Chapter 17

1. Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and War (1840-1860)

2. Chapter 17Manifest Destiny and War (1840-1860) Section 1 Manifest Destiny and Expansion

3. The Roots of Manifest Destiny • Many believed the U.S. was sure to expand all the way to the Pacific Ocean • Believed nothing could stop growth from taking place • Expansionist view became known as manifest destiny – term first used by John O’Sullivan

4. The Roots of Manifest Destiny • Roots of manifest destiny lay in Americans’ economic, political, and social experiences • Puritans believed America was a promised land that God had given them to set up new society • American Revolution added to idea that America was special – U.S. would prove that democracy could work in large and growing country • Some believed new lands needed to prevent increased social tensions as city populations grew larger • Farmers wanted more land to grow crops, industry needed more natural resources, businesses wanted more markets for American goods

5. Gone West • By 1840s, many Americans had accepted idea of manifest destiny • Thought U.S. chosen by God to spread its democratic, economic and religious values • Americans would spread across the continent taking liberty, improving the land, and spreading the Christian gospel • Many built settlements beyond the boundaries of the U.S. • California, Texas, Oregon – attracted by rich farmland

6. Gone West • Supporters of manifest destiny ignored the fact that there were already thousands of American Indians and Mexicans living in the west • Saw the west as being not fully developed by those living there

7. The Election of 1844 • President John Tyler helped make western expansion an important subject in the election of 1844 • Tyler had been elected William Henry Harrison’s vice president in 1840, became president when Harrison died in April 1841 (31 days into his term) • Tyler = proslavery Whig from Virginia; wanted to extend political power of the southern slave states • Believed annexation of Texas would help by adding another slave state to the country • Tyler too unpopular within his own party to win the nomination for the 1844 election

8. The Election of 1844 • Whigs chose Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky – started out against the annexation of Texas, but began to waiver under pressure from southern voters • Democratic Party chose former Tennessee governor James K. Polk – favored acquiring both Texas and Oregon • Polk defeated Clay

9. Acquiring New Territory • President Polk was sure that he could bring Oregon and Texas into the U.S. • As more Americans began to settle in the Oregon Country, they began to ask that Oregon become a part of the U.S. • Polk wanted to protect their interests • Other politicians wanted Oregon because it would provide a Pacific port for trade with China • War seemed possible between U.S. and Britain over where the border between the U.S. and Canada should be • Expansionists – “Fifty-four forty or fight!” (54°40’ parallel) • Neither side wanted war

10. Acquiring New Territory (continued) • Britain and U.S. signed a treaty giving the U.S. all Oregon land south of the 49th parallel • Drew the present-day border between Canada and the U.S. in the Pacific Northwest • Oregon became a U.S. territory in August 1848 • Congress approved annexation of Texas by March 1845 – only needed support of Republic of Texas • Texas Congress approved annexation in June and Texas became the 28th state in December 1845 • Texas politicians hoped that joining the U.S. would help solve the republic’s financial and military problems • Action angered the Mexican government – called Texas a “stolen province”

11. War Breaks Out • Mexico cut off all diplomatic ties to the U.S. • Ordered American settlers to leave California and banned further American immigration there • Continued to reject Texas and U.S. claim that the Rio Grande marked the southern border of Texas; argued real border lay along the Nueces River farther north

12. War Breaks Out • June 1845 Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to take U.S. troops into disputed border region • Intended to protect Texas from possible attack • Polk sent diplomat John Slidell to Mexico City to negotiate the boundary dispute • Offer to buy California and New Mexico from Mexican government for $30 million • Officials refused to speak with him

13. War Breaks Out (continued) • March 1846, General Taylor led troops to the Rio Grande and made camp • April 1846, Mexican commander insisted he remove troops or else • Taylor refused to move; Mexican soldiers crossed the river and attacked a group of U.S. soldiers • Congress declared war on Mexico on May 13, 1846

14. Chapter 17Manifest Destiny and War (1840-1860) Section 2 The Mexican War

15. Responses to War • At beginning U.S. forces greatly outnumbered but had better weapons and equipment • U.S. government called for 50,000 volunteers; got approximately 200,000 • Several “firsts” with Mexican War • First U.S. war fought mainly on foreign soil • First time many newspapers covered a U.S. conflict • One of the first to be photographed • Home front – men and women collected supplies and wrote patriotic poems and songs • War led to greater national pride • Many who supported war said it would spread republican values

16. Responses to the War (continued) • Not everyone supported the war • Many Whigs believed it was unjustified and unnecessary • Upset those who were against expansion or war • Transcendentalist writers Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson • Northern abolitionists opposed war because they feared U.S. would gain lands in Southwest – southern states would try to establish slavery there • Proslavery southerners feared slavery would be banned

17. American Victories • Victories drove Mexican troops back into Mexico • Even before the official war declaration, General Zachary Taylor’s soldiers fought and won battles south of the Nueces River • Defeated Mexican forces at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma (May 1846) • Taylor crossed the Rio Grande and occupied Matamoros; waited for reinforcements

18. American Victories • Polk ordered Brigadier General Stephen Kearny to attack New Mexico • Took Santa Fe without a fight, claimed New Mexico for the U.S. • Marched toward Southern California in June 1846 • Bear Flag Revolt • Small group of American settlers near Sonoma revolted against Californios • Rebels declared California an independent republic, created a flag with a single star and grizzly bear • John C. Fremont – army explorer who played an important role

19. American Victories (continued) • During Bear Flag Revolt, U.S. Navy took Monterey – capital of California • Towns of San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco fell to Americans • August 1846 – Commodore Robert Stockton declared California belonged to the U.S. • General Kearny was appointed governor of California by President Polk

20. The War’s End • Taylor finally got reinforcements in Mexico • Drove Mexican army deeper into Mexico • After U.S. won battle at Monterrey, both sides spend a few months trying to improve their positions • General Santa Anna took over Mexico’s government • Led army north clashing with Taylor’s troops at Buena Vista

21. The War’s End • Santa Anna sent note demanding Taylor’s surrender – refused • Taylor’s success earned him popularity with troops and at home – “Old Rough and Ready” • Popularity bothered President Polk who feared he would try to run for president in 1848 • Polk also afraid he would not be able to win war

22. The War’s End (continued) • President Polk gave Taylor’s command to General Winfield Scott – “Old Fuss and Feathers” • Scott sailed to Veracruz (the strongest fortress in Mexico) – after 88 hour attack, fell to Scott • Scott pushed inland toward Mexico City – made it to edge of city by August 1847 • Scott ordered massive attack after a truce failed to end the war • U.S. soldiers captured Mexico City on September 14, 1847 – ended the Mexican War

23. More New Territories • Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo signed February 1848 ceded, or turned over, much of Mexico’s northern territory to the U.S. • Mexican Cession – land included most of Arizona and New Mexico and parts of Colorado and Wyoming • U.S. also got area claimed by Texas north of the Rio Grande • Totaled more than 500,000 square miles • Increased the size of the U.S. by almost 25%

24. More New Territories • U.S. agreed to pay Mexico $15 million and to assume claims of more than $3 million held by American citizens against Mexico • Treaty caused controversy • Some Americans wanted all of Mexico • Antislavery and antiwar activists (thought Mexicans would not make good republican citizens) and Whigs all against treaty

25. More New Territories (continued) • Polk pointed to benefits U.S. would gain from the treaty • Senate ratified the treaty in March 1848 • Gadsden Purchase negotiated in December 1853 – U.S. paid Mexico $10 million for southern parts of what are now Arizona and New Mexico – continental boundaries of U.S. finally fixed

26. Chapter 17Manifest Destiny and War (1840-1860) Section 3 More Settlers Head West

27. Conflicts over Land • Flood of trappers, traders, settlers and speculators moved to Southwest • Most Mexican, Mexican Americans and American Indians faced legal, economic and social discrimination • American newcomers struggled to control land and other valuable resources such as water and minerals

28. Conflicts over Land • Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo promised to protect the rights of residents of the Mexican Cession • U.S. government often made Mexican American landowners go to court to prove they had title to land • Often bankrupted landowners

29. Conflicts over Land (continued) • New settlers usually ignored Mexican legal ideas such as community property or community water rights • Conflicts over ownership of cattle and sheep – common • Rich Tejanos tried to protect property by marrying into powerful Anglo families • Steady arrival of new settlers and policies of the U.S. government greatly affected American Indians in the Southwest • Tried to take control of valuable water resources and grazing lands • Settlers rarely respected Indian holy places such as mountain lakes and burial grounds

30. Conflicts over Land (continued) • Indian raiding parties took settlers’ cattle and attacked settlements • Angry westerners fought raiding parties; attacked Indian peoples or villages not involved in fighting, causing new conflict

31. Cultural Encounters • Despite conflicts, American Indian, Mexican and Anglo cultures influenced one another in the Southwest • Laws often printed in both English and Spanish in settlements with large Mexican American population • Spanish language was important in trade and daily life, especially in California, New Mexico and Texas • Place names show Mexican and American Indian heritage – San Antonio, San Diego, Taos, etc.

32. Cultural Encounters • Mexican and American Indian knowledge and traditions shaped the local economies • Mexican Americans taught Anglo settlers about mining the mountains • Introduced new types of saddles, clothing and other equipment to American ranchers

33. Cultural Encounters (continued) • Adobe, a building material developed by the Anasazi, was adopted by the Spanish from the Pueblo • Trade changed the Southwest and the people living there • Americans brought manufactured goods and money to the Southwest • New firearms and other trade goods • Navajo made and sold more silver objects and hand-woven woolen blankets

34. The Mormons • Joseph Smith founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in western New York (1830) • Became known as Mormons • Smith told his followers that he had found and translated a set of golden tablets containing religious revelations – writings became the Book of Mormon • Mormons stressed hard work and community; church membership grew rapidly

35. The Mormons • Some beliefs made them target of persecution – some Mormon men practiced polygamy (one man married to more than one woman at the same time) • Early 1830s, Smith and followers left New York; settled in Ohio first, then Missouri • Left Ohio when their bank collapsed during the Panic of 1837 • Left Missouri when they were chased out • From Missouri, they moved to Illinois where an anti-Mormon mob murdered Smith in jail

36. The Mormons (continued) • Brigham Young became the head of the Mormon Church • Mormons decided to move west to build a new community • Young chose what is now Utah – an area overlooking the Great Salt Lake • By 1860, about 40,000 Mormons lived in Utah

37. The Mormons (continued) • Tens of thousands of Mormons took to the Mormon Trail – fleeing persecution in the East and the Midwest (Americans and Mormon converts from Great Britain and Scandinavia) • Main Mormon settlement at Salt Lake City became a thriving community with broad roads and surrounding farms • Young chose the site for the Mormon’s Great Temple

38. Chapter 17Manifest Destiny and War (1840-1860) Section 4 The Gold Rush

39. The Forty-Niners • James Marshall discovered gold near Sutter’s Mill (California) on January 24, 1848 • John Sutter learned that gold was discovered on his property, he and James Marshall agreed to keep it a secret • Sutter and Marshall went to examine the work site, found a Spanish-speaking Indian work holding a piece of gold shouting “Oro! Oro!” • Sutter’s workers quit to search for gold • Stories began spreading across the country

40. The Forty-Niners • President Polk confirmed the California gold strike in his farewell message to Congress in December 1848 • California Gold Rush (1849) caused a huge rise in California’s population • Approximately 80,000 gold-seekers went to California hoping to strike it rich; 80% = American, 20% = foreign • Migrants were known as forty-niners

41. The Forty-Niners (continued) • Many easterners and Europeans took one of two major sea routes • Down Atlantic coast and up Pacific coast of South America • took 6-9 months but fairly safe • Combined ship and land travel across Nicaragua or Isthmus of Panama • Shorter, but had to cross jungle; risked catching diseases like malaria or yellow fever

42. The Forty-Niners (continued) • Midwestern gold seekers usually traveled in wagon trains along overland routes (South Pass of Rocky Mountains or Santa Fe Trail) • Regardless of method of travel, most arrived in San Francisco • Port town with natural harbor • Located close to newly discovered gold strikes • Grew more rapidly than any city in the world at the time • March 1848 = 500 to 25,000 by 1850

43. Gold Fever • Few forty-niners had mining experience – most did not become rich • Would prospect (or search) for gold along banks of streams or in shallow surface mines • Worked an area that ran for 70 miles in northern California • Later began searching the Sierra Nevada Mountains

44. Gold Fever • Miners banded together • First to arrive would “stake a claim” • Miners agreed that each would keep a share of whatever gold was discovered

45. Gold Fever (continued) • When one group abandoned a claim, more recent arrivals took it over, hoping for success • Sometimes two or more groups staked rival claims in same area • Led to conflicts sometimes violent • 1853 California’s gold production peaked at more than $60 million

46. Mining Camps and Towns • Camps sprang up wherever enough people gathered to look for gold • Often disappeared as quickly as they were built • Miners made money one day and were broke the next • Theft and miscommunication = common • Rarely any local authorities to provide law and order • Some tried to prevent violence and stealing, others lived wild and dangerous lives

47. Mining Camps and Towns • Miners came from many different cultural backgrounds • Most were young, unmarried men • Some settlers took advantage of free enterprise conditions • Slaves brought in benefited from California’s position on slavery (most opposed)

48. Immigrants to California • Lure of gold attracted miners from around the world to California • Famine and economic hardships in southeastern China encouraged many Chinese men to come to America – “travelers to Gold Mountain” • 24,000 between 1849 and 1853 • Chinese immigrants were not welcomed by Americans • High monthly tax placed on all foreign miners • Targets of violent attacks • Chinese immigrants continued working in mines despite poor treatment • Some looked for different jobs, opened own businesses

49. Immigrants to California • Other immigrants came from Europe, Mexico and S. America • Most new arrivals intended to return home after they had made their fortunes • When they did not become rich, they decided to stay • Levi Strauss – German immigrant made fortune selling tough denim work pants to miners

50. Growth in the West • Business growth, gold mining, and trade transformed California’s economy • As the gold rush faded, frontier society became more stable • California’s population explosion made it eligible for statehood only two years after being acquired by the United States (31st in 1850)