Topic 2.2 Western Expansion (1845-1853)

Background on Texas

• The Spanish settled Texas in the late 1600s

• Spanish had tried to use the mission system to settle the region (lots of interracial relations bc only men came) but it largely failed

• By 1800 there were only three Spanish settlements in Texas

• Bottom Line: In 1800 Texas is a region in the Spanish Colony of New Spain

Mexican War of Independence (1824)

• In 1824, colonists in New Spain fought a war against Spain for their independence

• The colonists won and Mexico was founded as a free and independent nation

Americans Move to Texas

• Hoping to increase the population of their new nation, Mexican officials looked to recruit new settlers (empresarios)

• They began offering free land to individuals who would build settlements in particularly underpopulated areas that had large Indian populations

• so long as the followed laws

  • The hope was to informally use the empresarios as a mediating force to protect the Mexicans from Indian incursions 

Stephen Austin

•  was one of the first Americans to take Mexico up on its offer. He established a large settlement of Americans in Texas. His goal was to grow and expand slavery.

  • Because Austin’s settlement was successful, more Americans began to move to the Texas region of Mexico

• = growth and expansion

Mexican ban 1830

By 1830 Mexican officials passed a law banning further American immigration to the nation (bc: they disregarded Mexian laws: Americans continued to practice slavery, refused to become Mexican citizens, refused to convert to Catholicism 

The Texas Revolution

Stephen Austin + Tehano people (tehano ppl leave bc they were being oppressed, but will end up being oppressed by texas)

• Tensions between American settlers, now calling themselves Texans, and the Mexican government worsened.

• These Texans decided they wanted to form their own independent nation and break off from Mexico

  • Heavily motivated by a desire to protect slavery

• In 1835 Texans went to war with Mexico for their independence

• By 1836, the Texans had defeated the Mexicans and they proclaimed a new nation: The Republic of Texas

  • The creation of the Republic of Texas is a dry run for Confederacy

President James K. Polk & The Annexation of Texas (1845)

• The Republic of Texas soon saw itself struggling amongst internal political                    strife and constant fear of Mexican invasion

• By the late 1830s Texas requested statehood from the United States

• After much political debate, in 1845 congress admitted Texas as a state

  • President James K. Polk saw annexation as an opportunity to:

    • Grow slavery

    • Expand American territory

  • He justifies this expansion however by “Manifest Destiny” -> white settlers are ordained by God to expand to the West to civilize the people who are living there, to better use natural resources (not slavery motivations)

    • Builds nationalism

    • Shuts down debate bc r u rly gonna argue w God

• In response, Mexico breaks off diplomatic relations with the United States

  • Perceive annexation as a theft of Mexican lands

The Lead-Up to the Mexican American War

• Spurred on by the annexation of Texas, President James Polk wanted to acquire the land from Texas to the Pacific Ocean—Land currently owned by Mexico but couldn’t argue that they were going to war just bc they wanted smt (ex: brining order to Florida vs going for land)

• He sent an envoy to Mexico discuss the sale of these regions

• The Mexican government refused to meet with the envoy bc they r mad abt annexation of Texas

Mexican American War

• 1846-1848: (false pre-tense to invoke self defense) -> President Polk ordered troops under the leadership of future President Zachary Taylor to stir up a skirmish in Mexico in order to justify declaring war on Mexico

• In a matter of months the Americans had defeated the Mexican troops

  • Americans call the war: “The Mexican American War

  • Mexicans call the war: “The War of the American Invasion”

American Reaction to the War

• Supporters

  • Saw the war as an exciting adventure (framing of war as a masculine experience boy->man becoming man)

    • Call for volunteer soldiers produced such a large response that some had to be turned away

  • Believed that war was an act of Manifest Destiny and an opportunity to spread liberty and democracy

• Opponents

  • Abolitionists argued that the war was being fought solely to expand slavery

  • Pacifists (anti-war) opposed the use of war as a means of acquiring territory

Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo 1848

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the war

• Required Mexico to turn over its Western possessions to the United States

  • how much land to demand was debated by war supporters:

    • All-Mexico Movement: Annex the entirety of Mexico

    • John C. Calhoun and others opposed annexing all Mexico bc too many non-whites (non-white Mexicans and Indians) into the US pop

• Promised US citizenship to those in annexed territories -> but takes away after cost of Cali goes way up in 1849 w/ gold

  • Gov states the power to decide citizenship policy: Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas banned all Mexicans from US citizenship, except white male Mexicans -> citizenship is v difficult

    • Wealthy farm Mexicans didn’t wanna leave but US gov took land thru disputes and ppl ultimately left

  • Indigenous peoples lost land rights and were forced onto reservations.

Wilmot-Proviso 1846 & 1848

• debated in Congress but not passed

  • Unsuccessful congressional proposal to ban slavery in territory acquired during the Mexican-American War

  • Would say that all states being brought in would be free

    • It passed the House on sectional lines: a generally anti-slavery North in favor and a pro-slavery South opposed

    • It failed in the Senate, where the South had greater representation. 

Aquisition of Oregon

1846: the United States and Britain settled the Oregon boundary dispute, establishing the 49th parallel as the border.

Gadsden Purchase

1853 buying little bit of mexico for $10 million to facilitate a southern transcontinental railroad → mexico

Shift due to gold

• Gold is discovered in 1849 in california and that changes everything: mining for gold isn’t conducive to farming, but is veryyy conducive to business (think mining businesses or trading the gold), getting northerners on board with western expansion

  • citizenship = hard to get and Native Americans forced off bc US wants land

Movements on what to do w/ new land

1. Religious Frontier

2. Agricultural Frontier

3. Mining Frontier

Western Settlement: Religious Frontier

• the Mormon pioneers -> in effort to avoid individualism of capitalism to preserve Mormonism

  • Desire to add more states is driven by expanding slave empire

  • Saw the west as a utopian society for a slave owner and are trying to promote that idea against the industrial and capitalist ppl in the north

  • Mormons were the same way: moved west to create a heaven on earth

    • The movement west is very much framed as a land of opportunity and new beginnings and still is

Mormonism → origins

• Mormonism (1820s) founded by Joseph Smith from ancient tablets he found in his backyard that an angel named Moroni led him to (questioned by many)

• Smith moves out to the middle of America to the less populous states (Nauvoo, IL) w/ group + tries to create a theoretically run community (faces criticism)

  • Smith decides to run for President = raises more questions about who he is and what he really wants

• 1844: angry mob kills Smith proving to the rest of the Mormons that they are being persecuted for their religious beliefs = belief they’re not safe in the US

• = Exodus West to mainly Utah, a Mormon utopia

  • Native Americans inhabit the land so there will be conflicts

American/US view of Mormonism

• skeptical of Mormonism especially bc of polygamy

• Mormons get labeled as primitive or backward

• US owns Utah but doesn’t have control = Mormons placed some of their religious restrictions on the non-Mormon people who lived there

• US lets Mormons apply for statehood (which benefits the Mormons for protection) only if they ban polygamy,

  • Mormons sue the US for in SCOTUS in violation of the 1st amendment and they lose

Significance of Mormonism SC case

• The US expects people to assimilate to US culture to be a part of the US

• The Mormon church bans polygamy

  • This causes the fundamentalists to break away because they realize the ban was politically motivated, not something from God

The Agricultural Frontier

Starts in the North after the Industrial Revolution (immigration ppl + North Americans pushed off land + price of beef went up)

• Fed govt said landowners can graze their cattle on government land

• Cowboys were the people who rode horses to herd the cattle

  • They were very racially diverse

  • Tended to be held by people who didn’t have the economic opportunity to do much else

  • It was an unsavory and dangerous job

• The cattle boom ended after about 20 years because of an oversupply of beef and the US started to let this land be privately owned

The Homestead Act 1862

fed gov program of public land grants to small farmers 

• Goal was for Americans to “improve” the land

• Previously opposed by republicans bc they dont want it to be for slavery -> so they wanna control who lives there (small farmers)

• This was during civil war so republicans can give their terms (bc only northern states/republicans were in Congress)

Terms of Homestead Act

• Louisiana Purchase land into 160 acre plots

• Must build house at 12x14 ft

• Farm for 5 yrs

• Pay a fee of $1.25/mo for 6 mos

  • Today: $36.85/mo or $221.20 tot (2022 dollars)

• Ineligible if you had taken up arms in US -> for confederacy ppl -> to prevent slavery

• In all 160 mil+ acres of land were given to homesteaders

Who took advantage of the Homestead Act

• White, Northern Farming Families:

  • threat of losing their farms to industrial development; to avoid going to work in the factories, many farming families took advantage of the program and moved West

• European Immigrants: Facing economic dislocation in their nations (ex: Irish potato famine) they sought to take advantage of the program

  • Primarily Irish, Scandinavians, and Germans

• Newly emancipated blacks (Called Exodusters)

  • escape the racist, segregated, and violent South = 40,000 blacks left the South for the West

  • Travel was often organized by black leaders who led groups of blacks West and helped to create all black farming communities, ex: Nicodemus, KS

Fine Print of Homestead

there are people alr on land -> white settlers have to push them off like Native Americans -> so gov doesnt initially have to get involved

• Whites want land for: farms, gold, and space to build railroads (needed to move people and products in and out of the West)

• = informal and formal conflicts between White Settlers and Native Americans

Informal Homestead Conflicts

• Clashes/Skirmish/Violent Conflicts between groups of Native Americans and groups of White settlers

• The creation of White militias who attack Native American communities in order to use violence to take Indigenous lands

  • Example: Sand Creek Massacre 1864

Sand Creek Massacre 1864

• Settlers had laid claim to Cheyenne and Arapaho land; to resist this taking these tribes began to raid and attack settlements

  • In response, unarmed Cheyenne and Arapaho are attacked by Colorado militia

Consequence/Significance of Sand Creek Massacre

• Created even more Indian resistance

• Led to more formalized military action: gov realizes that settlers can’t be responsible alone bc it is more gruesome, violent, and inhumane

• + Native Americans need somewhere to go bc we want ALL the land => so, American gov takes coordinated, state-sponsored action to drive Native Americans from their land

• Solutions = Reservation System + Indian Wars

Reservations System 1851

• Indians Appropriations Act (1851): US authorized the creation of Indian reservations in modern-day Oklahoma

  • executive orders followed to create more reservations through                                     the West and South West

• Reservations: owned and run by the U.S. government and strict policies of forcible assimilation

  • land not valuable to settlers = tribes r put together = holding pens

  • Not allowed to practice ANY of their culture: religion language, clothing, farming, way of life

• Indian Apropreation Act: -> optional at first and framed as a place of safety (cons: losing culture + ur land)

  • Many tribes ignored the relocation orders at first

Then: U.S. military was brought in to enforce the policy through war

Indian Wars

1860s-1890s -> facilitated by civil war (military alr large, trained, organized)

• Series of organized conflicts by the U.S. government using the U.S. military against Native American tribes to force Native Americans off of their land and onto reservations 

  • Ex: Battle of Little Bighorn 1876

Battle of Little Bighorn

1876: Gold is discovered in Sioux territory which was given by a treaty…white men try to take it -> gov refuses to protect Sioux right to territory

• Lakota Sioux send out their troops and so does the US Army under Colonel Custe

• 250 soldiers vs. 2,000 Indians

• Indians charged killing Custer and all of his men

• One of the very few Indian victories -> murder all of military 

  • Regardless: US ignores treaty with the Lakota, allowing ppl on land + military =eventually forced off of their land and onto a reservation

Bonanza Farms

emerge bc of technological advances in expensive and big farming that replace individual homestead farms by 1870sLarge-scale farming operations run by  corporations 

• Mostly cultivated and harvested wheat 

• Made possible by: 

  • The increased demand for agricultural goods to feed the growing Eastern population, bc Eastern farms were in decline 

  • Efficient, but expensive, new machinery of the 1870s that made farming easier but unaffordable to the individual 

  • Cheap abundant land made possible by Western Expansion

  • The advent of the railroad that made it easy to transport agricultural goods across the US

• Companies owned most bonanza farms and ran like factories, with professional managers.

The Mining Frontier

The Discovery of Gold opens the West to Mining

During the era of Western Expansion (1803-1853), many advocates of expansion aimed to grow the plantation system in the United States

• There was success with this with the admission of Missouri, Florida, and Texas as slave states and the Gadsen Purchase and the hopes of a Southern Pacific railway

• But in 1848, gold was discovered in California.  And this discovery would change everything.

• Four Implications of the Discovery of Gold on Western Settlement

  1. no longer linked to expansion of slavery

  2. more ppl r drawn to west (not just farmers)

  3. displacement of Mexican-Americans

  4. capitalism grows in west

Western Settlement is No Longer Linked to the Expansion of Slavery

1: With the discovery of gold, the value of the land was in no way linked to farming/slavery/plantations 

• What was under the soil, was more valuable than the soil

• The dream of a slave empire would die, the South’s hope for slavery's expansion in the US would die

• This decline of slavery and its power in the US contributes to the South believing that the only way to protect and grow slavery is through secession  

People other than farmers and slaveholders are now drawn to the West

2: White American Prospectors (Forty-Niners) -> young white men from new England

• Men on cusp of marriage and adulthood -> who don’t want work in factory (bc  women, children, and immigrants who u r supposed to be better than) and be poor

  • = ppl wanted to go get the gold

  • + goods and services like casinos and towns (like San Francisco)

  • But there was little gold so ppl had to find other jobs

• Chinese Immigrants -> famine and political unrest = poverty and inability to farm

  • Young men -> no other options and desire respect, marriage, money

  • Immigrants struggle:

    • Not enough gold

    • White settlers lean into violent racism bc they want gold more

      • Ppl + Gov

    • End up working on railroads

Los Angeles Chinese Massacre

1871 = manifestation of racist white settlers wanted gold for themselves (from the ppl)

Foreign Miners’ Tax

1871 = manifestation of racist white settlers wanted gold for themselves (from the gov)

• charged all non US citizens $20/mo license to mine

Ban on immigration/little immigration

1882-1965 → result of tension against Chinese

Displacement of Mexican-Americans 

3: Mexicans had American citizenship -> now land has value and gov tries to push off

• Denied citizenship, right to land, heavy taxation under Foreign Miners’ Tax

  • Many moved to Mexico 

  • Others worked in agriculture

American capitalism and banking/finance is now going to find profits in the development of the West 

4: Finance -> traded, banking industry, paper money got backed by gold and silver

• Corporate Mining Operations emerge -> not much to pan but could be done well

• Western expansion is now framed as industrialism

Transcontinental Railroad

A railway system that connected the eastern United States with the western territories (facilitating trade, migration, and economic growth)

• built mainly by Chinese immigrants bc they can be easily exploited