1. Identify the thesis or theme in this chapter.

2. How did the U.S. use the Texas-Mexico border dispute to its advantage?

3. Explain the term "Manifest Destiny" and its implications on U.S. foreign policy
    in the 1840s.

4. Explain the Whig position vis-à-vis the Mexican War.

5. How does Zinn portray Abraham Lincoln’s position?

6. How does the U.S. philosophically justify its aggression?

7. What evidence does Zinn utilize to illustrate American opposition to the
    Mexican War?

8. How does Zinn use the ethnic composition of the U.S. army to reinforce his
    argument?

9. How does Zinn characterize the morale of U.S. soldiers after the initial stages
    of the conflict? Provide evidence cited throughout the chapter for why soldiers
    came to feel the way they did.

10. Explain the statement: "It was a war of the American elite against the
    Mexican elite, each side exhorting, using, killing its own population as well
    as the other."

11. Provide evidence of how the Mexican population was affected by the war.

12. How did veterans fare economically after they came home from the war?

13. Discuss how Zinn uses the phrase "We take nothing by conquest, thank God"
     to buttress his argument.