Transcript Manifest Destiny

Chapter 7 Manifest Destiny
By Neil Hammond
Spanish Territory 1820
American expansionists believed in the idea
of Manifest Destiny. John L. O’Sullivan,
a journalist, coined the phrase in 1845.
Manifest Destiny was the belief that God
favored U.S. expansion westward to the Pacific.
Expansionists saw Mexican independence
as an opportunity to take New Mexico, Texas,
Oregon and California.
Expansionists did not
care about Mexicans
or Native Americans,
whom they saw as
inferiors to be pushed
out of the way.
Expansionists could
be found in the North
and the South. The
main effect of this
expansion was a
renewed sectional
struggle over slavery.
How did the revolution in Texas lead to
war with Mexico?
American expansionists sought new
territory in the South and West, making
conflict with Mexico seem inevitable.
The flashpoint for conflict became Texas.
The resulting war vastly increased the size
of the United States.
American expansionists had their eyes on Texas.
Only 4,000 Hispanic Tejanos lived there in 1821.
Mexico sought to defend and to develop Texas by
inviting settlers. They offered inexpensive land on
three conditions. Settlers had to:
•
accept Mexican citizenship.
•
worship in the Catholic Church.
•
follow the Mexican Constitution,
which did not permit slavery.
American settlers arrived, but tensions grew as
Americans ignored the Mexican government.
•
Led by Stephen F. Austin, 30,000 Anglo-Texans
outnumbered the Tejanos six-to-one by 1835.
•
Many brought slaves and ignored the Church.
•
In 1834, Antonio López de Santa Anna
seized power in Mexico City, seeking greater
centralized control. But Texans wanted more
autonomy.
•
In 1835, Texans declared
independence for the
Lone Star Republic.
•
Santa Anna personally led
a siege of Texan forces at
the Alamo in San Antonio.
•
After twelve days, he
stormed the mission and
executed any surviving
defenders, including Jim
Bowie and Davy Crockett.
Several weeks later, Santa Anna took Goliad
and again executed prisoners, in an attempt
to frighten Texas into surrender.
Instead, Santa Anna created a set of martyrs.
“Remember the Alamo,” became the Texans’
rallying cry.
Many Southerners were inspired to volunteer
and joined the Texans.
Sam Houston led a
counter-attack.
At the Battle of San
Jacinto, Santa Anna was
defeated and taken
prisoner.
Fearing execution, Santa Anna signed a treaty
expanding the Texas border to the Rio Grande
and giving half of New Mexico to the Texans.
•
The Mexican government refused to honor this
treaty demanding a return to the original border
at the Nueces River.
•
Fighting would persist for ten years over the
disputed borderlands.
•
The Mexican government
refused to honor this treaty
demanding a return to the
original border at the
Nueces River.
•
Fighting would persist for
ten years over the disputed
borderlands.
•
Fearing a Mexican invasion,
Texans signed treaties with
Great Britain, France and
the Netherlands.
•
The US felt this threatened
the Monroe Doctrine, and in
1845 Congress voted to
annex Texas
In 1844, expansionist James K. Polk
was elected president on a promise
to obtain both Oregon and Texas.
In Congress, northern Democrats
reluctantly agreed to annex Texas if
all of Oregon was also added. Some
Americans aggressively cried 54’40
or Fight! (claiming all of Oregon).
Britain did not concede all of the territory. Rather then
fight, Polk made a deal to split Oregon and extend the
49th parallel border with Canada to the Pacific Ocean.
Northerners felt betrayed. Polk agreed because he
thought war with Mexico was coming
The United States
annexed Texas in
1845, leading to
war with Mexico.
•
President Polk claimed
all land as far as the
Rio Grande, tripling the
previous size of Texas.
•
General Zachary Taylor
was sent to occupy these
border lands.
•
Mexico objected to the
granting of statehood to
Texas and saw statehood
as an invasion of Mexican
territory.
The Slidell Mission
 Hoping
to get the land without
going to war, Polk sent John
Slidell to Mexico with an offer to
buy California from Mexico, but
Mexico refused
When Mexican patrols killed American
soldiers, Congress declared war on Mexico.
•
Southern Democrats favored war, while Northern
Whigs felt that Polk deliberately provoked Mexico.
•
The war was popular in the United States.
•
Many Whigs dropped their opposition, fearing they
would be labeled disloyal as the Federalists were
for opposing the War of 1812.
The United States easily defeated Mexico.
The U.S. had many advantages, including greater
wealth and a better-equipped military.
General Winfield Scott led an overwhelming
campaign in Mexico from Veracruz to Chapultepec,
forcing Santa Anna to abandon his capital Mexico
City and the war.
Map of the
Mexican–
American
War
As a result
of the loss,
Mexico was
forced to sign
the Treaty of
Guadalupe
Hidalgo.
•
Mexico had to sell a third of
its territory to the United
States (1.2 million square
miles).
•
For $15 million, the U.S.
obtained California and New
Mexico. The Texas border
was set at the Rio Grande
River.
•
Mexico was humiliated and
remained bitter toward the
United States for decades.
In 1853, the
United States
made the
Gadsden
Purchase.
•
Territory in southern Arizona
and New Mexico was
purchased from Mexico as
a potential route for a
transcontinental railroad.
•
The lands obtained from
Mexico increased the area of
the United States by a third.
•
The land formed New
Mexico, California, Nevada,
Utah, Arizona, and half of
Colorado.
Purchase of the Mexican Cession caused
a debate over the expansion of slavery.
•
In 1846, the Wilmot Proviso suggested a ban
on slavery in the territories obtained from Mexico.
•
The Proviso passed in the House, but failed in the
Senate. Both Whigs and Democrats voted along
sectional lines.
•
The Proviso brought the issue of slavery before
Congress, which for decades tried avoid the topic.
In 1848, gold was found
at Sutter’s Mill on the
American River near
Sacramento, California.
The resulting California Gold
Rush brought a mass-migration
of 80,000 fortune hunters west.
They were called forty-niners. Half
traveled overland; the rest either sailed around
South America or to Panama, where they crossed the
isthmus and caught ships up the coast.
The discovery of gold led to a flood of people going
to California. Very quickly, California had enough
people to become a state. When California asked
to become a state in 1850, it caused a crisis (like
the one in 1820 when Missouri wanted to become a
state).