Transcript TAJ Chapter 12b - Leon County Schools

Rivalry in the Northwest
• In the early 1800s, four nations claimed
the Oregon country–the huge area that lay
between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky
Mountains north of California. 
• Those nations were the United States,
Britain, Spain, and Russia.
(pages 356–358)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
Rivalry in the Northwest (cont.)
• The United States wanted to annex the
Oregon country in order to gain access to
the Pacific, but this required getting the
other three nations to give up their claims. 
• Spain’s claim was extinguished in 1819
with the signing of the Adams-Onís Treaty,
in which Spain agreed to limit its Pacific
coast claims to the area south of
California’s northern border. 
• In 1824 Russia surrendered its claim
to any land south of Alaska.
(pages 356–358)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
Rivalry in the Northwest (cont.)
• Britain refused to give up its claim to
Oregon when President John Quincy
Adams proposed dividing Oregon at the
49th parallel in 1825. 
• As a result, the United States and Britain
agreed to extend an 1818 agreement for
joint occupation of the area.
(pages 356–358)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
Rivalry in the Northwest (cont.)
• The first Americans to reach the Oregon
country were trappers and traders looking
for beaver furs. 
• Because they spent much of their time
hunting and trapping in the Rocky
Mountains, they were often called
mountain men. 
• The mountain men lived a rough life, but
their wanderings through the wilderness
made them very familiar with the
mountains, rivers, and trails of the West.
(pages 356–358)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
Rivalry in the Northwest (cont.)
• Some mountain men opened up new trails
through the wilderness. 
• After most of the beavers were gone due
to extensive hunting, mountain men found
new work leading groups of settlers to the
West.
(pages 356–358)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
Settling Oregon
• American settlers began traveling to the
Oregon country in the 1830s, lured by
reports of abundant, fertile land. 
• The first large-scale trip west took place
in 1843 when more than 1,000 pioneers
left Independence, Missouri, for Oregon. 
• In the years that followed, tens of
thousands of Americans made the trip.
(page 358)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
Settling Oregon (cont.)
• Among the earliest American settlers in
Oregon were Dr. Marcus Whitman and his
wife Narcissa. 
• They built a Christian mission among the
Cayuse people. 
• Some settlers at the mission unknowingly
infected the Cayuse with measles, which
killed many of their children. 
• Angered, the Cayuse attacked the
mission in November 1847, killing the
Whitmans and several others. 
• But this tragedy did not stop the flow of
(page 358)
settlers to Oregon.
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
Settling Oregon (cont.)
• Pioneers headed for Oregon began their
trip in Missouri and traveled for 2,000 miles
along the Oregon Trail. 
• The trail crossed the Great Plains, wound
its way through the Rocky Mountains
following the South Pass, then followed
the Snake and Columbia Rivers into the
Oregon country. 
• Most Oregon-bound settlers traveled in
canvas-covered wagons called prairie
schooners.
(page 358)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
The Division of Oregon
• Most Oregon settlers headed for the fertile
Willamette Valley, south of the Columbia
River. 
• Between 1840 and 1845, the population
of American settlers in the area rose from
500 to 5,000. 
• The British population remained at about
700.
(pages 359–360)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
The Division of Oregon (cont.)
• While settlers were streaming into Oregon
in the 1840s, the idea of Manifest Destiny
was taking hold in the United States. 
• It held that the United States was blessed
by God and destined to overspread the
North American continent and expand its
boundaries to the Pacific. 
• The idea of Manifest Destiny made
Americans, including those who
emigrated to Oregon, more determined
than ever to annex the Oregon country
and remove Britain’s claim.
(pages 359–360)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
The Division of Oregon (cont.)
• Oregon became an issue in the
presidential election of 1844. 
• James K. Polk, the Democratic candidate,
ran using the slogan “Fifty-four Forty or
Fight.” 
• The slogan referred to the line of latitude
at 54°40’N, which Democrats thought
should be the nation’s northern border in
Oregon. 
• Polk’s opponent, Henry Clay (a Whig), did
not take as strong a stand as Polk on
annexing Oregon, and lost the election.
(pages 359–360)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
The Division of Oregon (cont.)
• Determined to make Oregon part of the
United States, but unable to get Britain to
agree to a boundary at 54°40” N–which
would have turned over almost the whole
territory to the United States–Polk decided
to compromise. 
• Polk concluded an agreement with Britain
in June 1846 that split Oregon at 49°N,
with the area south of that line becoming
a territory of the United States.
(pages 359–360)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
A Clash of Cultures
• In the early 1800s, few people lived in
Texas, which was part of Mexico’s northern
frontier. 
• But the Spanish, who controlled Texas,
wanted to promote settlement there. 
• As a result, they offered huge tracts of
land to people, called empresarios,
who offered to bring families to Texas
and settle them there.
(pages 362–365)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
A Clash of Cultures (cont.)
• The first Texas land grant went to Moses
Austin in 1821. 
• He agreed to bring a number of settlers
to Texas, but died before he could
organize the project. 
• After Moses died, his son Stephen F.
Austin recruited 300 settlers to live on
land along the Brazos and Colorado
Rivers in Texas.
(pages 362–365)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
A Clash of Cultures (cont.)
• Mexico wanted to encourage settlers from
many places, not just the United States, to
settle in Texas. 
• To attract new settlers, Mexico passed
laws giving cheap land to people who
promised to learn Spanish, convert to
Catholicism, and obey Mexican law. 
• But most Texas settlers continued to be
Americans who declined to adopt Mexican
ways.
(pages 362–365)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
A Clash of Cultures (cont.)
• By 1830 there were more Americans than
Mexicans in Texas. 
• Alarmed by the number of Americans,
and aware that the United States
wanted to acquire Texas, Mexico
forbade further immigration from the
United States to Texas, and
discouraged trade with the United
States by taxing American goods.
(pages 362–365)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
A Clash of Cultures (cont.)
• Texans were angered by the ban on
American immigration and the taxes on
trade. 
• Stephen F. Austin went to Mexico City to
ask Mexico’s president, Antonio López
de Santa Anna, to remove the settlement
ban and make Texas a separate state. 
• He agreed to the first demand but not
the second.
(pages 362–365)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
A Clash of Cultures (cont.)
• Soon thereafter, Santa Anna declared
himself dictator and overthrew Mexico’s
1824 constitution. 
• These actions encouraged an increasing
number of American settlers in Texas to
seek independence.
(pages 362–365)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
The Struggle for Independence
• The first fight of the Texan Revolution
occurred in October 1835 at the town of
Gonzales. 
• After this skirmish, Texans asked for
volunteers to help them fight Mexico. 
• In December the Texans scored their first
important victory as they liberated San
Antonio from a larger Mexican force.
(pages 365–367)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
The Struggle for Independence
(cont)
• Santa Anna, furious at the loss
of San Antonio, marched north to retake
the settlement and found only a small
force barricaded inside a nearby mission
called the Alamo. 
• The defenders at the Alamo, including
Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, held off
with rifle fire the larger and better-armed
Mexican force for 12 days.
(pages 365–367)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
The Struggle for Independence
(cont)
• On March 6, 1836, after Mexican cannon
fire smashed the Alamo’s walls, Mexicans
soldiers attacked, killing almost everyone
inside. 
• “Remember the Alamo” became a rallying
cry for Texas rebels during the rest of the
war with Mexico.
(pages 365–367)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
The Struggle for Independence
• The siege of the Alamo bought
the Texas rebels time. 
(cont)
• While Santa Anna was preoccupied
with the band of rebels at the Alamo,
American settlers and Tejanos
declared the independent Republic of
Texas and named Sam Houston chief
of the Texas forces.
(pages 365–367)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
The Struggle for Independence
(cont)
• At the Battle of San Jacinto, the
forces of Houston and Santa Anna
clashed. 
• The battle started on April 21, 1836, when
the Texans launched a surprise attack on
the Mexican camp. 
• They killed about 600 of the 1300-man
force, and captured 700 other soldiers,
including Santa Anna. 
• After less than one year of fighting, the
war was over.
(pages 365–367)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
The Struggle for Independence
• Santa Anna signed a treaty
recognizing the independence
of Texas on May 14, 1836.
(cont)
(pages 365–367)
The Lone Star Republic
• In September 1836, Texans elected Sam
Houston the first president of their new
republic. 
• Houston sent a delegation to Washington
to ask President Andrew Jackson to
annex Texas. But Jackson refused. 
• Texas would enter the Union as a slave
state, which would upset the balance of
free states and slave states in Congress
at the time. 
• Jackson did not want to open up that
conflict, even to get Texas.
(pages 367–368)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
The Lone Star Republic (cont.)
• Texas was forced to remain independent
during a very difficult time. 
• The republic was deeply in debt. 
• Also, the government of Mexico refused
to accept Santa Anna’s recognition of
Texas’s independence. 
• As a result, sporadic fighting between
Mexican and Texan forces continued.
(pages 367–368)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
The Lone Star Republic (cont.)
• Texas remained independent throughout
the administrations of Martin Van Buren
and John Tyler. 
• But when James Polk, a strong believer
in Manifest Destiny, became president in
1844, the situation changed. 
• Polk wanted Texas. 
• With Polk’s support, Congress passed
a resolution to annex Texas. 
• On December 29, 1845, Texas became
a state.
(pages 367–368)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
The New Mexico Territory
• In the early 1800s, New Mexico was the
name of a vast region between California
and Texas. 
• The Spanish started exploration of the
area in the late 1500s and made it part of
the Spanish colony of Mexico.
(pages 369–370)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
The New Mexico Territory (cont.)
• When Mexico won its independence in
1821, New Mexico became part of an
independent Mexico. 
• But Mexico maintained very loose control
over the area, allowing New Mexico a
large degree of self-government.
(pages 369–370)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
The New Mexico Territory (cont.)
• To boost its economy, Mexico welcomed
American traders. 
• William Becknell was the first trader to
reach Santa Fe, the main settlement in
the New Mexico region. 
• He discovered that he could sell his
merchandise in New Mexico for many
times what he would have received for
it back in St. Louis. 
• When word spread, other traders
followed.
(pages 369–370)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
The New Mexico Territory (cont.)
• Becknell’s route to New Mexico became
known as the Santa Fe Trail. 
• The trail was used until the arrival of the
railroad in 1880. 
• As trade with New Mexico increased, so
did the number of Americans who went
there to settle. 
• As the idea of Manifest Destiny took hold,
many Americans thought the United
States should acquire New Mexico.
(pages 369–370)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
California’s Spanish Culture
• Spanish explorers and missionaries were
the first European settlers in California. 
• Starting in the 1760s, the Spanish set up
a chain of missions, settlements run by
priests, near the California coast between
San Diego and Sonoma. 
• There were 21 missions by 1820. 
• They were an important part of Spain’s
plan to colonize and extend control over
California.
(pages 370–371)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
California’s Spanish Culture (cont.)
• When Mexico became independent in
1821, California became a state of
Mexico. 
• In 1833 the government of Mexico
abolished the missions. 
• Mexico sold huge tracts of mission land
to settlers, who set up large farms and
cattle ranches called ranchos. 
• The owners of the ranchos, called
rancheros, used Native Americans
to tend their farms and cattle.
(pages 370–371)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
California’s Spanish Culture (cont.)
• By the early 1800s, Americans had been
arriving in California for many years on
trading or whaling ships that stopped along
the coast, or as travelers (such as
mountain men) who had come overland
from the East. 
• In the 1840s American families began to
settle in California. 
• But by 1845 the number of Americans in
California was still only about 700.
(pages 370–371)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
California’s Spanish Culture (cont.)
• As more and more people who had seen
California sent glowing reports about its
mild climate, natural resources, and beauty
to friends and families in the eastern
United States, an increasing number of
Americans became interested in settling
California and adding it to the United
States. 
• President Polk twice offered to buy
California and New Mexico from Mexico
during the mid-1840s, but was turned
down.
(pages 370–371)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
War With Mexico
• The annexation of Texas by the United
States in 1845 worsened relations
between Mexico and the United States,
which had already been bad for years. 
• The two countries also could not agree on
the border between Texas and Mexico. 
• The United States placed the border at
the Rio Grande, while Mexico claimed it
was at the Nueces River, 150 miles
farther north.
(pages 371–374)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
War With Mexico (cont.)
• The United States offered Mexico $30
million for California and New Mexico if
Mexico would accept the Rio Grande as
the boundary of Texas. 
• Mexico refused the offer and announced
its intention to retake Texas.
(pages 371–374)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
War With Mexico (cont.)
• In response the United States sent troops
under General Zachary Taylor across the
disputed territory between the Nueces and
the Rio Grande. 
• Mexican soldiers attacked some of
Taylor’s troops in this disputed area on
April 24, 1846. 
• Americans who wanted war with Mexico
claimed that Mexico had shed American
blood on American soil. 
• Many Americans turned their anger on
Mexico, and on May 11, Congress
(pages 371–374)
declared war on Mexico.
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
War With Mexico (cont.)
• Some Americans opposed war with
Mexico. 
• Abraham Lincoln, a member of Congress,
thought Taylor’s troops had been attacked
in Mexican territory, meaning there were
no grounds for retaliation or war. 
• Some people, such as antislavery activist
Frederick Douglass, feared that
expansion into the West would carry
slavery with it.
(pages 371–374)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
War With Mexico (cont.)
• Polk had a three-part plan to win the war
with Mexico. 
• First, drive Mexican troops out of the
disputed territory in Texas north of the
Nueces River and secure the Texas
border. 
• Second, seize New Mexico and
California. 
• Third, capture Mexico’s capital, Mexico
City.
(pages 371–374)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
War With Mexico (cont.)
• General Zachary Taylor accomplished the
first goal by the first part of 1847. 
• American forces under General Stephen
Watts Kearny captured Santa Fe, the
capital of New Mexico, without a fight on
August 18, 1846. 
• Kearny then led his troops overland
toward California.
(pages 371–374)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
War With Mexico (cont.)
• In June 1846 a small group of Americans
seized the town of Sonoma, north of San
Francisco, and proclaimed the
independent Republic of California. 
• It was also called the Bear Flag Republic
after the illustration of a bear on its flag.
(pages 371–374)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
War With Mexico (cont.)
• In July 1846 an American naval squadron
captured the ports of Monterey and San
Francisco. 
• The commander of the squadron,
Commodore John Sloat, declared
California a part of the United States. 
• Sloat then went on to capture San Diego
and Los Angeles. 
• By January 1847 California was fully
under the control of the United States.
(pages 371–374)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
War With Mexico (cont.)
• In September 1847 American forces
under the command of General Winfield
Scott captured Mexico City, completing
the last part of President Polk’s plan to
win the war with Mexico.
(pages 371–374)
War With Mexico (cont.)
• The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended
the war with Mexico. 
• It was signed in February 1848. 
• In the treaty, Mexico gave up all claims to
Texas and fixed the Texas border at the
Rio Grande. 
• In what is called the Mexican Cession,
Mexico also gave California and New
Mexico to the United States in return for
$15 million.
(pages 371–374)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
War With Mexico (cont.)
• In 1853 the United States paid Mexico an
additional $10 million for a strip of land
along the southern edge of present-day
Arizona and New Mexico, called the
Gadsden Purchase. 
• With the Gadsden Purchase, the adjoining
48 states of the mainland reached its
present size.
(pages 371–374)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
California Gold Rush
• The discovery of gold along California’s
American River in early 1848 set off a gold
rush that brought thousands of people into
California from all over the world. 
• Boomtowns sprang up almost overnight
in northern California as the result of the
gold rush. 
• The gold rush also was responsible for
the growth of San Francisco, which
served as a port of entry for gold-seekers
arriving in California by ship.
(pages 375–377)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
California Gold Rush (cont.)
• Very few of the miners achieved lasting
wealth, and most people found little or no
gold. 
• Of those that did strike it rich, most lost
their money through gambling or wild
spending. 
• Merchants did make lots of money by
charging miners inflated prices for the
things they needed.
(pages 375–377)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
California Gold Rush (cont.)
• The gold rush lasted just a few years but
had lasting effects on California. 
• The gold rush expanded trade, shipping,
and agriculture to meet the miners’ needs
for food and other goods. 
• The population also soared when many
people who had come looking for gold
decided to stay in California.
(pages 375–377)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
California Gold Rush (cont.)
• Rapid growth in California brought the
need for more effective government. 
• Californians wrote a state constitution in
1849 and applied for statehood in March
1850. 
• Because California’s constitution banned
slavery, representatives from slave states
did not want California to join the Union. 
• California, as a free state, would upset the
balance between free and slave states in
Congress.
(pages 375–377)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
California Gold Rush (cont.)
• As a result California had to wait six
months for statehood, while a compromise
was worked out.
(pages 375–377)
A Religious Refuge in Utah
• The Mormons, members of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were the
first non-Native American settlers of the
Utah area. 
• Joseph Smith founded the Church in
1830 in New York State. 
• He formed a religious community, which
was unpopular with its neighbors. 
• The Mormons were forced to move
several times, from New York to Ohio,
to Missouri, and then to Illinois.
(pages 377–378)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
A Religious Refuge in Utah (cont.)
• In 1844 a mob in Illinois killed Smith. 
• Brigham Young took over as head of the
church, and moved the Mormon
community to the area near Great Salt
Lake in what was then the New Mexico
territory of Mexico.
(pages 377–378)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
A Religious Refuge in Utah (cont.)
• About 12,000 Mormons began the journey
in 1846. 
• In the midst of the harsh desert of Utah,
they founded a community called Deseret,
later changed to Salt Lake City. 
• The Mormons built irrigation canals to
water their farms and started local
industries so they could be self-sufficient.
(pages 377–378)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.
A Religious Refuge in Utah (cont.)
• The United States acquired the Salt Lake
area in 1848 with the Mexican Cession. 
• Two years later, Congress established the
Utah Territory. 
• While most areas in the West wanted to
be a part of the United States, the
Mormons preferred their independence
and often had conflicts with federal
authority. 
• Utah did not become a state until 1896.
(pages 377–378)
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the information.