Dec. 8, Manifest Destiny & Texas Independence

Manifest Destiny

  • Belief: U.S. had God-given right to expand Atlantic → Pacific

  • Protestant Christian framing (“God’s will”)

  • Justified taking Native land

  • Encouraged imperialism: expand power, culture, systems

WASP Mentality

  • W – White

  • AS – Anglo-Saxon (Northern/Western European heritage)

  • P – Protestant

  • Idea: U.S. institutions & culture superior; should spread west

  • Often racist, anti-Catholic, anti-Native

HIPPO (Applied to Manifest Destiny Art)

H – Historical Context

  • Mid-1800s

  • Westward expansion

  • Manifest Destiny dominant idea

  • Industrial Revolution rising (factories, telegraph, railroads)

I – Intended Audience

  • Not ideal for art; audience = Americans generally

P – Purpose

  • Persuade Americans that westward expansion is good

  • Promote settlement, progress, technology, “civilizing” the West

  • Sometimes also to entertain/inform

P – Point of View

  • Artist’s perspective shapes message

  • American Progress (Gast):

    • Pro-Manifest Destiny

    • Light = civilization; Dark = wilderness

    • Angel = divine approval

    • Shows Natives and buffalo fleeing = “obstacle to progress”

  • Native American perspective art:

    • Shows westward movement as destructive

    • Darkness = pollution, industrial harm

    • Telegraph = intrusion

Push & Pull Factors for Westward Movement

Push

  • Crowded Europe

  • Limited land ownership

  • Famine (Ireland)

  • Religious persecution

  • Wars

Pull

  • Cheap land

  • New resources (timber, farmland, minerals)

  • Frontier = fresh start

  • Economic opportunity

  • Spread American culture, religion, democracy

Industrial Revolution Impact

  • Need for natural resources

  • Expanded factories → need for wood, coal, metals

  • Telegraph enables instant communication

  • Railroads push settlement west

  • More immigrants → more demand for land

Texas Background (Before U.S. Annexation)

Mexico After Independence (1821)

  • Poor economy

  • Lacked resources Spain had drained

  • Wanted Americans to settle Texas to build profit

Settlement Rules Mexico Required

  1. Become Mexican citizens

  2. Convert to Catholicism

  3. Abolish slavery

  • Americans ignored all three

American Reaction

  • Practiced Protestantism

  • Brought slaves for cotton plantations

  • Called themselves Texians, not Mexicans

  • 30,000+ Americans flood in (far more than agreed)

Rising Conflict

  • Mexico tolerated rule-breaking at first (similar to “salutary neglect”)

  • Santa Anna becomes president → strict, military-style enforcement

  • Orders Texans to obey rules

  • Tension explodes

  • “Give me back the cannon” incident begins fighting (Gonzales)