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5.2 The Idea of Manifest Destiny

LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Explain the causes and effects of westward expansion from 1844 to 1877.

INTRODUCTION

  • Manifest Destiny

    • The belief that the US was divinely destined to expand its territory across North America

    • Expansionist wanted to expand westward (Pacific and southward)

      - Expansionism was fueled by nationalism, population growth, economic development, technological advancements, and reform ideals.

      - US goals to annex Texas, Oregon, & California marked peak period of Manifest Destiny (1840s)

    • Critics argued it was a guide to spread slavery into new territories

      - thought the root of expansionist drive was abition to spread slavery into newly aquitted western lands.

CONFLICTS OVER TEXAS, MAINE, AND OREGON

  • American pioneers expanding into new lands during the 1820s and 1830s—→

    - US interest in expanding into Texas (Mexican territory) & Oregon (British territory)

TEXAS

  • Mexico hoped to attract early settlers to Texas during the 1820s

    • Stephen Austin brought 300 families into Texas

      - begun the steady migration of settlers into vast frontier territory

      - Americans outnumbered Mexicans 3-to-1 by 1830s

  • Conflict arose between Mexico and US

    • Mexico outlawed slavery and required settlers to convert to Catholicism

      - Americans ignored these laws—→ Mexico closing border to settlers

REVOLT AND INDEPENDENCE

  • Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna became dictator of Mexico

    • Abolished nation’s federal government & enforced Mexican laws

      - Sam Houston led a revolt against Anna (Battle of San Jacinto)—→ Texas becoming an independent republic and slavery become llegal again

      - Mexican legislature rejected treaty signed at San Jacinto (Insisted Texas was still part of Mexico)

ANNEXATION DENIED

  • Effort to annex Texas faced oppostion from fears of expanding slavery and provoking war with Mexico.

    • Presidents Jacksons and Van Buren both put off the request of annexcation

      - If added, Texas would be divided into 5 states—→ ten proslavery members in senate

      - Threat of costly war dampened the expansionist zeal to add Texas.

    • President John Tyler worked to annex Texas

      - worried about British influence in Texas

      - senate rejected his treaty of annexcation

BOUNDARY DISPUTE IN MAINE

  • Diplomatic issue arose over the poorly defined Maine-New Brunswick (Canandian province under British rule) border

    • Many Americans considered Britian as their country’s enemy

    • Aroostook War (1839)

      - conflict between rival groups of lumber workers on the border—→ fighting

    • Webster-Ashburton Treaty

      - treaty negotiated by US Daniel Webster & British Alexander Ashburton

      - resolved Aroostock war by splitting territory between Maine and British Canada

      - also settled boundary of Minnesota territory (US got iron-rich Mesabi Range)

BOUNDARY DISPUTE IN OREGON

  • Oregon was originally claimed by Spain, Russia, Britian, and the US (Spain ceded claims to Britian in the Adams-Onis Treaty (1819)).

    • Both Britian and US claimed Oregon

      - British based claims off of Hudson’s Bay Company’s fur trade w Natives (but British settlement remained sparse)

      - US based claims off of the explortations of Robert Gray (Columbia River), Lewis & Clark (Pacififc Coast), & John Jacob Astor’s (fur trading post: Fort Astoria)

    • US missionaries & farmers were attracted to Willamette Valley’s fertile land

      - Success of farming caused increased settlers to migrate via the Oregon Trail to settle south of Colombia River (Oregon fever)

    • By 1844, Expansionist strongly supported US claims to Oregon & Texas

      - viewed it as part of Manifest Destiny

      - also hoped for California from Mexico (settlers began migrating their to replicate Texas’s annexation strategy)

THE ELECTION OF 1844

  • Possivility of annexting Texas and the expansion of slavery split the Democratic party

    • Northen Whigs opposed annexation

      - did not support slavery

      - nominated former president Martin Van Buren to run again

    • Southern Whigs supported annexcation

      - proslavery

      - nominated former vp John C. Calhoun

    • After a deadlock at the Democratic Convention, James K. Polk was chosen by democrats

      - Polk strongly supported Manifest Destiny (favored annexing Texas, acquiring California, and reconquering Oregon).

      - “Fifty-Four Forty or Fight” slogan appealed to expansionist (mainly westerners and southerners)

      - Polk was the victor of the 1844 election—→ Democrats interpreting election as mandate to add Texas to the Union

ANNEXING TEXAS AND DIVIDING OREGON

  • President Tyler pushed annexcation of TX through Congress with a join resolution

    • Procedure required only simple majority of each house

      - Tyler left Polk with tensions from Mexico due to the annexation

  • Oregon borders changed

    • Polk backed down from the “Fifty-Four Forty or Fight” slogan

      - signed an agreement with Britian to divide Oregon at the 49th parallel

      - Britian kept Vancouver Island and navigation rights on the Columbia River

      - Northerns criticized treaty for favoring Southern interest (removed British Coloumbia as source of potential free states)

      - Senate approved treaty to avoid fighting with Britian while already at war with Mexico

SETTLEMENT OF THE WESTERN TERRITORIES

  • New settlements developed on newly admitted western lands

    • Peaceful acquistition of Oregon and violent acquisition of California —→ Increased migration

    • Great American Desert

      - arid region between Mississipi Valley and Pacific Coast

      - emigrants passed quickly over this area to reach lands on the west coast (California and Oregon were settled in long before people attemped to farm on the Great Plains).

FUR TRADERS’ FRONTIER

  • Mountain Men

    • Earliest nonnative fur traders in the Far West

      - held yearly redezvous inn the Rockies with Natives in the 1820s to trade animal skins

    • Provided valuable information about trails and frontier conditions to future settlers

      - notable figures include James Beckwourth, Jim Bridger, Kit Carson, and Jedediah Smith

OVERLAND TRAILS

  • Much larger group of pioneers made the hazardous jouney west

    • Pioneers traveled west to farm in fetile valleys of California and Oregon

      - by 1860, hundreds of thousands used the Oregon, California, Santa Fe, and Mormon trails

      - Journey often followed the river valleys through the Great Plains and took months for wagon trains to reach foothills of the Rockies or face the southwestern deserts

      - Final life-or-death challenge was crossing the Sierras and Cascades before heavy snow

      - pionners feared Native attacks, but main threats were disease and depression

MINING FRONTIER

  • Gold rushes

    • started with California’s gold discovery in 1848

      - Gold and silver rushes followed in Colorado, Nevada, the Black Hills, and other western areas

    • Mining booms brought thousands of immigrants into the western mountains

      - mining camps and towns sprang up wherever a strike (discovery) was

      - California’s population soared from 14,000 to 380,000 from 1848-1860

      - Booms attracted miners from around the world (1/3 of miners were Chinese)

FARMING FRONTIER

  • Pioneer families moved west to start homesteads and farms.

    • Congress Preemption Acts

      - gave squatters (settlers) the right to settle public lands and purchase them cheaply (gov offered land parcels as small as 40 acres).

    • Moving west was not for the poor

      - typical laborer made about $1.00 a day (family needed at least $200-300 to make overland trip.

      - trek to California and Oregon was largely a middle-class movement

    • Isolation of the frontier made life for pioneers difficult for first few years

      - rural communities soon developed

      - institutions were established (schools, churches, clubs, political parties) and modeled after those in the east or from immigrant abroad in their lands

URBAN FRONTIER

  • Western cities arose as a result of railraods, mineral wealth, and farming

    • Number of professionals and business owners were attracted

      - San Francisco and Denver became instant cities (created by gold and silver rushes)

      - Salt Lake city grew because it offered supplies to travelers on overland trails.

FOREIGN COMMERCE

  • Growth in manufactured goods and agricultural prducts—→ large growth of exports and importants

    • Other factors also expanded US trade mid 1800s

      - Scheduled shipping: shipping firms established regular schedules for departures instead of waiting for ships to sail when full.

      - Whaling boom: demand for whale oil to light homes led by New England merchants

      - Clipper ships: allowed for faster travels to California to as little as 89 days

      - Steamships: replaced clippers with greater storage capacity, lower maitenence cost, greater schedule reliability

      - Asian trade: New England conducted profitable trade with China for tea, silk, and porecelain, Matthew C.Perry sent naval ships to Japan and forced government to sign Kanagawa Treaty (forced Japan to open up two ports for coal—→ trade agreement)

EXPANSION AFTER THE CIVIL WAR

  • The issues of union, slavery, civil war, and postwar reconstruction overshadow the drive to aquire new territory

    • Manifest destiny continued to be an important force in shaping US policy

      - Secretary of state William Steward purchased Alaska during recovery from Civil War.