Description:

AP U.S. History Exam 1.21. By the time of the above map's creation in 1856, the political issue that dominated national conversation was...what?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:00

[ musical flourish ]

00:03

And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by Manifest Destiny,

00:07

a sea captain's guide to understanding what the future holds.

00:11

Yeah.

00:16

All right. By the time of the above map's

00:17

creation in 1856,

00:20

the political issue that dominated national

00:22

conversation was... what?

00:25

And here are your potential answers.

00:27

[ mumbles ]

00:31

All right.

00:32

Well, by 1856, the U.S. had finally

00:35

expanded from sea to shining sea, achieving its goal of

00:38

Manifest Destiny.

00:39

Yeah. Coast to coast.

00:40

Let's see which answer best describes

00:42

the political cost of that territorial shopping spree.

00:46

Well, in 1856, was the

00:48

political issue dominating the national conversation

00:51

A - the acquisition of more land in Mexican territory?

00:56

Well, by that point, we'd already acquired most of the American West

00:58

and Southwest from Mexico.

01:00

Talk about landing in a pretty good spot.

01:02

Yeah. Cross out A.

01:04

Was the national political conversation dominated by B -

01:06

the aid and protection of Latin American countries?

01:09

Well, in 1856, the U.S. was pretty tied up with issues here at home,

01:13

so any kind of foreign involvement was pretty out there.

01:16

So that puts the kibosh on B and D.

01:18

Which means that in 1856,

01:20

the political issue dominating the national conversation was

01:23

C - the spread of slavery into newly acquired territories.

01:27

Achieving its "destiny" left the United States

01:30

in a bit of a pickle when it came to slavery,

01:32

since almost everyone had an opinion about whether new states

01:35

should be admitted as slave or free.

01:38

So C is the right answer.

01:39

Of course, this disagreement led to the Civil War

01:42

only four years later. Because if you don't like

01:45

what they're saying,

01:46

well, you just violently change the conversation, right?

01:50

[ smack ]

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