Making My Way to CA
We ended up in California looking for beaver and otter furs.
What are trappers?
In what California city did the Bear Flag Revolt take place?
What is Sonoma?
This popular idea helped build Americans' interest in moving to CA. It was believed that God wanted the US to stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans.
What is Manifest Destiny?
This was the capital of Mexican California where John D. Sloat sailed into?
What is Monterey?
This is something that is true and can be proven by reliable sources such as an encyclopedia or a nonfiction book.
What is a fact?
We took some bad advice and were stranded in the Sierra Nevada in wintertime. As a result many of our members froze to death or died from hunger.
What is the Donner Party?
Before the overland routes were blazed by the trailblazers, most people traveled to California this way.
What is by ship?
I am a famous US Army officer and mapmaker who helped the rebels with the Bear Flag revolt.
Who is John Frémont?
We just stayed on the land without becoming Mexican citizens or permission from the government.
What were squatters?
This battle in what is now Compton, was won by the Californios.
What is the Battle of Dominguez Rancho?
This is the way someone feels about something. It might vary depending on who you ask. Example: Elephants are the important animals in the world.
What is an opinion?
This place provided tools, supplies, and jobs to those who were traveling to California through the Sierra Nevada.
What is Sutter's Fort?
This natural barrier made it really difficult to get to California by land.
What are the Sierra Nevadas?
I was a powerful and wealthy rancho owner who surrendered to the Bear Flaggers. To thank me, they arrested me! Not cool!
Who is Mariano Vallejo?
There are so many these immigrants that Mexico started to lose control over its land in California.
Who were the Americans?
Who was the US President who offered Mexico $40 million for what is now California, Arizona, and New Mexico.
Who was James K. Polk?
This is not true and has facts and/or events that are made up.
What is fiction?
We were put in jail because we came to California without permission. My dad died in jail, but I survive.
Who were James Ohio Pattie and Sylvester Pattie?
I am the famous trailblazer who led the first group of Americans overland into California.
Who is Jedediah Strong Smith?
US warships landed in Monterey shortly after the Bear Flag Revolt was won and the Bear Flag Republic was started.
Why didn't the Bear Flag Republic last a long time?
We aren't feeling welcomed here in Mexican California. We don't have many of the same ______ as the citizens here.
What are rights?
This treaty stopped the fighting in California, but did not end the Mexican-American War.
What was the Treaty of Cahuenga?
A diary entry or quote from someone present at an event is primary source and can be considered one of these as long as it doesn't state how that person feels about what was happening.
What is a fact?
With 69 of us starting in Missouri headed to California, we were one of the first expeditions to make it overland to CA.
What is the Bartleson-Bidwell expedition?
These "prairie schooners" were how Americans traveled west overland to Mexican California.
What are wagon trains or covered wagons?
This animal always stands its ground just like the rebels that fought for freedom.
What is the bear on the Bear Flag (and now the California State flag?
These were the reasons Mexico lost control of California.
What were the___
1. weak economy and government.
2. overly powerful rancho owners
3. too many American immigrants in California
4. The capital of Mexico was too far away to keep a close eye on what was going on in CA.
This is the treaty that ended the Mexican-American War and made California part of the US.
What is the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo?
A book like By the Great Horn Spoon which is based a real event and experiences is considered this because it includes dialogue and characters that are made up. The author was not present at the time of the events.
What is fiction?
The challenges faced by settlers heading overland to California.
What are:
1. long, difficult trip by wagon train
2. some maps were bad or unproven
3. the desert and Sierra Nevada were difficult to cross.
4. Hunger, disease, and harsh weather killed many people.