Westward Expansion

Manifest Destiny

• Gain more land

Missouri Compromise

• Are new states in the West free states or slave states?

• Balance of power in the Senate

• Missouri entered as a slave state, and Maine entered as a free state

• This compromise is only valid for the Louisana Territory

Texas Battle for Independence

Texas

• Spain → Mexican → Independent State of Texas

• Mexico gained independence in 1821

• Wanted to populate Texas

• Offered US citizens cheap lands

  • Swear allegiance to Mexico

  • Convert to Catholicism

  • No taxes for 7 years

  • Allowed to practice slavery

• A large population of American settlers move to Texas

  • They start fighting for independence from Mexico

Changes in Mexico/Texas

• Slavery became illegal in 1829

• American immigration to Texas was made illegal in 1830

• Santa Anna became president of Mexico in 1833

• In 1835, Mexico enacted martial law on Texas

The Alamo

• Texans captured the Alamo

• Occupied from Dec 1835 - Feb 1836

• Mexico seized the fort after 13 days

• The Alamo became a symbol of resistance to oppression

Independence

• Americans flex to assist Texas

• Defeated Mexico in 1836 at the battle of San Jacinto

• Sam Houston captured Santa Anna

  • Forced him to sign a treaty granting Texas independence in 1836

James K Polk

• Democrat President

• Geographic Expansion

  • “Manifest Destiny President”

  • Oregon Treaty with Britain

  • Annexed Texas

  • Mexican American War

  • Extended US territory to the Pacific Ocean

Oregon Territory

• 54,40 or Fight

• 54,40 Parallel was used to establish the Oregon territory

Mexican American War

• Stated that he would buy California from Mexico

• Enticed war with Mexico = Mr. Polk’s War

• Some stated that Polk sent soldiers to the disputed area

• Democrats supported the war; Whigs were against the war

Treaty of Guadlape Hidalgo

• Paid Mexico 15 million

• US gains new territory

• Accepted the Rio Grande as the border of Texas

New Land

• Free states vs. slave states

• Free soilers = Not a political party, want land gained West to be free

• Liberty Party = Not a political party, wants complete abolition

• The Wilmot Proviso

  • All territory gained from the Mexican-American War would be free

  • Did not pass

• In 1849, California applies as a free state

  • Settlers rushed west in the Gold Rush

Gold Rush

• Gold was discovery

• Most miners were young, unmarried men and most were unsuccessful

Compromise of 1850

• Made by Henry Clay

• California is a free state

• Fugitive Slave Law = Slaves can be forced back into labor

  • With heightened law, the federal government now has responsibilities

  • Northerners can be charged and fined with a crime

• Slave trade ends in Washington, DC

• Utah Territory and New Mexico Territory created

  • Popular sovereignty in each when they become states

Kansas and Nebraska Act 1854

• Popular Sovereignty will be practiced in these areas

  • Only white males living in the state could decide

• Reversed the Missouri Compromise

• Decline of the Whigs and formations of the Republican

Bleeding Kansas

• Abolitionists and Pro-slavery whites flock to Kansas

• John Brown went as an abolitionist and used violence to prove his point by hacking to death pro-slavery farmers

• Lecompton Constitution - Pro-slavery constitution created by a minority

  • Does not pass

• Wyandotte Constitution - Free state constitution

• Kansas became a free state in 1861

Fighting

• Caning of Charles Sumner 1856

  • Sumner called out a slaveholder in his speech

  • The senator beat Sumner almost to death

• The House Brawl 1858

  • House of Reps got into a brawl about the Kansas constitution

Scott v Sanford

• Dred Scott was a slave from Missouri

• Moved to a free territory

• Scott argued that he was no longer a slave and petitioned the court for his freedom

• Case eventually made it to Supreme Court

• All African Americans, slave or free, were not citizens and were unable to sue in court

• Federal government did not have the power to prohibit slavery in the territories

John Brown

• His parents were abolitionists and his family worked on the Underground Railroad

• He believed it was his destiny to end slavery

• Brown and 5 of his children participated in the Pottawattamie Creek Massacre, hacking pro-slavery false votes to death

Election of 1860

• The Republican Party platform

  • Free soil

  • Homestead Act - Own soil after a certain amount of time

  • Transcontinental Railroad

  • Industrialization

  • Protective Tariff

  • Free states might outnumber slave states

The Missouri Compromise most clearly marks the beginning of the sectional crisis that led to the outbreak of the Civil War. It started using the issue of slavery as a division between the sections. For example, Maine was a free state, while Missouri was a slaveholding state. This compromise attempted to hold balance in Congress but ultimately increased tensions.

One development that followed the Missouri Compromise and led to even further sectional conflict was the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed popular sovereignty to determine whether a state should be free or slaveholding. This led to political and physical conflict, such as “Bleeding Kansas” in deciding what type of state each should be, furthering the tensions about sectional division.

The Northwest Ordinance does not help mark the beginning of the sectional crisis as it did not necessarily create the division of slave and free-holding states. It simply marked the Northwest Territory as free soil. It did not affect anyone, as no Americans were present in the territory, and it would not affect the nation. Additionally, cotton was not used as a cash crop then, and slavery would not be affected where it was present.

Confederacy’s Government

• Montgomery Convention February 4, 1861

  • Wrote their own Constitution

  • Create a congress

  • Jefferson Davis becomes provisional president

    • Serves 6 years

Civil War

North’s War Strategy

• Anaconda Plan

  • Blockade the South

  • Conquer the Mississippi River

  • Capture Richmond, Capital of the Confederacy

South’s War Strategy

• War of Attrition

• Hold their territory

• Wait out the war

• Wait for Britain to help

Battle of Fort Sumter

• First war of the Civil War

• April 12-13, 1861

• Federal Army Base; Union soldiers still occupying

• Confederates win and gain the fort

• The Confederacy shot first shots

• War declared by the Union on April 15, 1861