Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy 1841-1848

Chapter 17

I. Conflicts over slavery and Compromises Slavery in Louisiana Purchase? Manifest Destiny---1840 to 1850

President James K. Polk—1845 to 1849 Oregon Territory---1846 Texas Statehood--1845 Mexican War---1846 to 1848

US acquired the Mexican Cession Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo—1848

Slavery in the Mexican Cession? Compromise of 1850

Calif. Admitted as a free state •South: Enforce the Fugitive Slave Law •North: stop the slave trade in Washington, D.C.

•Gadsden Purchase----1853

•Kansas-Nebraska Act----1854

•Stephen Douglas---build railroad in the North

•Organize Kansas and Nebraska Territory and open it up to Popular Sovereignty

•Effects

•Abolitionists against it

•Ruined the Missouri Compromise

•led to violence----Bleeding Kansas---1856

•Republican Party---1856---formed. II. Judicial Arguments •Dred Scott—1857-----slave sued for his freedom

•Supreme Court Decision •Constitution did not apply to slaves •Legalized slavery in the U.S. •All compromises were unconstitutional

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MANIFEST DESTINY

“Manifest Destiny”

First coined by newspaper editor, John O’Sullivan in 1845.

".... the right of our manifest destiny to over spread and

to possess the whole of the continent which Providence

has given us for the development of the great experiment of

liberty and federaltive development of self-government

entrusted to us. It is right such as that of the tree to the

space of air and the earth suitable for the full expansion of

its principle and destiny of growth."

He felt that Americans had a right to develop the continent, which implied a sense of

cultural and racial superiority.

Manifest Destiny

KEY EVENTS

• American belief that U.S. would

control the continent from

the Atlantic to the Pacific.

• Texas statehood

• Oregon territory

• Mexican War

• Oregon trail

• California Trail

• Gold discovered

• Gold Rush

The Fateful Election of 1844

1. Southern leaders favored territorial expansion to extend the slave

system & demanded the immediate annexation of Texas.

3. Texas became the central issue in the 1844 election; Democrats

selected James K. Polk, who called for the annexation of Texas &

the taking of all of Oregon.

4. The Whigs nominated Henry Clay, who suggested that he

might support annexation of Texas.

5. Polk’s method of linking the issues of Texas & Oregon

was successful; immediately after Polk’s victory, congressional

Democrats moved to bring Texas into the Union.

Maine Boundary Settlement, 1842

The Independence of Texas

1. Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819 guaranteed Spanish sovereignty

over Texas.

2. After winning independence from Spain in 1821, the

Mexican govt. encouraged settlement by Mexicans & migrants

from the U.S..

3. 1829- Americans won special exemption from a law

ending slavery in Mexico.

Key Figures in Texas Independence, 1836

Sam Houston

Steven Austin

1830s- Americans in Texas had split into 2 groups:

A. “peace party”wanted more self-government for the province

B. “war party” wanted independence from Mexico.

March 2, 1836, the war party proclaimed the independence of Texas & adopted a

Constitution legalizing slavery.

The Republic of Texas

Texas entered as a U.S. state in

1845.

o One cause of the war with

Mexico in 1846.

The Oregon Dispute: 54’ 40º or Fight!

In 1843 a national convention

demanded that the U.S. seize

Oregon all the way to 54°40’

north latitude.

Joint British-U.S. occupation

ended in 1846.

Polk’s 1844 campaign slogan was

“54,40 or fight”

To avoid simultaneous war with Britain,

Polk signed the Oregon Treaty,

dividing the Oregon region at the

49th parallel

Wilmot Proviso, 1846

The Wilmot Proviso was intended to prohibit slavery

in any new territories acquired from Mexico; the

Senate killed the proviso. But the Wilmot Proviso’s

call for free soil was the first antislavery proposal to

attract broad popular support.

Provided, territory from that, as an express and

fundamental condition to the acquisition of any

the Republic of Mexico by the United States, by

virtue of any treaty which may be negotiated

between them, and to the use by the Executive of

the moneys herein appropriated, neither slavery

nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist

in any part of said territory, except for crime,

whereof the party shall first be duly convicted. Congr. David Wilmot (D-PA)

The Mexican War (1846-1848)

By the end of 1846, the U.S. controlled much of northeastern Mexico, & US forces

seized control of California in 1847.

Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, 1848

Mexico gave up claims to Texas above the Rio

Grande River.

Mexico gave the U. S. California and New Mexico.

U. S. gave Mexico $15,000,000 and agreed to pay

the claims of American citizens against Mexico

(over $3,500,000).

The Treaty was basically forced on Mexico!

Mexican War

Long Term Causes

•Manifest Destiny

•California

Immediate Causes

•Texas statehood, 1845

•Mexico refusing to sell California

•Border dispute

Effects

•US receives Mexican Cession

•Disputes over expansion of slavery will lead to the Civil War