The Territorial Expansion of the United States

1830s – 1850s

The Fur Trade

An important “spur” to exploration of North America

Not until the 1820s could Americans challenge the British

Trappers, or “Mountain Men” accommodated themselves to local Indians, rarely came in contact with whites, and helped forge a clear picture of western geography

Government-Sponsored Exploration

The federal government promoted western expansion and funded exploratory and scientific expeditions that mapped the West and brought back artists’ recreations: Lewis and Clark; Zebulon Pike (Rocky Mts.); Stephen Long (Great Plains); and John C. Fremont (Oregon and California)

Expansion and Indian Policy

Government policy looked upon the West as a refuge for eastern Indians who were removed, with the idea that they’d assimilate in time

Yet, the government failed to predict the speed at which white settlement would spread westward

Indians were increasingly concentrated into reduced reservations or land allotments

Early settlers “passed through” these lands on their way to the West Coast

The major Indian wars in the Great Plains would occur after the Civil War

Manifest Destiny

Journalist John O’Sullivan coined the phrase “manifest destiny” in 1845 implying Americans had a God-given right to spread across the continent and bring democracy to whomever was there (by force, if necessary)

Democrats saw expansion as the cure for the national ills caused by industrialization, and appealing to the simple American ideals of agriculture, pride, and sense of adventure, sought new opportunities out west

Whigs feared expansion would continue to “push” the slavery issue as America settled into new territories

The Overland Trails

The great trails began at the Missouri River and spanned to Oregon and California

Though Indian attacks were of a concern, disease, the rough terrain, and the 2000 mile journey was the real hazard

Santa Fe Trail: opened by merchants after the independence of Mexico to establish a trade route

Oregon Trail: carried Americans from the Midwest all the way to the coast (Oregon, California, and Utah)

Oregon

After 1818, the US and Britain jointly controlled Oregon

By the 1840s, “Oregon Fever” broke out with the promise of free land

President Polk played on manifest destiny in 1845 with the slogan “54-40 or Fight!”

This coaxed Britain into a deal settling the current boundary at the 49th parallel

African Americans, Indians were formally excluded, and in 1859, Oregon became a state

The idea that land was granted to whites only implies the “frontier of exclusion” model of manifest destiny

The Santa Fe Trade

Once Mexico achieved independence, they welcomed American trade along the Santa Fe Trail

American traders and trappers assimilated with the local populations

Though a dangerous enterprise, it was HIGHLY profitable

Texas

Texas was rife with multiethnic settlements that revolved around the presidio, mission, and ranches (Goliad, San Antonio, and Nacogdoches)

Tejanos: Spanish / Mexican descendants of Texas Mexico sought American settlement as a way of providing a

buffer between its main territory and the raiding Comanche Moses Austin was given 18000 sq. mi. of land in Texas, and his

son Stephen F. Austin became the first empresario to promote American settlement in Texas

Mexico gave two provisions: become Mexican citizens and convert to Catholicism (Austin agreed)

Americans viewed this territory as an extension of Mississippi and Louisiana and brought cotton and slavery into the territory

Americans in Texas

Briefly, Texas was large enough to peaceably hold the Comanche, Mexicans, and Americans

In 1828 the Mexican government began restricting immigration, outlawed slavery, and levied taxes—lighting that American rebel fire

Rebellion took on a racist edge as the Anglo-American culture was seen as dominant over the “mongrel Spanish-Indian”

The new immigration of American southerners only intensified the growing conflict between American Texans and Mexico

The Texas War of Independence

War broke out in 1835, with a volunteer army of Americans and Tejanos commanded by Gen. Sam Houston

Mexican president Santa Anna led his troops into Texas to squash the revolt, overwhelming the Americans at Goliad and the Alamo (killing heroes Jim Bowie, William Travis, and former congressman Davy Crocket): “Remember the Alamo!”

Sam Houston leads the Texan forces to victory at San Jacinto, forcing Santa Anna to sign a treaty giving Texas its independence and fixing the southern border at the Rio Grande

The Republic of Texas and the 1844 Election

Texas remained an independent republic as Congress rejected admission for fear of restarting the whole free/slave state conflict

American-Tejanos relations in Texas grew worse as Tejanos fled to Mexico and American oppression of Mexicans in Texas grew worse

President Tyler restarted the annexation game in 1844, hoping for a re-nomination bid

James K. Polk was able to win the presidency with his platform of manifest destiny: Oregon, Texas, and beyond…

The election of 1844 was all about expansion as Polk won (the first “Dark Horse” candidate)

Texas was admitted as a slave state in 1845 by lame duck Tyler (getting the credit that was basically Polk’s doing)

The Mexican-American War: Origins

President Polk was committed to expansion Settled the Oregon Territory (previously explained) With the annexation of Texas, Polk sought to make the US

continental (coast to coast), encouraging takeover of California

As tensions with Mexico increased due to the border over Texas, Polk sent John Slidell to Mexico and offered $30 million to end the border dispute, plus buy New Mexico and California

Angered Mexico refused as both countries fortified the border

Shots fired, soldiers killed, Polk called for a declaration of war, Congress passed it on May 13, 1846

“Mr. Polk’s War”

The war was politically divisive, as Northerners and Whigs saw it as a war to extend slavery; Democrats saw it as the only way to achieve manifest destiny

North saw many protests, most famously Thoreau’s essay Civil Disobedience Polk was a micromanager, who also planned out the war, sending separate armies

into California and New Mexico Despite fierce resistance, the US Army prevailed in strategic victories at Buena Vista,

Monterrey, Veracruz, and Mexico City The war made heroes out of Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott The fighting was the first real test for true, professional US armed forces—the War of

1812 being the last war, and still fought mainly by untrained, unprepared soldiers The battleground served as a proving ground for many of the future generals of the

Civil War: Grant, Lee, Jackson, Sherman… Atrocities were committed on both sides, as this war was a truly nasty campaign Most US soldiers died of disease, not wounds The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ended the war, gave the US New Mexico and

California (the Mexican Cession), settled the boundary of Texas at the Rio Grande, and paid Mexico $15 million

The Gadsden Purchase (1853) paid Mexico an additional; $10 million for present-day southern Arizona for completion of the Transcontinental Railroad

Major Battle of the War

The Press and Popular War Enthusiasm

The war was the first conflict that featured regular, on-the-scene reporting that united the country emotionally

Taylor and Scott would become future presidential candidates

Though many in Congress wanted “All Mexico!” Polk reluctantly accepted the terms of the treaty to settle down conflicts over the expansion debate

GOLD!

Discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in 1848 triggered a massive rush of whites, Mexicans, and Chinese into California (the 49ers)

The Chinese first came to California in 1849 and worked mainly as servants and in other menial job due to them being forced off their claims

San Francisco grew from a tiny village of 1000 in 1848 to a city of 35,000 in 1850!

The total white population of California grew to over 100,000 by 1852

Statehood for California was achieved in 1850 (more on that later…)

The Barbary Coast

Mining Camps

For the most part, mining was not as romantic as the movies suggest: miserable, squalid, temporary communities rife with racism, violence and depravity

Most miners were young, unmarried, and unsuccessful

The most successful entrepreneurs made a fortune selling tools and other supplies to the miners

Politics of Manifest Destiny

Northern Whigs opposed expansion and Polk’s war on antislavery grounds

Daniel Webster debated that the country was “large enough,” but Americans were still enthusiastic over the outcome of the war

Freshman Democrat David Wilmot proposed that slavery be outlawed in the new territories causes a sectional rift between the North and South, breaking down loyalties in both the Whig and Democrat parties

The Free-Soilers appealed to northern values of freedom, individualism, would allow slavery to exist in its present form, but not allow the extension of it into the new territories

William Lloyd Garrison argued that Free-Soilers were essentially racist due to their exclusion of ALL blacks from the new territories

Yet the Free-Soilers grew in popularity, as abolition and civil rights for blacks were too controversial for most to grasp at this point and the exclusion of all blacks seemed a more simple solution

The Election of 1848

Democrats chose Lewis Cass, who favored the idea of popular sovereignty (where the people of the territories decide on slavery, not Congress)

Zachary Taylor (war hero, southerner) was the Whig candidate

Free-Soilers ran Van Buren as a spoiler, strategy to divide the Democrat vote

Taylor wins the election

Tune in next year to find out the exciting conclusion of…

Will Zachary Taylor make due, and satisfy the Whigs with a strong presidency?

Will slavery extend into the newly acquired territories of California and New Mexico?

Will northern and southern Democrats unite against the Whigs?

Will California be admitted into the union as a whole free state, or chopped up into many states with or without slavery?

Will Mr. Spence be able to finish presenting ALL of the material covered on this daunting AP exam?

Will his students learn to grow to love the DBQ?

AP US History: or, How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the DBQ