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Territorial Expansion and the Coming Crisis

Territorial Expansion and the Coming Crisis. Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way (1861), Emanuel Leutze. The title of the painting is from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley. Exploring the West. “There seemed to be no stopping the American people.” ( OM , p. 457)

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Territorial Expansion and the Coming Crisis

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  1. Territorial Expansion and the Coming Crisis Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way (1861), Emanuel Leutze. The title of the painting is from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley.

  2. Exploring the West • “There seemed to be no stopping the American people.” (OM, p. 457) • The growing population – combined with the transportation revolution and growth of the market economy – led to the fact that by 1840, the majority of the population lived west of the original thirteen states.

  3. The Politics of Expansion • Pushing beyond the Mississippi River “was to risk war with Great Britain, which claimed the Pacific Northwest, and with Mexico, which held what is now TX, NM, AZ, UT, NV, CA, and part of CO.” (OM, p. 462) • Not to mention all the people that lived in that vast area too!

  4. Western Trails

  5. Encampment on Green River, Alfred Jacob Miller, 1837

  6. The Politics of Expansion • So why press on? • (One) answer: It was “our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions,” said newspaperman John O’Sullivan in 1845. (OM, p. 462) • “America dared other countries – Great Britain in particular – to stop them.”

  7. American Progress, John Gast, 1872

  8. The Politics of Expansion • Post-Panic of 1837, many saw expansion (and expansion of trade) as a way to revive the struggling economy. • “Expansion was deeply tied to national politics. O’Sullivan…was not a neutral observer: he was the editor of the Democratic Review. Most Democrats were wholehearted supporters of expansion, whereas many Whigs opposed it.” (OM, p. 463)

  9. Americans in Texas • Mexico gained its independence in 1821. • Mexico invited Americans, led by the Austin family, to settle in Texas. In exchange for land, the “colonists” promised to become Mexican citizens and adopt the Catholic religion. • By 1830, there were more Americans than Spanish-speaking Tejanos in Texas.

  10. Americans in Texas • 1828 was a pivotal year, as a new Mexican government decided to exercise more control over Texas, including restricting (American) immigration, outlawing slavery, and levying customs duties and taxes. • More than 20,000 settlers moved into Texas after 1830, and they “did not intend to become Mexican citizens. Instead, they planned to take over Texas.” (OM, p. 470)

  11. Americans in Texas • Stephen F. Austin wrote that the growing Texas conflict was one of barbarism on the part of “a mongrel Spanish-Indian and negro race, against civilization and the Anglo-American race.” (OM, p. 470) • How likely is any kind of compromise?

  12. War in Texas! • Fighting broke out in the fall of 1835. • The two sides: • Volunteer Americans and Tejanos v. Mexico • “Remember the Alamo”: • 187 v. 5,000 (February-March, 1836) • San Jacinto • Sam Houston! (April 21, 1836) • Treaty (sort of) on May 14, 1836.

  13. Texas Revolution

  14. Republic of Texas • The Mexican Congress rejected Santa Anna’s treaty with Texas that placed the border at the Rio Grande. • They also refused Andrew Jackson’s offer to settle the matter financially. • When Texas applied for statehood in 1837, they were rejected! Why? • President Jackson extended diplomatic recognition to Texas less than a day before leaving office. • http://books.google.com/books?id=ZhrXuC_Yv_EC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=Statehood+process&source=bl&ots=y4jvuijPvT&sig=L3aMwIOaHHebKOdY4rqtkM6mUPM&hl=en&ei=FOzySvzOFNG7lAeLlvW1Aw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CBAQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=&f=false

  15. Texas and the Election of 1844 • Martin Van Buren was too “cautious” to raise the “Texas issue” during his term. • But Texans began to press for recognition and support from Great Britain! • John Tyler (Whig/Democrat) raised the issue in an effort to get reelected in 1844; the strategy worked so well that the Whigs nominated Henry Clay for president!

  16. Texas and the Election of 1844 • The Democratic Party embraced expansion by nominating a “dark horse” candidate, James K. Polk of Tennessee. • His platform called for “the re-occupation of Oregon and the re-annexation of Texas at the earliest practicable period.” (OM, p. 472) • How popular is expansion?

  17. http://www.270towin.com/1844_Election/

  18. “Fifty-four Forty or Fight” • In 1845, President Polk coined the phrase above to threaten war if the U.S. didn’t get control of…? • An 1846 treaty with Britain ended the “Oregon” dispute (at the 49th parallel).

  19. Northwest Boundary Dispute

  20. Mexican-American War • At about the same time, relations with Mexico deteriorated because of the granting of statehood to Texas. • Because of a border dispute in June 1845, Polk sent General Zachary Taylor and 3,500 soldiers to defend against “attack.” • Polk also instructed naval forces to seize California ports if Mexico declared war.

  21. Mexican-American War • Covering his bases, in November 1845 Polk sent a “secret envoy” with an offer of $30 million (or more) for the Rio Grande border in Texas and Mexico’s provinces of New Mexico and California. • When Mexico refused to even consider the offer, Polk ordered Taylor and his men to the Rio Grande (!), where a “brief skirmish” erupted in April 1846. Polk’s reaction?

  22. Mexican-American War • “Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon American soil…War exists, and, notwithstanding all our efforts to avoid it, exists by the act of Mexico itself.” (OM, p. 474) • On May 13, 1846, Congress declared war on Mexico.http://www.smithsoniansource.org/display/primarysource/viewdetails.aspx?PrimarySourceId=1099 • http://www.xiamenoilpainting.com/htmlopus/painting-32052.html

  23. The Mexican-American War

  24. Mexican-American War • The war was controversial (surprised?), with one response being Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience.” • The war was also costly: • 13,000 Americans and 50,000 Mexicans died. • The U.S. spent $97 million. • General Winfield Scott admitted his troops had “committed atrocities to make Heaven weep and every American of Christian morals blush for his country.” (OM, p. 475)

  25. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo • Signed February 2, 1848. • Mexico ceded all or parts of present-day CA, AZ, NM, CO, UT, NV! • The U.S. agreed to pay Mexico $15 million and assume about $2 million in debt. • But Polk was furious with the treaty!

  26. Territorial Expansion by the Mid-Nineteenth Century

  27. Polk’s legacy • Health would prevent him from running for a second term, but remember that during his term in office he “added 1.5 million square miles of territory, an increase of nearly 70 percent. Polk was indeed the ‘manifest destiny’ president.” (OM, p. 472)

  28. The Politics of Manifest Destiny • Although many northern Whigs were against the Mexican-American War, they voted to support it because of “popular enthusiasm.” • Ironically, a Democrat from Pennsylvania “opened the door to sectional controversy” by proposing the Wilmot Proviso, which proposed “that slavery be banned in all the territories acquired from Mexico.” (OM, p. 480)

  29. The Politics of Manifest Destiny • Wilmot was ready to “sustain the institutions of the South as they exist. But sir, the issue now presented is not whether slavery shall exist unmolested where it is now, but whether it shall be carried to new and distant regions, now free, where the footprint of a slave cannot be found.”

  30. The Politics of Manifest Destiny • The “ominous occurred: southern Whigs joined southern Democrats to vote against the measure, while Northerners of both parties supported it. Sectional interest had triumphed over party loyalty…(it had) triggered the first breakdown of the national party system and reopened the debate about the place of slavery in the future of the nation.” (OM, p. 481)

  31. The Politics of Manifest Destiny • The Wilmot Proviso was a political response to the growing threat posed by the “uncompromising” Liberty Party, which called for the “divorce of the federal government from slavery,” including banning new slave states and abolishing the interstate slave trade. • Because the Liberty Party ignored “practical” politics, the “Free-Soil Movement” tried to take a more moderate (popular) approach.

  32. What is “Free-Soil?” • Antislavery Northerners who were willing to compromise with Southerners. • Opposed to the expansion of slavery into the territories. • “Many free-soilers really meant ‘antiblack’ when they said ‘antislavery’. They proposed to ban all African American people from the new territories.” (OM, p. 482)

  33. The Election of 1848 • The Democrats nominated Lewis Cass (of Michigan), who proposed the doctrine of popular sovereignty. • The Whigs nominated (war hero) Zachary Taylor of Louisiana; although a slave owner, he refused to take a position on the Wilmot Proviso. • The Free-Soil Party nominated Martin Van Buren! • http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=2122 • http://www.basiclaw.net/Principles/Popular%20sovereignty.htm

  34. http://www.270towin.com/1848_Election/

  35. Miscellaneous links… • http://the-athenaeum.org/art/by_artist.php?id=648 • http://www.superstock.co.uk/stock-photography/Goldsborough • http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=h&p=c&a=a&ID=323 • http://thepresidentsatbigmo.blogspot.com/2007/06/number-12-zachary-taylor.html • http://www.library.ca.gov/goldrush/sec07b.html • http://www.republicoftexas.50megs.com/index.html • http://www.rickross.com/reference/republic/republic5.html • http://www.philaprintshop.com/mexwar.html

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