Territorial Expansion, Military Conquest, Cultural Domination

Territorial Expansion, Military Conquest, and Cultural Domination

• Exceptionalism: The belief, originating with the Puritans, that they were an exceptional group with a special mission, which persisted and became ingrained in American psychology by the 1830s and 1840s.

Frederick Jackson Turner and the Frontier Thesis

• Frederick Jackson Turner: An influential historian who, in 1893, wrote "The Significance of the Frontier in American History."
• Frontier Thesis: Turner argued that the Western frontier was the most important factor in shaping American identity during the 19th century.
  • The frontier transformed Europeans into Americans, fostering democracy and self-governance.
  • Turner's ideas shaped the understanding of this period for almost a century.

Territorial Expansion

• Early Expansion: Expansion began early in American history (1607, 1620, 1630).
• Treaty of Paris (1783): England ceded land from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River, doubling the size of the nation.

Old Northwest

• Region: Present-day Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan (north of the Ohio River, east of the Mississippi).
• Early American Presence: Since the 1750s, with English penetration into the Ohio Valley causing the French and Indian War.
• Development: Primarily fur traders until the 1820s.
• Erie Canal and Railroads: Led to rapid population growth.
• Migration: Northerners escaping worn-out soils of New England and Pennsylvania.
• Economy: Commercial agriculture and later industrial heartland.
• Labor: Free labor system; slavery banned in the Northwest Territories (Northwest Ordinances of 1785).
• Agriculture: Diversified, including grains and livestock.
• Demographics: Mostly whites of English descent, some free blacks, French along the Canadian border, and German/Scandinavian migrants.

Old Southwest

• Region: Present-day Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky (south of the Ohio River, east of the Mississippi).
• Early American Presence: Since the 1750s, but sparse settlement until Native removal.
• Migration: Primarily southerners moving west.
• Agriculture: Yeoman farmers and plantations worked by slave labor.
• Slavery: Southwest Ordinances of 1790 allowed slavery in the Old Southwest.
• Migration Patterns: Large migration from Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas focusing on cotton production.
• Demographics: Majority white (English descent), large minority of African American slaves; few European immigrants due to competition with slave labor.
• Cultural Continuity: Transplantation of southern culture westward.

Louisiana Purchase

• Background: Territory claimed by Spain, then shifted to France around 1791-92.
• French Reacquisition: France regained Louisiana after a war with Spain.
• American Concerns: The U.S. depended on the Mississippi River for transportation, and Spanish/French control of New Orleans hindered American access to markets.
• Initial Goal: To acquire rights to New Orleans.
• Negotiations: In 1803, President Jefferson approached Napoleon to buy New Orleans for 5,000,000. Napoleon offered the entire territory for 15,000,000.
• Constitutional Crisis: Jefferson, a strict constructionist, faced a dilemma as the Constitution did not explicitly grant the power to purchase foreign territory.
• Shift to Loose Construction: Jefferson adopted a loose construction view, arguing that what is not prohibited is allowed.
• Constitutional Basis: The purchase was justified through the necessary and proper clause, implied powers, and the treaty process (negotiated by the President, ratified by the Senate with a two-thirds majority).
• Significance: Doubled the size of the nation.
• Jefferson's Motives: Control of the Mississippi River and New Orleans, blocking British colonization, limiting Spanish influence.
  • Rewarding political supporters by providing cheap land for small family farms.
• Land Cost: Approximately 57¢ an acre.
• Value: 15,000,000 in 1803 is equivalent to about 350,000,000 today. In 2025 dollars, the estimated total value is just over 1,000,000,000,000.

Lewis and Clark Expedition (1806)

• Commission: Jefferson commissioned Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase.
• Route: From Saint Louis to the headwaters of the Missouri River and the Continental Divide, continuing to Oregon on the Pacific Coast.
• Significance: Established a U.S. claim to Oregon and the Oregon Country.
• Findings: Detailed records of native tribes, plants, animals, and geography, stimulating American interest in the region.
• Sacagawea: The expedition relied heavily on Sacagawea for guidance and translation after the initial guide proved inept.

Zebulon Pike Expedition

• Commission: Army Captain Zebulon Pike explored the southern part of Louisiana.
• Route: Explored present-day Colorado (Pike's Peak), the headwaters of the Rio Grande, Santa Fe, and San Antonio, before returning through Southern Louisiana.
• Significance: Established a U.S. claim to the region north of the Rio Grande.

Acquisition of Florida

• Status: Claimed by Spain, inhabited by native tribes and runaway African slaves.
• War of 1812: General Jackson raided Florida, but control remained unclear.
• U.S. Interests: Southerners wanted to expand slavery and recapture runaway slaves.
  • Control of Florida was needed to prevent Spain from blockading American shipping through the Florida Straits (near Cuba).
• Adams-Onís Treaty (1819): John Quincy Adams negotiated with Spain, ceding Florida to the U.S. in exchange for a firm western boundary of Louisiana.

Manifest Destiny

• Definition: The belief that the United States had a God-given right to expand across the North American continent, spreading democracy, Protestant Christianity, and capitalism.
  • Rooted in American exceptionalism.
• John O'Sullivan: A newspaper editor who articulated the idea in 1839 and 1840, asserting that America's claim was by the right of its manifest destiny.
• Key Tenets: The belief that American ideas, culture, and institutions were superior and that Providence had given the U.S. a special mission.
• American Progress: A painting by John Gast visually summarizing manifest destiny, depicting technological advancement, Miss Liberty, and the displacement of Native Americans.
• Political Support: Broad bipartisan support from Democrats and Whigs.
• Motivations: Growing population, urbanization, immigration, economic depression of 1837, and the need for agricultural expansion.

The Slavery Question

• Historical Context: Sectional conflict between the free North and the slave South, largely avoided in the Constitutional Convention.
• Constitutional Ambiguity: The Constitution avoided the word "slave," using the term "persons held to service."
• Economic Factors: Southern dependence on cotton and the need for cheap slave labor grew.
• Geographic Division: Slavery was outlawed in the Old Northwest but legal in the Old Southwest.

Missouri Compromise

• Missouri's Application: Missouri sought admission to the Union as a slave state, which would upset the balance between free and slave states (11 of each at the time).
• Northern Opposition: Northerners opposed Missouri's admission as a slave state to prevent increased Southern power in the national government due to the three-fifths compromise.
• Compromise: Missouri was admitted as a slave state, and Maine was admitted as a free state to maintain the balance (12 of each).
• 36°30′ Line: A line was drawn at 36 degrees, 30 minutes latitude, north of which slavery was prohibited (except for Missouri).
• Precedent: This followed the precedent set by the Northwest Ordinances.
• Perceptions: Both sides saw the compromise as a victory.
  • Northerners hoped to create more free states in the northern part of Louisiana.
  • Southerners hoped to extend the 36°30′ line to the Pacific as they expanded into northern New Spain, creating more slave states.
• Unresolved Issues: The compromise did not address the underlying question of what to do with the rest of the territory.
• Temporary Solution: The Missouri Compromise temporarily sidestepped a potentially dangerous situation in 1820.