Chapter 17

Manifest Destiny and War(1840-1860)

Chapter 17Section 1: Manifest Destiny and

Expansion

The Roots of Manifest Destiny

• By the 1840s many Americans shared Senator Calhoun’s view. The United States, they though, was sure to expand all the way to the Pacific Ocean. They believed that nothing could stop this growth from taking place. This expansionist view became known as manifest destiny. The term was first used by John O’Sullivan, a New York editor.

The Election of 1844• President John Tyler helped make western expansion an important subject in

the election of 1844. Tyler had been elected as William Henry Harrison’s vice president in 1840. He became president when Harrison died in April 1841. Tyler was a pro-slavery Whig from Virginia, who wanted to extend the political power of the southern slave states. Tyler believed that the annexation of Texas would help by adding another slave state to the country.

• Many Whigs disagreed with his expansionist beliefs. As a result, he was too unpopular within his own party to win the 1844 presidential nomination. Instead, the Whigs chose Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky as their candidate. When Clay began his presidential campaign, he said he was against the annexation of Texas. After being pressured by southern voters, however, he decided halfheartedly to support annexation. Many of his original backers became angry when Clay changed his mind. The Democratic Party chose former Tennessee governor James K. Polk as its presidential candidate. Unlike Clay, Polk strongly favored acquiring both Texas and Oregon. The idea of Manifest Destiny played an important part in the campaign. When the votes had been counted, Polk had defeated Clay by a very narrow margin.

Acquiring New Territory

• President Polk quickly set out to fulfill his campaign promises. He was sure that he could bring Oregon and Texas into the United States. Meanwhile, Britain and the United States disagreed over where in Oregon to draw the U.S.-Canada border.

• In 1846, Britain and the United States signed a treaty that gave the United States all Oregon land south of the 49th parallel. This treaty drew the present-day border between Canada and the United States in the Pacific Northwest. Oregon became a U.S. territory in August in 1848.

Acquiring New Territory cont.

• Polk and his supporters also wanted to acquire Texas. By March 1845 Congress had already approved annexation and needed only the support of the Republic of Texas. Many Americans continued to move to Texas and Texas politicians hoped that joining the United States would help solve the republic’s financial and military problems.

• The Texas Congress approved annexation in June, and Texas became the 28th state in December 1845. This action angered the Mexican government, which considered Texas a “stolen province.”

War Breaks Out• Mexico reacted the the annexation of Texas by cutting off all diplomatic

ties with the United States. Mexico also oredered American settlers to leave California and banned further American immigration there. The Mexican government continued to reject the Texas and U.S. claim that the Rio Grande marked the southern border of Texas, arguing that the real southern border lay along the Nueces River farther north.

• In June 1845 Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to take U.S. troops into the disputed border region.

• Meanwhile, Polk sent diplomat John Slidell to Mexico City to negotiate the Texas boundary dispute. The president also told Slidell to offer to buy California and New Mexico from the Mexican government for $30 million. However, when Slidell arrived in Mexico City, officials there refused to speak to him, making negotiations impossible.

War Breaks Out cont.

• In March 1846 General Taylor led his troops to the Rio Grande and made camp. In April the Mexican commander insisted that General Taylor remove the U.S. forces from the region, or else “arms and arms alone must decide the question.” Taylor refused to move. Mexican soldiers then crossed the river and attacked a group of 63 U.S. soldiers. They killed 11 Americans , wounded 5 others, and captured the rest. On May 11, 1846, Polk declared, “Mexico has shed American blood upon the American soil.” Two days later Congress declared war on Mexico.

Chapter 17Section 2: The Mexican War

Responses to War• At the beginning of the war, the U.S. Army was greatly outnumbered by

Mexican forces. U. S. soldiers had better weapons and equipment, however. • Some 200,000 volunteers answered the call. The Mexican War was the first

U.S. war fought mainly on foreign soil. It was also the first time many newspapers covered a U.S. conflict. The war was one of the first to be photographed.

• Not all Americans supported the war, however. Many members of the Whig Party thought that the conflict was unjustified and unnecessary.

• Transcendentalist writer and philosopher Henry David Thoreau went to jail for refusing to pay taxes because he believed they would support the war in Mexico.

• Northern abolitionists opposed the Mexican War, fearing that the United States might gain lands in the Southwest. If so, they reasoned, southern states would try to establish slavery in these new lands.

American Victories• Taylor’s soldiers fought and won battles south of the Nueces River.

He defeated Mexican forces at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma on May 8 and 9, 1846. Taylor’s victories drove the Mexican troops back into Mexico. Taylor then crossed the Rio Grande and occupied Matamoros. While Taylor waited for reinforcements, Polk ordered Brigadier General Stephen Kearny to attack New Mexico. Kearny took the city of Santa Fe without a fight. He claimed the entire territory of New Mexico for the United States.

• At the same time, a small group of American settlers near the town of Sonoma revolted against the Californios. These rebels declared that California was an independent republic. To represent this new nation, the rebels created a flag with a single star and a grizzly bear. As a result, the rebellion was called the Bear Flag Revolt. Army explorer John C. Fremont played an important part in the revolt.

American Victories cont.

• While the revolt was taking place, the U.S. Navy took Monterey, the capital of the Mexican province of California. The towns of San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco soon fell to the Americans. In August 1846, Commodore Robert Stockton declared that California belonged to the United States. Some Californios continued to resist until early 1847, when they surrendered.

The War’s End• Taylor’s success earned him popularity with his troops and back home.

Soldiers called him Old Rough-and-Ready. Taylor’s popularity troubled President Polk, who feared the general might run for president in 1848. Polk was also concerned that Taylor might not be able to win the war. For these reasons, Polk gave the command to General Winfield Scott, known as Old Fuss and Feathers.

• Scott sailed down to the port of Veracruz, which was the strongest fortress in Mexico. On March 29, after an 88 hour artillery attack, Veracruz fell to Scott’s army. The next part of the plan was to attack Mexico City.

• Santa Anna tried to stop the U.S. forces at Cerro Gordo in mid-April. With a daring uphill attack on the Mexican position, U.S. soldiers won a key victory. By August 1847, U.S. troops were at the edge of Mexico City. Finally, on September 14, 1847, U.S. soldiers captured the Mexican capital.

More New Territories• The war ended after Scott took Mexico City. The Treaty of Guadalupe

Hidalgo marked the new peace. Signed in February 1848, it ceded or turned over, much of Mexico’s northern territory to the United States. Known as the Mexican Cession, this land included the present-day states of California, Nevada, and Utah. It also included most of Arizona and New Mexico and parts of Colorado and Wyoming.

• The Mexican Cession totaled more than 500,000 square miles. It increased the size of the United States by almost 25 percent. The United States agreed to pay Mexico $15 million and to assume claims of more than $3 million held by American citizens against Mexico.

• James Gadsden, U.S. minister to Mexico, negotiated the Gadsden Purchase in December 1853. Under the terms of the purchase, the U.S. government paid Mexico $10 million for the southern parts of what are now Arizona and New Mexico.

Chapter 17Section 3: More Settlers Head West

The Mormons• One group of American settlers traveled to the West in search of religious

freedom. In 1830, a young man named Joseph Smith founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in western New York. The members of this church became known as Mormons. Smith told his followers that he had found and translated a set of golden tablets containing religious revelations. These writings became the book of Mormon.

• However, some Mormon beliefs and practices made them the target of persecution. For example, some Mormon men practiced polygamy-in which one man is married to several women at the same time. An anti-Mormon mob murdered Smith in jail in 1844. Following Smith’s murder, Brigham Young became the head of the Mormon Church. Young chose what is now Utah as the group’s new home. Tens of thousands of Mormons took to the Mormon Trail.

• The main Mormon settlement at Salt Lake City became a thriving community with brad roads and surrounding farms. In December 1860 the Mormon population of Utah stood at about 40,000.

Chapter 17Section 4: The Gold Rush

The Forty-Niners• John Sutter, the owner of Sutter’s Mill, soon learned that gold had

been discovered on his property. Both men agreed to keep the discovery a secret. However, when they went to examine the work site the next day, they met a Spanish-speaking Indian worker holding a nugget and shouting, “Oro [gold]! Oro! Oro!” Sutter’s workers soon quit to search for gold. Stories of the discovery spread across the country.

• In 1849, the California Gold Rush caused a huge rise in California’s population. That year about 80,000 gold-seekers came to California, hoping to strike it rich. These migrants were known as forty-niners.

• As a result, San Francisco grew more rapidly than any other city in the world at the time. Its population jumped from about 800 in March 1848 to more than 25,000 by 1850.

Gold Fever

• Few of the forty-niners had any previous gold-mining experience. Some people had quick success. Most of the forty-niners would work to be difficult and time-consuming. The forty-niners would prospect, or search, for gold along the banks of streams or in shallow surface mines. In 1853 California’s yearly gold production peaked at more than $60 million. One lucky man got two and a half pounds of gold after only 15 minutes of work. Two African American miners found a rich gold deposit that became known as Negro Hill in honor of their discovery. But the vast majority of gold rush miners did not become rich.

Mining Camps and Towns• Most miners were young, unmarried men. Only around 5 percent

of gold rush immigrants were women or children. Some married women did make the journey to California with their husbands, however. These hardworking wives generally made good money by cooking meals, washing clothes, and operating boardinghouses.

• Catherine Haun’s husband was one of many people who found that they could make a good living by supplying miners with food, clothing, equipment, or services. Miners paid high prices for basic necessities because the large amounts of gold in circulation cause severe inflation in California. A loaf of bread, for example, might cost five cents back East, but it would sell for 50 to 75 cents in San Francisco. Eggs sold for $ 1 apiece.

Mining Camps and Towns cont.

• Biddy Mason and her family arrived in California as slaves. They were brought there by a Georgia slaveholder during the gold rush years. He quickly discovered that most Californians opposed slavery. Mason and her family gained their liberty and moved to the small village of Los Angeles. By working as a nurse for $2.50 a week and doing domestic work, Mason saved enough money to buy some land. Over time, Mason’s property increased in value from $250 to $200,000. She became one of the wealthiest landowners in California. In addition, she used some of her money to support education for African American children.

Immigrants to California• Famine and economic hardships in southeastern China encouraged many Chinese men

to come to America. These immigrants were known in Chinese as gam saan haak, or “travelers to Gold Mountain.” Most of them hoped to find great wealth and then return home to China. Between 1849 and 1853 some 24,000 young Chinese men migrated to California.

• Chinese immigrants soon found that many Americans did not welcome them, however. In 1852 California placed a high monthly tax on all foreign miners. Chinese minders had no choice but to pay this tax if they wished to prospect for gold in California. Chinese workers were also the targets of violent attacks in the mining camps.

• Many Chinese immigrants continued working in the gold mines, despite such treatment. Some looked for different jobs, and many opened their own business.

• Some 20,000 immigrants had come to California in 1849 alone. Like most American gold-seekers, these new arrivals intended to return home after they had made their fortunes. However, even when they did not become rich, many decided to stay. Some who remained in California became successful business owners.

Growth in the West

• California’s population explosion made it eligible for statehood only two years after being acquired by the United States.