Chapter 15: Manifest Destiny and the Growing Nation

• Manifest Destiny means “obvious fate”

• It inspired hopes and dreams among Americans

• The phrase was coined by John O’Sullivan, a New York newspaperman

• America’s new territories contained native peoples and settlers from France, Spain, Mexico and other countries

• As people moved west they would impact the peoples already there

• America grew by treaties, settlement, and war

Expansion of the United States

The Louisiana Purchase

• US wanted New Orleans, near the mouth of the Mississippi River

• Farmers floated their crops down the Mississippi R. to New Orleans

• Farmers depended on the moving their crops freely

• Territory of Louisiana went from Canada south to Texas and west to the Rocky Mts.

• Napoleon (France) owned Louisiana

• If he sold New Orleans farmers couldn’t ship their crops

Elbow Room

A Noble Bargain

• Jefferson sent James Monroe to buy New Orleans for $7.5 million

• Napoleon no longer needed Louisiana territory because of war with Britain

• Needed money and offered to sell Louisiana territory for $15 million

• April 30, 1803 signed a treaty selling Louisiana to US

The Purchase Debate

• Some people felt area too large to govern• Eastern politicians thought they would lose power• Some didn’t like the price of $15 million• Some said it was unconstitutional• However, in 1803 the Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase• Doubled the size of the United States

FLORIDA

* Spain colonized Florida in 1500s

* contained Seminole Indians, Spanish

colonists, English traders, and runaway

slaves

• Americans in southeast wanted Florida• Slave owners in Georgia were angry that runaways went to

Florida• Landowners in Georgia angry over Seminole raids

Andrew Jackson Invades Florida

• 1818, President Monroe sent Andrew Jackson to stop Indian raids

• Told not to enter Florida• Jackson went anyway with 1700 troops• Executed 2 British subjects• Replaced Spanish governor with American• Spain demanded he be punished for illegal invasion

“Govern or Get Out”• Monroe sent message to Spain: govern Florida properly or get out• 1819, Spain agreed to yield Florida• US paid $5 million in settler’s claims• US agreed to honor Spain’s claim to Texas• In the end Florida was acquired thru diplomacy

TEXAS

• Region was well suited for growing cotton

• Southerners hoped it would become part of US

AMERICANS COME TO TEXAS

• Moses Austin received a grant of land to start American colony in Spanish Texas

• Son Stephen took over

• Colonists had to be moral, hardworking settlers who would become Mexican citizens and join the Catholic Church

RISING TENSIONS

• Tensions rose between the Americans in Texas and the Tejanos

• Americans used to governing themselves and resented taking orders from Mexican officials

• Unhappy that official documents were in Spanish

• Many were slaveholder and Mexico outlawed slavery in 1829

• Tejanos complained that the Americans showed little respect for Mexican culture and wouldn’t become citizens

• Mexican government closed Texas to further immigration

THE TEXANS REBEL• William Travis called for revolution• Stephen Austin asked Mexico to make Texas a separate

Mexican state• 1833 Austin went to Mexico and presented the demands• General Santa Anna tossed Austin in jail• In 1835 the Texans rose in revolt

The Alamo

• Site of battle in San Antonio for Texas independence from Mexico in 1836.

Texas heroes of the Alamo

William Travis Davy Crockett

Jim Bowie

Alamo flag of independence

BATTLE OF THE ALAMO

• Town of San Antonio was defended by 180 Texan volunteers• Texans used an old mission called the Alamo• Santa Anna’s troops outnumbered the Texans by 10 to 1• Battle lasted 12 days• March 6, Santa Anna stormed

the mission• He gave orders to kill everyone

in the mission

General Antonio de Lopez de Santa Anna

Marty Robbins: The Alamo

TEXAS WINS ITS INDEPENDENCE

• Sam Houston lured Santa Anna into Texas to stretch out Santa Anna’s men and supplies

• Houston defeated Santa Anna in a surprise attack near the San Jacinto River

• Santa Anna was

captured• In exchange for his freedom

he ordered all troops out of

Texas

Annex

• To add a territory to a country. Such an addition is called an annexation.

TO ANNEX TEXAS OR NOT?

• Texas was known as the Lone Star state• Wanted to be part of the US• Remained independent for 10 years• Southerners wanted to add a slave state• Northerners opposed slavery and didn’t

want Texas• Some feared war with Mexico• In 1845, Texas was admitted as the

28th state

Sam Houston, president of the Lone Star Republic

OREGON COUNTRY

• Oregon Country stretched from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean

• Oregon was bounded in the north by Russian Alaska

• It was bounded in the south by Spanish California

• Claimed by 4 nations: Russia, Spain, Great Britain, and the United States

• Russia and Spain dropped out

• Britain and the US had a peaceful joint occupation

DISCOVERING OREGON

• United States claimed Oregon based on Lewis and Clark expedition

• Route used by Lewis and Clark too rugged for wagon trains• Jedediah Smith found a better route in 1824

Jedediah Smith

South Pass through the Rockies

OREGON FEVER

• First people to Oregon were missionaries but they made few converts

• Sent reports of fertile soil and towering forests• Inspired people to make the journey

ALL OF OREGON OR HALF?

* 1844 presidential campaign used

the Oregon territory

* Polk wanted all of the territory

* didn’t want a war with Britain

*diplomatic settlement put the border at the 49th parallel

WAR WITH MEXICO

• President Polk wanted to expand the US as far as he could• Wanted California and New Mexico Territories• Would do it by purchase or force

WAR BREAKS OUT IN TEXAS

• Annexation of Texas was an act of war to Mexico• Texas and Mexico couldn’t agree on border• Texas claimed the Rio Grande• Mexico claimed the Nueces

River• Polk sent troops, 16 killed• Congress declared war

on Mexico in April, 1846

Rio Grande River

Nueces River

FALL OF NEW MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA

* General Kearny led

army West to occupy

New Mexico and then

California

* John C. Fremont

led a rebellion

against Mexico

in California

• California came under America

• Called the Bear Flag Republic

General Stephen Kearny

John C. Fremont

UNITED STATES INVADES MEXICO

Zachary Taylor “Old Rough and Ready”

Winfield Scott “Old Fuss and Feathers”

Taylor

Scott

Mexican-American War Timeline

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

• Agreement between the United States and Mexico that ceded Mexican territory to the US.

TREATY OF GUADALUPE HIDALGO

• Mexico gave Texas and region known as the Mexican Cession: included California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming

• United States paid Mexico $15 million and promised to protect Mexicans living in Texas and Mexican Cession territory

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

“FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA”

• In 1853, James Gadsden purchase land south of Mexican Cession for $10 million

• Needed by railroad builders because it was flat and a good railroad route

• Called the Gadsden Purchase

Gadsden

Gadsden Purchase

America the Beautiful