Manifest Destiny in the 1840s

Unit 4 Essential Q’s

How did the idea of Manifest Destiny alter the identity of the United States?

Why did the Civil War occur and was Reconstruction successful?

President John Tyler 1841-1845

Whig

Presidential Rankings: C-Span Survey, 2009

1. Abraham Lincoln

2. Franklin Roosevelt

3. George Washington

4. Theodore Roosevelt

5. Harry Truman

6. John Kennedy

7. Thomas Jefferson

8. Dwight Eisenhower

9. Woodrow Wilson

10. Ronald Reagan

11. Lyndon Johnson

12. James Polk

13. Andrew Jackson

14. James Monroe

15. Bill Clinton

16. William McKinley

17. John Adams

18. George H.W. Bush

19. John Quincy Adams

20. James Madison

21. Grover Cleveland

22. Gerald Ford

23. Ulysses Grant

24. William Taft

25. Jimmy Carter

26. Calvin Coolidge

27. Richard Nixon

28. James Garfield

29. Zachary Taylor

30. Benjamin Harrison

31. Martin Van Buren

32. Chester Arthur

33. Rutherford Hayes

34. Herbert Hoover

35. John Tyler

36. George W. Bush

37. Millard Fillmore

38. Warren Harding

39. William Harrison

40. Franklin Pierce

41. Andrew Johnson

42. James Buchanan

Death of Harrison & Tyler’s Ascendancy

Harrison dies of pneumonia

Tyler – old-school, principled, VA

– Left Senate b/c of principles

– Left Democrats due to Jackson

– More of a minority Whig – believed in states’ rights – why he was put on ticket

– At odds with Whigs on everything

President William Henry

Harrison had only been in office

one month when he died of

pneumonia.

President w/o a Party

Whig platform - nationalistic

Financial reforms

– Bill to end Ind. Treasury – signed it

– New BUS – vetoed

– Fiscal corporation - vetoed

“His Accidency?”

– Death threats, burned in effigy

President w/o a Party

Whole cabinet resigned

– except Webster – negotiating with GB

– Expelled from Whig party

– House discussed impeachment

Tariff of 1842

– Vetoed b/c revenue went to states - $ should stay with fed govt

– Redraft of tariff to 32% - signed

War of Words with GB Why anti-British?

– Memories of wars – Rev and War of 1812

– Travel books described America as crude

– British magazines

– Britain mad about unpaid loans to U.S.

– America helps Canadians revolt – supplies and armed service

Caroline (steamship) - 1837 – American ship was carrying supplies to

insurgents across Niagara River

– Attacked on NY shore, set on fire

– Propaganda depicted it worse

War of Words with GB

Caroline

– Canadian McLeod arrested and indicted for murder

– London Foreign office said execution – war

– McLeod freed after trial

Creole

– British offered asylum to 130 VA slaves who had rebelled and captured American Creole ship in Bahamas

– More tension

Manipulating Maine Maps Aroostook War

– British want to build a road from Halifax to Quebec – go through disputed territory

– Lumberjacks from Maine and Canada come to Aroostook Valley – summoned militias

Webster-Ashburton Treaty

– GB Lord Ashburton and Daniel Webster

– America would retain 7000 sq. miles of the 12,000 sq. mile wilderness

– British got 5,000 and road

– Caroline incident patched up

Mesabi Range

– Adjusted border gave U.S. 6,500 sq. miles of Mesabi iron ore in Minnesota

Lone Star State of Texas Shines Alone

Treaties

– Mexico believes Texas is a province in revolt – not independent, will be reconquered

• War with U.S. if we annex

– Texas needs defense – driven to GB and France for a possible protectorate

• Mexico raided 2x but failed

• TX made treaties with France, Holland, Belgium

Lone Star State of Texas Shines Alone

Why does GB want Texas to remain independent? – Check American expansion

– Protect British Caribbean islands

– Smokescreen for foreign powers to move into Americas (against Monroe Doc)

– Abolitionist foothold in Texas – incited slave rebellions in the South

– Free trade area – unlike tariff-walled US

– Own cotton land – source of cotton

– France wants to fragment America – divide and conquer

Belated Texas Nuptials

Tyler wanted Texas to give him a good name

– Annexation by joint resolution – needs majority in both houses – passed

– Texas invited to become 28th state (1845)

– Needed to – otherwise war with foreign countries over Texas??

Oregon Fever

British claims

– North of Columbia River

– 700 there

– Had colonizing agency – Hudson R. Co.

– Trade with Indians for fur

American claims

– Exploration, missionaries, settlers

*Agreed on peaceful joint occupation (1818)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Oregoncountry.png

Oregon Fever

Oregon Fever and Oregon Trail

– 1840s – many covered wagons travelled 2000 miles over Oregon Trail – 5 mo. journey

– Many died en route

– By 1846 – 5000 there

The Oregon Trail

//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Wpdms_nasa_topo_oregon_trail.jpg

ALBERT BIERSTADT (1830-1902)

The Oregon Trail, 1869

Oregon Fever

Dispute over border

– 1846 – 5000 Americans v. 700 British

– GB wants Columbia R as border

– America wants 49th parallel

– Overshadowed by Texas affair

The Oregon Boundary Dispute

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Oregoncountry.png

Manifest Destiny

A. Many Americans believed they were destined to conquer the continent

1. Really began with Jackson’s Indian removal policies in 1830s

2. Definition coined by John L. O’Sullivan

Big Ideas

1) Economic and national interests + superiority belief = expansion

2) Expansion = war, new markets, ideological conflicts

President James K. Polk 1845-1849 Democrat

Presidential Rankings: C-Span Survey, 2009

1. Abraham Lincoln

2. Franklin Roosevelt

3. George Washington

4. Theodore Roosevelt

5. Harry Truman

6. John Kennedy

7. Thomas Jefferson

8. Dwight Eisenhower

9. Woodrow Wilson

10. Ronald Reagan

11. Lyndon Johnson

12. James Polk

13. Andrew Jackson

14. James Monroe

15. Bill Clinton

16. William McKinley

17. John Adams

18. George H.W. Bush

19. John Quincy Adams

20. James Madison

21. Grover Cleveland

22. Gerald Ford

23. Ulysses Grant

24. William Taft

25. Jimmy Carter

26. Calvin Coolidge

27. Richard Nixon

28. James Garfield

29. Zachary Taylor

30. Benjamin Harrison

31. Martin Van Buren

32. Chester Arthur

33. Rutherford Hayes

34. Herbert Hoover

35. John Tyler

36. George W. Bush

37. Millard Fillmore

38. Warren Harding

39. William Harrison

40. Franklin Pierce

41. Andrew Johnson

42. James Buchanan

Election of 1844

Whigs – Henry Clay

– “Clay, Union, & Liberty” or “Polk, Slavery, & Texas”

– Said “Who is James K. Polk?”

– Said many slaves were branded with JKP

Whigs Henry Clay

Election of 1844 Democrats – James K. Polk (dark horse

candidate)

– Not Van Buren - anti-Texas and many Dems were S. expansionists

– Polk not really unknown – Gov. of Tennessee, Speaker of the House

– Determined, ruthless, intelligent

– Sponsored by Jackson – “Young Hickory”

– “Get Texas” & “54˚40’ or Fight”(Oregon)

– Said Clay was a corrupt bargainer and a slaveowner (so was Polk)

Dems --> James Knox Polk

Liberty Party James Birney

“I want peace with…all the world. To enlarge its limits is to extend the dominions of peace over additional territories and increasing millions. The world has nothing to fear from military ambition in our Government.”

James K Polk Inaugural Address 1845

Election of 1844 Main Issue: Manifest Destiny

– Definition:

– Greed + liberty

– Term coined by John L. Sullivan

Emmanuel Leutze: “Westward the Course of Empire”, 1861

John Gast, “American Progress,” 1872

Election of 1844 Clay tried to appease all – favored

annexation of Texas (South), but postpone a few years (North)

Vote: 170 to 105 electoral

– 1,338,464 to 1,300,097 - popular

Liberty Party in NY took away votes from Clay

– Anti-Texas party

– By getting involved, ensured pro-Texas Polk won

Polk wins – Tyler takes this as America wants Texas

Polk’s Mission 1. Lower tariff – reduced 32% to

25% (Walker Tariff) – N and Middle States upset – will

ruin manufacturing!

2. Restore Independent Treasury – done in 1846

3. Settle Oregon dispute

4. Acquire California

**achieved it all in one term!

Oregon Dispute Offered 49˚ line again to GB – said no

GB began changing their minds

– Didn’t want war, Columbia R. not that great, more anti-expansionist now

1846 – GB offers 49˚ line – Senate approves treaty

Didn’t want a fight – already at war with Mexico

Some mad about this

– Why are we going after ALL of Texas but NOT ALL of Oregon

The Oregon Boundary Dispute

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Oregoncountry.png

Oregon Treaty, 1846: U.S. received land below the 49th parallel

Mexican-

American

War

Background Why California? Manifest Destiny and

Gateway to the Pacific

Population = 13,000 Spanish Americans, 75,000 Indians, less than 1000 Americans

Polk wanted to buy California from Mexico but relations were bitter

– Mexico owed $3 million to U.S. for damages – defaulted on payments

– Mad after US annexation of Texas

– Q over boundary – Mexico wants Nueces River, US/Texas wants Rio Grande

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=f67jKstvQqgUQM&tbnid=6--PwWKsR-xAbM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usbr.gov%2Fprojects%2FFacilitiesByState.jsp%3FStateID%3DTX&ei=wxaKUuraCeeU2wWlk4HABg&bvm=bv.56643336,d.b2I&psig=AFQjCNGcvO2GWOELt2iGicXm5DVxEPewXQ&ust=1384867880803582

Background Rumors that GB was about to buy or

seize California – violation of Monroe Doc (not true)

Polk dispatched John Slidell to Mexico City – offer $25 mil for California & land East of it

– Mexico wouldn’t even allow Slidell to present the proposition

Causes Jan 1846 – Zachary Taylor and 4,000

men sent to Rio Grande

– Nothing happens for months

Polk wants to ask Congress to declare war based on (1) unpaid claims (2) Slidell’s rejection

– Cabinet wants Mexican troops to fire first before asking for war

News of Bloodshed!

– April – Mexican troops crossed Rio Grande and attacked Taylor’s forces

– 16 Americans killed/wounded

Declaration of War Polk claimed Americans were killed

on American soil – really it was disputed territory between borders

Congress declares war – everyone behind it??

Congressman Lincoln wanted investigation into exact spot

Whigs say Polk is a liar

Mexico won’t sell California – Polk needed to use force

American View

Expansionists want to teach Mexico a lesson

Taking Mexico makes up for not getting Canada in 1812

Mexico is the aggressor

Mexican View America is a bully that needs to be

humiliated

Invade the U.S., free slaves

Hoped for British war over Oregon – Mexico would then invade

Mexico is the righteous one

Course of the War Polk’s schemes:

– Pull out of war once Cali was captured

– Use Santa Anna (exiled to Cuba) – offered to sell out Mexico if we got him back in

• Double-crossed us once in – rallied Mexicans

1846 – General Stephen W. Kearney captured Santa Fe on the way to Cali

Capt. John C. Fremont took Cali – with help of navy and local Americans

– Bear Flag Revolt

Course of the War Gen. Zachary Taylor – “Old Rough

and Ready” - went into Mexico – Several victories

– Buena Vista – 5000 Americans attacked 20,000 Mexicans with Santa Anna

– Mexicans pushed back – Taylor is a hero

American strategy – attack Mexico City – Main expedition headed by Gen. Winfield Scott

– “Old Fuss and Feathers” of War of 1812

– Obstacles: inadequate troops, numerous enemy, mountainous terrain, disease, political backbiting back home

Declaration of war against Mexico

Zachary Taylor across the Nueces River to the Rio Grande

Zachary Taylor became America’s biggest war hero after the Mexican War and was elected

president the year it ended in 1848

Gen. Winfield Scott occupies Mexico City

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/mex-war/mex-war.gif

Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo Polk sent Nicholas P. Trist, member of State Dept,

with General Scott

– Arranged armistice with Santa Anna at a cost of $10,000 – Santa Anna took $ and kept fighting

– Trist recalled but refused to go

Treaty signed in Feb 1848 – forwarded to Washington

– Got Texas, California, land east (Mexican cession)

– US to pay $15 mil and assumed Mexican debt

– Treaty was submitted to Senate – approved but not popular

• Speed was imperative – some want to end war (“Conscience Whigs”) & some want to take over Mexico

– Polk paid Mexico $18.25 mil due to guilty conscience

Impact Profits:

– America increased – more than Louisiana Purchase

– Satisfied Manifest Destiny

– Field experience for many officers who will serve in Civil war

• Lee and Grant – trained at West Point

– Navy used to blockade Mexican ports – Annapolis Academy

– Marine Corps more reputable

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848

//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Mexican_Cession.png

“Mexico will poison us!”

-Emerson

“Mexico is to us the forbidden fruit…the penalty of eating it

would be to subject our institutions to political death.”

-Calhoun

Impact Losses:

– 13,000 lives lost (most by disease)

– Ugly turning point in relations with Latin America – US is greedy and a bully

– Slavery issue reignited – South just started war to increase slavery?

– Wilmot Proviso – David Wilmot of Penn = slavery should never exist in any of the won territory

• Passed House, not Senate – not federal law

– Polk left behind the slavery issue

– Mexicans took satisfaction that land won led to war in U.S. (Santa Anna’s revenge)

From the cover of “A Voice from the South, 1847”