Transcript Early National Period:

Westward Expansion
• Following the Revolutionary
War America won the right
to expand.
– Claimed the land between
the Appalachian Mountains
and the Mississippi River
(formerly off-limits through
the Proclamation of 1763).
– Doubled the original size of
the colonies.
• The Louisiana Purchase
from France in 1803 again
doubled the size of the
United States.
Manifest Destiny
• The belief that Americans possessed a God given right
to conquer and possess all of the land west to the
Pacific, north to Canada, and south to Mexico.
• American settlers poured westward from the coastal
states into the Midwest, Southwest, and Texas, seeking
economic opportunity in the form of land to own and
farm.
• The growth of railroads and canals helped the growth of
an industrial economy and supported the westward
movement of settlers.
Manifest Destiny (cont.)
Examples:
• Revolutionary
War
• Louisiana
Purchase
• Spanish Cession
• Texas Annexation
• Oregon Territory
• Mexican Cession
Florida
• By 1819, the Spanish were
too weak to control its
territories in America.
• The Adams-Onis Treaty
(1819):
– Gave the United States
Florida.
– Gave the Spanish land
west of Louisiana from
Texas to California.
• The treaty was negotiated by
Secretary of State and future
sixth president of the United
States, John Quincy Adams.
Texas
• Mexican government
allowed American settlers in
Texas.
• Overpopulation led the
Mexican government to
tighten laws on American
settlers.
• Texas declared
independence as the Lone
Star Republic in 1835.
• The United States added
Texas as a state ten years
after its independence from
Mexico.
Oregon Territory
• After the War of 1812, the
United States had a legitimate
claim to the Oregon territory.
• United States, Russia, Britain,
and Spain all had claims.
• In 1818, the United States and
Great Britain agreed to jointoccupation (shared ownership)
of this area.
• The United States signed a
treaty with Great Britain after
28 years of joint-occupation:
– Territory was divided along
the 49th Parallel with United
States taking the Southern
portion and Britain the
Northern.
The Mexican War
• James K. Polk (11th
president of the United
States) wanted to annex
California to have access
to the Pacific Coast.
• Offered to buy
California from Mexico,
but was turned downMexico still angry over
the annexation of Texas.
The Mexican War (cont.)
• Polk looks for another
way and finds it in
Texas-dispute over
where the border was:
– Mexico said it was the
Nueces River
– United States said it was
the Rio Grande
– Sent troops to defend the
Rio Grande, causing a
war between the United
States and Mexico.
The MexicanWar (cont.)
• The United States and Mexico fought from 1846 to 1848 when
the United States captured Mexico City and forced the
surrender of Mexico.
• Treaty of Guadelupe-Hidalgo:
– The United States received all rights to Texas with the Rio
Grande as the southern border.
– The United States received California and all of Northern Mexico
for $18 million-Mexican Cession.
The Mexican War (cont.)
• Results:
– The United States acquired a large
amount of land (present-day
California, New Mexico, Nevada,
Utah, Arizona, and parts of
Colorado and New Mexico).
• The United States now stretched from
sea to sea but fuels the argument over
whether these states will be free or
slave.
– Soldiers and officers gained valuable
experience for the American Civil
War.
Impact of Westward Expansion
• Intensified the conflict
between Northern free labor
and Southern slave labor.
– Each wanted to control all of
the new western territories.
• American Indians were
repeatedly defeated in violent
conflicts with settlers and
soldiers and forcibly removed
from their ancestral
homelands.
– They were either forced to
march far away from their
homes or confined to
reservations.