Transcript Manifest Destiny

or
Divine Providence
Trends in Antebellum America: 1810-1860
1. New intellectual and religious movements.
2. Social reforms.
3. Beginnings of the Industrial Revolution in America.
4. Re-emergence of a second party system and more
political democratization.
5. Increase in federal power  Marshall Ct. decisions.
6. Increase in American nationalism.
7. Further westward expansion.
“Manifest Destiny”
 First coined by newspaper editor, John O’Sullivan in 1845.
 ".... the right of our manifest destiny to over spread and
to possess the whole of the continent which Providence
has given us for the development of the great experiment of
liberty and federaltive development of self-government
entrusted to us. It is right such as that of the tree to the
space of air and the earth suitable for the full expansion of
its principle and destiny of growth."
 A myth of the West as a land of romance and adventure
emerged.
“American Progress” by John Gast, 1872
Divine
Providence
Aroostook “War,” 1839
 The only war ever declared by a state.
 Between the Canadian region of New
Brunswick and the state of Maine.
 Cause:
The expulsion of Canadian lumberjacks in the
disputed area of Aroostook by Maine officials.
 Congress called up 50,000 men and voted for
$10,000,000 to pay for the “war.”
 General Winfield Scott arranged a truce, and a
border commission was convened to resolve the issue.
Webster-Ashburton Treaty, 1842
Maine Boundary Settlement, 1842
Texas Declaration of Independence
Key Figures in Texas Independence, 1836
Sam Houston
(1793-1863)
Steven Austin
(1793-1836)
The Republic of Texas
Remember the Alamo!
Davey Crockett’s Last Stand
Famed frontiersman, politician, soldier, and following the
Alamo an American hero and martyr
Crockett’s opposition
to Andrew Jackson’s
political policies,
most notably Indian
Removal, led to his
political defeat in
1835. As a result,
Crockett packed up
and left for Texas.
The Battle of the Alamo
General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna Recaptures the Alamo
Texas Independence
•Battle of Alamo (Santa Anna took no
prisoners, burned Texan bodies
•Battle of Goliad (350 Texans were
executed after their surrender, 20 escaped
to share atrocities)
•Santa Anna chased Sam Houston’s army
east to San Jacinto
•Results of Battle of San Jacinto:
•630 Mexicans killed, 730 captured
versus 9 Texans killed
•Santa Anna captured next day (never
wear silk underwear!!)
Overland Immigration to the West
 Between 1840 and
1860, more than
250,000 people
made the trek
westward.
Oregon Fever
Over 600 acres of free land (valued at over $600,000 today) was there for any
willing to take the 6-month journey. Why did the government offer free land?
Trails Westward
Notable Trails of the
American emigration
West:
Oregon Trail to Oregon
Country
Mormon Trail to Salt
Lake Valley of Utah
California Trail to
California Gold Rush
Spanish Trail to Los
Angeles
Santa Fe Trail to New
Mexico Territory
Mormons travel West
Led by Brigham Young,
Mormons left Illinois in
February 1846 and arrived in
the Salt Lake Valley in July
1847. Over the next decade
Young organized what is known
as the Mormon Corridor.
550 Mormons volunteered to form the Mormon
Battalion in 1846 and march to Southern California
in the Mexican War. They never saw combat and
spent 6 months assisting in the building of San
Diego and Los Angeles. Many moved north and
worked for James Marshall in 1848.
The Doomed Donner Party
April, 1846 – April, 1847
The Doomed Donner Party
CANNIBALISM ! !
James Reed & Wife
 Of the 90 members of the Donner
Party, only 48 survived
The Oregon Dispute: 54’ 40º or Fight!
 By the mid-1840s,
“Oregon Fever” was
spurred on by the
promise of free land.
 The joint British-U. S.
occupation ended in
1846.
The Bear Flag Republic
The Revolt  June 14, 1845
Photograph of original flag, 1890
John C. Frémont
Mariano Vallejo, the original Californian
•Born under Spanish rule
•At one time, owned 66,000 acres of
land in California
•Recognized the growing power of
the United States and inadequacy of
the Mexican government’s distance
and instability
•Began to seek his own rebellion
when the Bear Flag Revolt occurred
•Convinced many Californios to
accept American rule and was
elected to state convention in 1850
•Lost nearly all of his estate to
squatters and legal issues
Background to War
•Mexico warned the U.S.
that Texas annexation
would lead to war
•Polk sent General
Zachary Taylor to Texas
to ‘defend the border’
•Mexico’s political
instability (presidency
changed 4 times in 1845)
The Slidell Mission: Nov., 1845
 Mexican recognition of the Rio
Grande River as the TX-US border.
 US would forgive American citizens’
claims against the Mexican govt.
 US would purchase the New Mexico
area for $5,000,000.
 US would buy California at any price.
John Slidell
Wilmot Proviso, 1846
Provided, territory from that, as an
express and fundamental condition to
the acquisition of any the Republic of
Mexico by the United States, by virtue
of any treaty which may be negotiated
between them, and to the use by the
Executive of the moneys herein
appropriated, neither slavery nor
involuntary servitude shall ever exist
in any part of said territory, except for
crime, whereof the party shall first be
duly convicted.
Congr. David Wilmot
(D-PA)
The Mexican War (1846-1848)
Polk: “Mexico has
passed the boundary
of the United States,
has invaded our
territory and shed
American blood upon
American soil.”
Lincoln: "Show me
the spot."
John Quincy Adams
voted against war and
Henry David Thoreau
penned “Civil
Disobedience”
Santa Anna Returns
•General Santa Anna convinced his gov’t that
he no longer sought a return to the
presidency and volunteered to lead the army
against U.S. invasion
•Santa Anna secretly had negotiations with
American diplomats to sell the desired land
•Santa Anna was the Mexican leader 11
different times in 22 years
•He lost a leg defending Veracruz in 1838
against the French and famously wore a
cork prosthetic against the U.S. in the
Mexican-American War
•“father” of chicle….chiclets
General Zachary Taylor at Palo Alto
“Old Rough and Ready”
The Bombardment of Vera Cruz
General Winfield Scott Enters Mexico City
“Old Fuss and Feathers”
Winfield Scott “Old Fuss and Feathers”
•Promoted from major to colonel to general during War of 1812
for his tactics and bravery
•Critically wounded during war in 1814
•Sent by Andrew Jackson to South Carolina in 1832 during
Nullification Crisis
•Fought Seminole and Creek Indians to enforce Jackson’s
Indian policy from 1832 to 1836
•Ordered by President Van Buren to forcibly remove Cherokee in 1838
•Negotiated peace agreements between Maine and New Brunswick in 1839
during Aroostook War
•Assumed command of American Army in 1841
•Landed in Veracruz and then captured Mexico City in 1847 (Duke of
Wellington called him the “greatest living general”)
•Created the Anaconda Plan (Union’s plan for victory in 1861)
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, 1848
Nicholas Trist,
American Negotiator
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, 1848
 Mexico gave up claims to Texas above the Rio
Grande River.
 Mexico gave the U. S. Upper California and New Mexico.
 U. S. gave Mexico $15,000,000 and agreed to pay
the claims of American citizens against Mexico
(over $3,500,000).
The Mexican Cession
Results of the Mexican War?
1. The 17-month war cost $100,000,000 and 13,000+
American lives (mostly of disease).
2. New territories were brought into the Union which ignited the
explosive issue of SLAVERY to the center of national politics.
**These new territories would upset the balance of power
between North and South.
3. Created two new war heroes: Zachary Taylor & Winfield Scott
and gave valuable military experience to thousands
4. Manifest Destiny was partially realized.
Free Soil Party
Free Soil!
Free Speech!
Free Labor!
Free Men!
 “Barnburners” – discontented northern Democrats.
 Anti-slave members of the Liberty and Whig Parties.
 Opposition to the extension of slavery in the new
territories! WHY?
The 1848 Presidential Election Results
√
GOLD! At Sutter’s Mill, 1848
John A. Sutter
California Gold Rush, 1849
49er’s
Two Views of San Francisco, Early 1850s
 By 1860, almost 300,000
people had traveled the
Oregon & California
Trails to the Pacific
coast.
Territorial Growth to 1853
The Ostend Manifesto (1854)
Did free or slave states favor
the acquisition of Cuba??
James Buchanan, probable
author of the manifesto
Expansionist Young America in the 1850s
America’s Attempted Raids into Latin America
William Walker, “the grey-eyed man of destiny”
Biography
Graduated summa
cum laude at age 14
Graduated from
medical school at age
19
Studied in Europe
during revolutions of
1848
Studied law in 1849
and moved to
California to prepare
for filibustering
campaign
Manifest Destiny or Slavery Expansionist?
1853: led 45 men to conquer Baja
California and Sonora to create Republic of
Lower California
1855-56: invited in during a civil war in
Nicaragua and used nearly 200 Americans
and local forces to gain control of the
nation (even invaded Costa Rica to attempt
to expand his power)
1860: surfaced in Honduras with plans to
start another American colony; executed by
Honduran officials
Costa Rica celebrates a national holiday
for his defeat and he is the only native
Nashvillian to be a head of state
Westward the Course of Empire
Emmanuel Leutze, 1860
The Pony Express
 Between April, 1860 and Nov., 1861.
 Delivered news and mail between St.
Louis, MO and San Francisco, CA.
 Took 10 days.
 Replaced by the completion of the
trans-continental telegraph line.