Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy

Chapter 17

Essential Question?

• How can expansion lead to conflict and change?

President William Harrison

• Veteran of War of 1812• 1st Whig elected president• Gives longest inaugural

speech in history – in freezing rain– Dies of pneumonia 4

weeks later!!!• Cabinet– Daniel Webster (Sec. of

State)

W. Harrison Administration Timeline

• March 1841– Inagurated

• April 1841– Dies

“and Tyler, Too!”• VP John Tyler becomes 1st

VP to take over presidency

• Not a true Whig, but a Democrat placed on ticket to win southern votes.

• Against entire Whig platform: anti-BUS, anti-tariff, anti-internal improvement.

A President Without a Party• Tyler vetoes bill to create

new BUS• Henry Clay and other

Whigs expelled him from Whig party.

• Cabinet resigns (except Webster)

• Tries to mend ties with Whigs by agreeing to a tariff, but this only upsets Democrats.

US v. UK, Part 3?• British continued to look

down upon Americans.– “tobacco spitting, slave

auctioning, lynching, idiots”• Americans had borrowed

millions from UK, after Panic of 1837 they had no way to pay it back.

• Unsuccessful attempt by Canadians at independence aided by some Americans.

• Steamship Caroline, attacked and destroyed while bringing weapons to Canada – hawks call for war.

• Lumberjack or Aroostook War – minor flair ups between UK and US over border of Maine

• Webster-Ashburton Treaty – Settled border of Maine and Minnesota – Minn. full of iron ore!!

Webster-Ashburton Treaty

Texas Sized Troubles

• Mexico refused to recognize sovereignty of TX.– Threatened war if TX joined US.

• Texans outnumbered, began to look for help.– Began to negotiate with UK and France.– UK very interested because of TX’s fertile cotton

lands!

Lone Star Becomes 28th Star

• 1844 election won by Polk on a “annex TX” platform.

• North feared that TX would add to power of slave states, not likely to be approved by Congress.

• President Tyler beats Polk, annexes TX through a joint resolution 3 days before leaving office.

• 1845: Texas annexed• Mexico not very happy!

Annexation of Texas

Tyler Administration Timeline

• 1841– Tyler assumes

presidency• 1842– Lumberjack War– Webster-Ashburton

Treaty• 1845– Annexation of Texas

Oregon Fever

• Oregon Country was claimed by US, UK, Spain, and Russia.

• Thousands of American pioneers travelled the 2,000 mile Oregon Trail in the 1840s.– Trip took 5 months.– Many perished along the

trail!!

Oregon Trail

1844 Election

• Whigs– Henry Clay (Former Speaker of the House, Sec. of

State, Senator)• Democrats– James K. Polk (Speaker of House, former Gov. of

TN)• Polk wins, 170 to 105

1844 Election

President James K. Polk

• Born in NC!!• Supported by Andrew Jackson (called him “Young

Hickory”)• Believer in Manifest Destiny• 4 Goals all accomplished in 4 years– 1. Lower tariff– 2. Independent treasury– 3. Acquire California– 4. Settle Oregon dispute

Manifest Destiny

Belief that God had divinely blessed the American people into controlling North America.

54 ° 40’ or Fight!

• Oregon Territory went as far north as Alaska.• US offers to “settle” with UK at 49°, they

refuse.• By 1846, UK agrees to 49°• No 54° 40’, no fight

Oregon Territory

Misunderstandings con Mexico

• Mexico believed the border of TX was on the Nueces River, US said Rio Grande (farther south)

• Polk sends John Slidell to Mexico to attempt to buy CA for $25 million.– Rejected!– Polk wanted CA because

of the fertile land and San Francisco Bay.

• In 1840s CA occupied by Mexicans, Indians, and a few American immigrants.

Mexican Border?

Pretext for War

• Since buying CA failed, Polk decided to take it, but he needed a reason for Congress to declare war.

• Polk sent the Army, led by General Zachary Taylor, down to the Rio Grande in 1846.

• Soon the Mexican Army attacked Taylor, 16 Americans died.

• Polk got his wish, Congress declared war!

Opposition to War

• Young Whig Congressman Abraham Lincoln opposed war (“spot resolution”)– Lost reelection, never heard from again.

• Many northerners and abolitionists opposed the war on the basis that it would add more slave states south of the Missouri Compromise line.

• Henry David Thoreau went to jail for refusal to pay taxes that paid for war.

• Most Americans supported war effort.

Mastering of Mexico

• Santa Anna was in exile, but US aided his return to Mex. thinking he would bring a peaceful resolution – we were wrong!

• General Stephen Kearny captured Santa Fe with little trouble.

• John C. Fremont, and other Americans in CA easily overthrew Mexican officials.

• Gen. Taylor led the fighting in N. Mexico– Outnumbered 4 to 1 by

the Mex. Army, he manages to win the Battle of Buena Vista.

Old Fuss and Feathers

• Gen. Winfield Scott invaded Veracruz and fought his way into Mexico City. – He had too few troops,

harsh terrain, diseases– Managed to overcome

odds, take Mexican capital.

Major Campaigns of Mexican War

Peace Leads to War

• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends war in 1848.– US gets Mexican Cession

(CA, NV, AZ, NM, CO, UT)– More land than the

Louisiana Purchase– Mexico gets $15 million

• Some want to take all of Mexico– What problems exist

with this idea?• US image in Latin

America forever tarnished

• Arguments reignited over slavery in new territory.

Civil War Begins• Mexican War a proving

ground for future Civil War leaders– Jefferson Davis– Robert Lee– Ulysses Grant– Winfield Scott– Abraham Lincoln

• Future Presidents– Taylor– Lincoln– Grant

• Wilmot Proviso– Proposed law that

would prohibit slavery in Mexican Cession.

– Never approved.• Quarreling over slavery

will continue to divide nation through the 1850s.

Mexican Cession

Polk Administration Timeline

• 1844– Election

• 1846– Oregon dispute settled– Mexican War begins– Kearny takes Santa Fe– Fremont takes California– Wilmot Proviso

introduced

• 1847– Battle of Buena Vista– Mexico City falls

• 1848– Mexican War ends– Treaty of Guadalupe

Hidalgo

Essential Question?

• How can expansion lead to conflict and change?

Manifest Destiny

Oregon TerritoryTexas Annexation

Mexican War