Transcript Conflict with Mexico

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Texas and War with Mexico
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Objectives
• Explain how Texas became independent from
Mexico.
• Discuss the issues involved in annexing Texas
and Oregon.
• Summarize the main events in the MexicanAmerican War.
• Explain how the United States achieved Manifest
Destiny.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Terms and People
• Stephen Austin – an American who established
a small settlement in Mexican-owned Texas;
later, he urged Texans to revolt against the
Mexican government
• dictatorship – one-person rule
• siege – an attack in which one force surrounds
a city or fort
• Sam Houston – commander of the Texas forces
during the Texas War for Independence; later,
president of the Republic of Texas
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Terms and People (continued)
• annex – add on
• James K. Polk – U.S. president who negotiated
the boundaries of Oregon Country; later, he
provoked the Mexican-American War
• cede – give up
• John C. Frémont – an American who took
command of the Bear Flag Rebellion in California
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
What were the causes and effects
of the Texas War for Independence
and the Mexican-American War?
Texans revolted against the Mexican
government when it became a dictatorship.
The United States and Mexico went to war
over a border dispute.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
In 1820, Texas’s Spanish governor gave Moses
Austin a land grant to establish a colony there.
After Moses died, his son, Stephen Austin, led
300 Americans into Texas, shortly before Mexico
won independence from Spain.
Mexico agreed to let Austin keep his colony if the
colonists became Catholic Mexican citizens.
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Growing Conflict in Texas
Religion
and
Slavery
• The thousands of Americans who settled in
Texas were Protestant, not Catholic.
A Ban on
Americans
• In 1830, Mexico banned further American
settlement, but Americans kept coming to
Texas.
• The settlers were also slaveholders who
wanted to grow cotton in Texas, but Mexico
had abolished slavery.
• Mexico also began to levy heavy taxes on
American imports.
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In 1833, General Antonio López de Santa Anna
became president of Mexico, and he soon started
a dictatorship.
These events dashed the hopes of:
American settlers who
wanted more
representation in the
Mexican legislature
Tejanos (Texans of
Mexican descent) who
wanted a more
democratic government
In 1836, Texans declared independence from
Mexico and created the Republic of Texas.
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Santa Anna’s
troops laid siege
to the Alamo, a
San Antonio
mission where 185
Anglo-Americans
and Tejanos were
gathered.
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The
defenders of
the Alamo
held out for
12 days, but
they were all
eventually
killed.
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A few months later,
Sam Houston and the
Texas forces attacked
San Jacinto and
captured Santa Anna.
They forced him to
sign a treaty
recognizing Texan
independence.
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Sam Houston, president of the new Republic
of Texas, hoped the United States would
annex Texas.
Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren
would not support annexation, fearing that the
addition of a slave state would split the country.
Almost 10 years after Texas became independent,
it still had not become an American state.
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The Presidential Election of 1844 and
the Annexation of Texas and Oregon
Election of
1844
• Whig party nominee Henry Clay tried to avoid
the issue of Texas annexation.
• When campaigning for President, the
Democratic party nominee James K. Polk
called for the annexation of both Texas and
Oregon, and he won the election.
Annexation
of Texas
and Oregon
• Shortly before Polk took office, President John
Tyler asked Congress to annex Texas.
• Congress voted in favor of the annexation in
1845, and Texas quickly agreed.
• Polk negotiated with Britain to divide Oregon,
and the land the U.S. received eventually
became Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
The annexation of Texas increased tensions with
Mexico, because it had never formally recognized
Texan independence.
The United States and Mexico also disagreed on the
location of the southern boundary of Texas.
Polk offered
Mexico money to
settle the dispute
and to purchase
California and
New Mexico.
Not wanting to
cede more land
to the United
States, Mexico
refused Polk’s
offer.
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Polk then tried to provoke Mexico into war by
sending troops into the disputed land.
Mexican troops
attacked Americans.
Congress declared war on Mexico, saying
Mexico had forced its hand.
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Many northerners were against the war and
thought Polk was trying to extend slavery.
Most Americans, especially southerners
and westerners, supported the MexicanAmerican War.
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Troops attacked
Mexico on two fronts.
John C. Frémont and
Stephen Kearney moved
west from Fort
Leavenworth to take
control of California.
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Before they even reached California, settlers near
San Francisco began their own armed revolt.
The settlers raised a grizzly bear flag and declared
California an independent republic.
Frémont took command of the Bear Flag Rebellion.
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U.S. General Zachary
Taylor marched south
from the Rio Grande
River and defeated a
large Mexican force at
Buena Vista.
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U.S. General Winfield
Scott captured Veracruz,
an important Mexican
port, and then forced
the Mexican army into
Mexico City.
Still, Santa Anna
would not surrender.
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On the other front, the
U.S. Navy blockaded
Mexico’s west coast.
The navy helped secure
California while another
fleet in the Gulf of
Mexico supported the
assault at Veracruz.
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Scott and his forces
attacked Chapultepec, a
stone palace above
Mexico City.
Like the Texans at the
Alamo, the Mexicans
fought bravely to defend
Chapultepec, but most
of them were killed.
After that defeat, Santa Anna left Mexico City.
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The Mexican Cession
Mexico recognized the U.S. annexation of
Texas and ceded a vast territory that
included present-day California, Nevada,
and Utah, as well as parts of Wyoming,
Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.
In return, the United States paid $18 million
to Mexico.
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In the Gadsen Purchase of 1853, the United States paid
Mexico $10 million for a narrow strip of present-day
Arizona and New Mexico.
The United
States had
achieved
Manifest
Destiny.