Manifest Destiny Slideshow

Tyler: The President without a Party

• Tyler at war with his own party.

  • Clay wants to lead the Whigs

• Clay wants new National Bank - Tyler vetoed 

  • whole cabinet resigns.

  • Aggressive veto - 10 in four years. 

• Isolated and hated by both parties.

  • 1st presidential veto overridden by Congress. 

  • 1st president that Congress tried to impeach.

• Slaveholder states rights advocate.

Webster-Ashburton Treaty: Roots of Expansion

• Dispute over the size of Maine

• Webster “finds” (fakes) the Franklin Map to settle the dispute

• British and U.S. strike a compromise negotiating the current border

• Same as in Oregon with joint occupation

• U.S. priorities are turning away from Canada and to the West

Growth of the West

• 1800 about 387,000 people live west of Appalachian Mountains 

• 1820 - 2.4 million.

• By the Civil War more people live on the Western side than the East.

• Manifest Destiny - It was America’s God given right and obligation to expand over the whole continent.

• Preemption Act of 1830 - 160 acres at $1.25 an acre (RI land is $16,000 an acre now)

Motivations for Expansion

• Escape religious persecution 

• New markets for trade 

  • Mexican Independence

• Land, land, land

  • Ranching, farming, mining

• Trade and the Pacific 

• Economic opportunities

  • Depression and panic from 1837

  • Urbanization and pressure

Native Americans and Expansion

• Expansion created conflict with Native Americans

• Black Hawk War

  • Settlers in Illinois and Iowa push Native Americans west of Mississippi.

  • Resistance led by Sauk leader Black Hawk

  • Forced removal.

• Treaty of Fort Laramie - 1851

  • US government promised to respect land and make payments 

  • Migration ruins landscape, US breaks promise

Routes West

• Major destinations

  • Santa Fe, California, Utah, Oregon, Texas

• Santa Fe Trail 

  • 780 miles from Missouri to Santa Fe

  • Trade with Mexico

• Oregon Trail 

  • Missionaries first settlers. 

  • Joint-occupation with Britain and US 

  • 5,000 settlers by 1844

• Mormon Migration

  • Persecution drive Mormons west 

  • New York - Illinois - Utah.

Oregon and California

• California was sparsely settled 

  • 7000 Mexican ranchers and few Americans settlers

  • Harbors and access to Pacific and Asia were major draw. 

• Oregon

  • Joint-occupation with Great Britain (1818)

  • Willamette Valley was major draw.

  • “Oregon Fever” - 1000 settler in 1843. 

  • By 1840s US outnumber British.

Missions in Mexico

• Mexican political leaders pushed for secularization following independence.

• Reduce the power of the Catholic Church in Mexico

• Mission system collapsed throughout the frontier 

• Missions had given structure to settlement of the frontier

Texan Independence

• Americans settling in Texas since 1821

• Cotton production is high - by 1830 20,000 American settle 

  • 10% are enslaved people

• Other presidents (including Jackson) have offered to buy Texas 

  • Never works

• Americans view Texas as their from Louisiana Purchase.

• Congress divided over the issue 

  • Slavery. 

Americans in Texas

• Most Americans don’t adopt Mexican culture

• Don’t learn Spanish or convert to Catholicism - even though law says they have to.

• Mexico outlaws slavery 1829 

  • Texas ignores this and brings more enslaved people.

• 1830 Mexico bans American immigration -  Can’t enforce it.

• Rebellion breaks out in 1835

The Alamo and Goliad

• Mexican President Santa Anna goes north to put down rebellion

• Most famous battle is the Alamo

• All 187 defenders are killed.

• The battles makes peaceful settlement impossible and increase American support.

• By 1836 Texans drive back Santa Anna and declare independence.

Independent Texas

• Texas wants to join the Union 

• Jackson won’t support it - doesn’t want war with Mexico or bring up slavery issue

• Texas develops strong trade relationship with Great Britain - competes with Southern states for cotton market

• Tyler and Calhoun push for annexation - can’t because North and West oppose

• Becomes a major issue in the election of 1844.

Texas Question

• Tyler sees Texas as the key to saving his Presidency.

• Appoints John C. Calhoun 3rd Secretary of State after Upshur dies in an explosion on the U.S.S. Princeton - bad idea.

• Pakenham letter

• Henry Clay and Martin Van Buren both oppose the idea - defeated 35-16 in the Senate.

Election of 1844

• Whigs nominate Clay - shocking.

• Democratic convention Van Buren is favorite.

  • John C. Calhoun blows it up. Rallies the South - forces deadlock.

  • James K. Polk wins the convention.

• Polk is a Jacksonian - “Young Hickory”

  • No Bank, no tariffs. Annexation and expansion.

  • Runs with George M. Dallas

  • “Reannexing Texas and Reoccupying Oregon.”

Election of 1844

• Polk beatwins 170 to 105 electoral votes.

  • Only by 38,000 votes.

  • Liberty Party - anti-slavery party cost Clay the election

  • Won 16,000 votes in New York

  • Clay lost the state by 5,000 votes and with it 36 electoral votes.

• Polk’s victory seen as mandate for expansion. 

• Tyler signs annexation bill - last move as president. 

Polk as President

• Uncommonly successful as President 

  • Lowers tariffs and restores the Independent Treasury 

  • Opposes federal improvements

  • Committed to gaining Texas, Oregon, and California.

• May 1846 Polk terminates Joint Occupation.

  • There are over 6 times as many Americans there.

  • Divide the territory over the 49th parallel.

  • Willing to compromise because of war with Mexico. 

Mexican-American War

• Polk unwilling to back down with Mexico.

• Want the whole disputed land claim from Texas and California.

• Annexation of Texas cut ties between the nations. 

• Sends John Slidell to Mexico City to buy more land for $30 million. 

• Mexican government refuses to meet with Slidell. 

Fighting Begins

• Polk tries to provoke a war

• March 1846 sends “Old Rough and Ready” Zachary Taylor and 4,000 troops into disputed territory.

• Fighting breaks out, Polk asks Congress to declare war declaring Mexican had “shed American blood on American soil.”

• American’s win early battles with ease, Mexican Army is poorly equipped and poorly led.

To the Halls of Montezuma

• Polk wants to keep the war small.

  • Why? - Three Reasons.

• Polk’s war plan had 3 parts.

  • 1. Clear Texas and occupy northern Mexico

  • 2. Occupy California and New Mexico

  • 3. March South on Mexico city.

  • Why was his invasion so indirect?

• By February 1847 U.S. controlled all of Northern Mexico 

Old Fuss and Feathers 

• Polk puts Winfield Scott in charge of the campaign to take Mexico City

  • Wasn’t his first choice - he’s a Whig

  • Wanted Lt. General Thomas Benton

  • Congress forced the appointment

  • Democrats saw Scott as a political threat despite his unfortunate nickname.

• Scott attacked Veracruz in April 1847 and marched on Mexico City by September.

Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo

• Polk send Nicholas Trist to negotiate.

• Mexico City in chaos - can’t find anyone to negotiate with until January 1848. 

  • Polk saw this as weakness - tries to recall Trist

  • Scott refuses to send him - fears Mexico will collapse.

• February 1847 Treaty is completed. 

  • Rio Grande becomes the border.

  • U.S. pays $15 and takes on an additional $3 million of Mexico’s debt. 

Ratification

• Polk is furious with the treaty. 

• Fires Trist but had no choice but to submit the treaty to the Senate.

•  Pressure against the war was growing. 

  • Seen as  national embarrassment.

  • Abolitionists called it “a war waged solely for the detestable and horrible purpose of extending and perpetrating American slavery.”

• Congress ratified the treaty 38-14.

Wilmot Proviso 

• Ban slavery in the territory gained from Mexico.

  • “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of the said territory.”

  • Preserve land for “the sons of toil, of my own race and own color.” 

• Made practical sense - why?

• Divided over regional lines - North supported South opposed. 

• House passed over 50 versions from 1846-50 - Senate rejected all of them. 

Election of 1848

• Democrat Cass - Popular Sovereignty - Problem?

• Whigs run Zach Taylor - member of no party and have never voted in his life.

  • Owned a slave plantation.

  • Daughter married to future president of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis

  • Turned Northern Whigs against him - Free-Soil Party.

  • “Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Men.”

  • United with some Democrats - Van Buren.

• Taylor wins over Cass

California and the Gold Rush

• 1848 and ‘49 more than 100,000 people travel to California.

• Apply for statehood as a free-state. 

• Problem - why?

• We should have a solution with Missouri Compromise.

• New Mexico will likely follow as a free state. 

• No one knows where Taylor stands on it.

  • He supports popular sovereignty.

Compromise of 1850

• Stephen Douglas (D) and Henry Clay (W)

  • Only possible because Zachary Taylor died.

  • VP Millard Fillmore signs the bill.

• Texas gave up  New Mexico and all land north of 36°30’ line and Federal government took on its debt.

• California admitted as a Free State

• Wilmot Proviso rejected: Utah and New Mexico territories would be open to slavery by popular sovereignty.

• Slave trade (but not slavery) was outlawed in D.C.

• New Fugitive Slave Law was enacted.