Foner Ch 13A The 1840s

Chapter Focus Questions

• What was manifest destiny?

• What were the major differences between the Oregon, Texas, and California frontiers?

• What were the most important consequences of the Mexican-American War?

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The original and final designs for Thomas Crawford’sStatue of Freedom Jefferson Davis, Sec of War, had liberty cap changed.

The Fur Trade

• Greatest spur to exploration in North America

• Not until 1820s could American companies challenge the British.

• Trappers known as mountain men:– accommodated themselves to local Indians,– rarely came in contact with whites and,– might be viewed as advance guard of market

revolution.

The Fur Trade (cont'd)

• By the 1840s, however, the beaver was virtually trapped out.

Government-Sponsored Exploration

• Federal government promoted western expansion by sending out exploratory & scientific expeditions that mapped the West and brought back artists’ re-creations.

• Easterners avidly followed the explorations and the books and maps they published, fueling national pride and expansionism.

MAP 14.2 Indian Territory before the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854

Indian Territory before the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854

Expansion and Indian Policy

• Government policy – West as a refuge for removed eastern Indians

• Encroachment on new Indian territory

• Further land concessions from western tribes, though tribes in Oklahoma held on to their lands until after Civil War

Expansion and Indian Policy

• The major battles between whites and Indians in the West occurred after Civil War.

Manifest Destiny, an Expansionist Ideology

• 1845: journalist John O’Sullivan – “manifest destiny”—Americans had a God-

given right to spread across the continent and conquer.

Manifest Destiny, an Expansionist Ideology

• Democrats saw expansion as cure for national ills by providing new opportunities in West.

• Whigs feared expansion would bring up slavery issue.

The Overland Trails• The great trails started at the Missouri River.

• The Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails followed the Platte River into Wyoming.

• The 2,000-mile Overland Trail was a long, expensive, and hazardous journey.

• Pioneers traveled in groups and often hired a pilot who knew the terrain.

Oregon

• The mid-1840s “Oregon Fever”—promise of free land.

• 1846: Canadian border redrawn to current location

MAP 14.3 The Overland Trails, 1840

Fruits of Manifest Destiny

• Continental Expansion– 1840s - slavery moved to center stage of American

politics because of territorial expansion.

– Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821.

• The northern frontier of Mexico was California, New Mexico, and Texas.

The Santa Fé Trade

• After independence, Mexico welcomed American trade along Santa Fé Trail.

• American trappers and traders assimilated into local population.

• Society of mixed race and culture was typical of early frontier.

• Profits were high.

A watercolor of a scene on a ranch near Monterey

Map 13.1 The Trans-Mississippi West, 1830s–1840s

Texas: From Mexican Province to U.S. State

Mexican Texas

• In Texas, multiethnic settlements revolved around the presidio, mission, and rancho.

• Vaqueros, often mixed-race mestizos, were model for American “cowboy.”

• Mexican authorities sought American settlement as way of providing buffer between its heartland and the Comanche.

Americans in Texas• Starting in 1821, Mexico granted land to American

settlers.• Stephen F. Austin promoted American emigration.

• Generally, slaveholders came to grow cotton in their self-contained enclaves.

• Americans viewed Texas as extension of Mississippi and Louisiana.

Americans in Texas (cont’d)

• For brief period Texas was big enough to hold Comanche, Mexican, and American communities:

– Mexicans maintained ranches and missions in the South.

– Americans farmed eastern and south central sections.

– Comanche held their hunting grounds on the frontier.

Commanche Village Life

Mexican Frontier: New Mexico & California

– Indians vastly outnumbered non-Indians in California in 1821.

• The Texas Revolt– First part of Mexico to be settled by significant

numbers of Americans was Texas.• Moses Austin

Texans and Tejanos

• Alliance between Americans and Tejanos

• Tejano elite welcomed U.S. entrepreneurs and shared power with them.

• The Mexican state was unstable and the conservative centralists decided Americans had too much power and tried to crack down on local autonomy.

The Texas Revolt

– Alarmed that its grip on the area was weakening, in 1830 the Mexican government annulled existing land contracts and barred future emigration from the United States.

• Stephen Austin led call from American settlers demanding greater autonomy within Mexico.

– General Santa Anna sent an army in 1835 to impose central authority.

Texans and Tejanos

• Tejanos played key roles in the Texas Revolution, though once independence was secured they were excluded from positions of power.

• Frontier pattern of dealing with native people was:– first, blending with them– second, occupying the land– third, excluding or removing native settlers.

The Texas Revolt

– Rebels formed a provisional government that soon called for Texan independence.

– Texas desired annexation by the United States, but neither Jackson nor Van Buren took action because of political concerns about adding another slave state.

Americans in Texas (cont’d)

• War broke out in 1835. • The Mexican army overwhelmed Americans

at the Alamo.

• At San Jacinto River, Sam Houston’s victory led to a treaty granting independence to Republic of Texas and fixing southern boundary at the Rio Grande.

Americans in Texas (cont’d)

• BUT the Mexican Congress refused to ratify the treaty and continued to claim Texas.

Republic of Texas

• The Texas Republic developed after the United States rejected admission for fear of rekindling slave state/free state conflicts.

• Within the republic, conflicts between Anglos and Tejanos grew as Americans assumed themselves to be racially and culturally superior.

Election of 1844

– James Polk, a Tennessee slaveholder and friend of Jackson, received the Democratic nomination instead of Van Buren.

• Supported Texas annexation• Supported “reoccupation” of all of Oregon

Polk Elected 1844

• President Tyler raised issue of annexation in early 1844 with hopes of re-election—debate over the ramifications of annexation ensued.

• Polk won 1844 election after calling for “the re-occupation of Oregon and the re-annexation of Texas at the earliest practicable period.”

1844 Election

• 1844 election was widely interpreted as a mandate for expansion.

• Texas became a state in 1845, becoming twenty-eighth state of the Union and fifteenth slave state.

The plaza in San Antonio not long after theUnited States annexed Texas in 1845

The Road to War

– Polk had four clearly defined goals:• Reduce the tariff• Reestablish the Independent Treasury system• Settle the Oregon dispute• Bring California into the Union

– Polk initiated war with Mexico to get California.

The Mexican-American War

Origins of the War

• James K. Polk was committed to expanding U.S. territory.

• He peacefully settled the Oregon controversy.

• Increasing tensions with Mexico led that nation to break diplomatic relations with the United States.

Origins of the War (cont'd)

• Polk wanted to extend U.S. territory to the Pacific and encouraged takeover of California.

• A border dispute led Polk to order troops to defend Texas.

Mr. Polk’s War• The dispute with Mexico erupted into war after

that nation refused to receive Polk’s envoy and a brief skirmish occurred on Texas-Mexico border.

• The war was politically divisive, particularly among opponents of slavery and northerners.

• Mass and individual protests occurred.

MAP 14.5 The Mexican-American War, 1846–48

Map 13.2 The Mexican War, 1846–1848

General Winfield Scott’s amphibious attack on the Mexican coastal city of Veracruz in March 1847

Mr. Polk’s War (cont’d)

• Polk planned the war strategy, sending troops into northern provinces of Mexico, conquering New Mexico and California. Victories in Mexico came hard.

•

• Fierce Mexican resistance was met by American brutality against Mexican citizens.

• When General Scott captured Mexico City, war ended.

Mr. Polk’s War (cont'd)

• Polk had ambitions of taking more territory, but strong opposition made him accept the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

MAP 14.6 Territory Added, 1845–53

The Press and Popular War Enthusiasm • Mexican-American War was first conflict featuring

regular, on-the-scene reporting made possible by the telegraph.

• War reports united Americans into a temporary, emotional community.

• Popular war heroes like Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott later became presidential candidates.

War News from Mexico

The War and Its Critics

– Although majority of Americans supported the war, vocal minority feared the only aim of war was to acquire new land for expansion of slavery.

• Henry David Thoreau wrote “On Civil Disobedience.”

• Abraham Lincoln questioned Polk’s right to declare war.

Combat in Mexico

– Combat took place on three fronts:• California and the “bear flag republic”• General Stephen Kearney and Santa Fe• Winfield Scott and central Mexico

– Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848

Race and Manifest Destiny

– A region that for centuries had been united was suddenly split in two, dividing families and severing trade routes.

• “Male citizens” were guaranteed American rights.• Indians were described as “savage tribes.”

– Territorial expansion gave a new stridency to ideas about racial superiority.

Redefining Race

– Mexico had abolished slavery and declared persons of Spanish, Indian, and African origin equal before the law.

– Texas constitution adopted after independence not only included protections for slavery

– but denied civil rights to Indians and persons of African origin.

Gold-Rush California

– California’s gold-rush population was incredibly diverse.

– Explosive population growth and fierce competition for gold worsened conflicts among California’s many racial and ethnic groups.

Map 13.4 Continental Expansion through 1853

Russian-Californio Trade

• In 1841 Russia gave up Ft. Ross and abandoned the California trade.

Fruits of Manifest Destiny

• California and the Boundaries of Freedom– The boundaries of freedom in California were

tightly drawn.

• Indians, Asians, and blacks were all prohibited basic rights.

• Thousands of Indian children, declared orphans, were bought and sold as slaves.

Gold!

• January 1848 discovery– Triggered massive gold rush of white

Americans, Mexicans, Chinese

• Few miners struck it rich

• Entry port and supply point, San Francisco grew from village of 1,000 in 1848 to city of 35,000 in 1850.

Gold! (cont'd)

• California’s white population grew by nearly tenfold.

• California gained enough residents to become a state in 1850.

FIGURE 14.2 Where the Forty-Niners Came From

Where the Forty-Niners Came From

Gold! (cont'd)

• Chinese first came to California in 1849.

• They were often forced off their claims.

• The Chinese worked as servants and in other menial occupations.

• Shunned by whites, Chinese retreated to “Chinatown” ethnic enclaves, especially in San Francisco.

Chinese first came to California in 1849 attracted by the gold rush.

Mining Camps

• Mining camps were generally miserable, squalid, temporary communities where racism was widespread.

• Most of the miners were young, unmarried, and unsuccessful.

Mining Camps

• Much more reliable way to earn wealth was to supply the miners.

• Levi Strauss (Blue jeans, etc., profited from supplying miners

Mining Camps

• In the quest for gold, California Indians and Hispanics were shoved aside.

MAP 14.7 California in the Gold Rush

A Dose of Arsenic

• The Wilmot Proviso– In 1846 Congressman David Wilmot of

Pennsylvania proposed a resolution prohibiting slavery in all territory acquired from Mexico.

– In 1848 opponents of slavery’s expansion organized the Free Soil Party.

The Wilmot Proviso

• Northern Whigs opposed expansion on antislavery grounds.

• The Wilmot Proviso caused a controversy by seeking to ban slavery in the new territories.

• A bitter debate on the Proviso raised serious sectional issues and caused the first breakdown of the national party system.

The Free Soil Party

– The Free Soil position had a popular appeal in the North because it would limit southern power in the federal government.

– The Free Soil platform of 1848 called for barring slavery from western territories and for the federal government to provide homesteads to settlers without cost.

A Dose of Arsenic

• The Free Soil Appeal– Many southerners considered singling out slavery

as the one form of property barred from the West to be an affront to them and their way of life.

– Admission of new free states would overturn the delicate political balance between the sections and make the South a permanent minority.

The Politics of Manifest Destiny

• Between 1845 and 1848, the U.S. expanded by 70 percent.

• These new territories led directly to sectional debates and brought slavery to the forefront of national politics.

Campaign poster

The Free-Soil Movement

• The growth of the Liberty Party indicated northern public opinion was shifting toward an antislavery position.

• The Free-Soil Party offered a compromise for northern voters by focusing on stopping the spread of slavery.

The Free-Soil Movement

• Free-Soilers appealed to northern values of freedom and individualism, as well as racism, for they would ban all African Americans from the new territories.

The Election of 1848 (cont'd)

• In election of 1848, candidates had to discuss their views on the slavery expansion.

– Taylor won the election.• Taylor died in office.

Conclusion

Territorial Expansion of the United States, 1830s-1850s

The national expansion of the 1840s seemed to confirm the promise of manifest destiny but, as the election of 1848 revealed, also revealed political problems that, unresolved, would lead to civil war.

Expansion, rather than uniting the nation, nearly destroyed the one community all Americans shared in the federal Union.