Manifest Destiny

Mr. Owens

Essential Questions

• What was Manifest Destiny and how did it impact politics in the era?

• What were the causes and effects of the Mexican War and how did it intensify the debate over slavery?

• How did the era of Manifest Destiny impact American Indians and transform the West?

“Manifest Destiny” First coined by John O’Sullivan, newspaper editor of the Democratic Review, 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."

“American Progress” by John Gast

• 1823 Mexican independence attempted to attract settlers to sparsely populated Texas

• Moses & Stephen Austin large land grant, cotton plantations (with slaves), and Americans outnumbered Mexicans 3 to 1 in Texas by 1830

• 1829 Mexico banned slavery and required Roman Catholicism – forbade immigration

• 1834 General Santa Anna became dictator of Mexico & attempted to enforce laws in Texas – revolt

• Sam Houston led revolt & declared independent Texas republic

• Remember the Alamo! – all killed including Davy Crocket• Battle of San Jacinto – Santa Anna defeated and forced

to recognize Texas independence – Rejected by Mexican legislature

• Jackson & Van Buren denied annexation for fear of northern opposition leading to disunion. Tyler supported but rejected by Senate in 1844.

Texas

Maine, Oregon & Election of 1844• Renewed tensions w/ Britain over Maine border & joint

occupation of Oregon• Aroostook War “Lumberjack War” – Daniel Webster’s

Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842 settled Maine & Minnesota border.

• Oregon: US settlement had grown, Astoria founded by John Jacob Astor, missionaries, farmers with “Oregon Fever” 5,000 came along Oregon Trail by 1840s

• Manifest Destiny inspired demands for Oregon & Texas• 1844 Election: Democrats divided between Van Buren

& Calhoun opt for “dark horse” James K. Polk – pro-expansionist vs. Whig Henry Clay– Polk: annexation of Texas, all of Oregon “Fifty-Four-

Forty or Fight!”, acquisition of California– Clay flip-flopped on Texas issue caused NY to

abandon Whigs• With Polk’s victory Senate approved Texas annexation• Oregon settled along 49th Parallel without fight – why?

Mexican War• Slidell Mission: 1845 Polk sent John Slidell to attempt to

purchase CA & settle Texas border dispute – failed• 1846 Polk sends Gen. Zachary Taylor “Old Rough & Ready”

into disputed territory to Rio Grande – Mexican army captured American patrol & killed 11, Polk called for war

• “American blood has been shed on American soil” – Polk• Opposed by Northern Whigs (including Abe Lincoln)• With small force of 1,500 Americans under Stephen Kearny

take Santa Fe & Southern California, Jon C Fremont’s – Bear Flag Republic in June of 1846

• Gen. Zachary Taylor defeated Mexicans inTexas• Replaced with Gen. Winfield Scott “Old Fuss & Feathers” to

invade central Mexico captured Mexico City in Sep. 1847• Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo (1848) Mexico forced to

recognize Rio Grande as border of Texas, & cede CA & NM Territory for $15 million

• Wilmot Proviso: PA Congressman David Wilmot proposed banning slavery from acquired territory failed in Senate

Manifest Destiny South• Many southerners were dissatisfied with Treaty

of GH wanted more esp. Cuba, northerners feared a “slave power” conspiracy

• “filibuster” = private militia attempting to seize territory by force

• Ostend Manifesto: Spain turned down Polk’s offer to purchase Cuba, failed filibuster, 1852 President Pierce sent secret mission to Belgium to gain by Cuba from Spain

• William Walker after failed attempt to seize Baja CA from Mexico in 1853, conquers Nicaragua in 1855 – recognized by US in 1856, defeated and executed in Honduras in 1860

• Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850) Britain & US agree to a join plan to develop a canal through Central America

• Gadsden Purchase: 1853 US purchases southern section of AZ & NM from Mexico for $10 million to build southern railroad

Western Settlement• Fur traders & mountain men in 1820s Kit Carson &

Jedediah Smith scouted trails• Overland trails – dangerous wagon trail journeys to

Oregon & California• California Gold Rush: 1848-1849 population soared

from 14,000 in 1848 to 380,000 by 1860 attracted by migrants & immigrants from as far as China –

• Boom Towns in CA, CO, NV soon became Ghost Towns

• Farming Frontier – Preemption Acts of the 1830s & 1840s gave frontier settlers “squatters rights” but tended to avoid “Great American Desert” of the Great Plains

• Trek to CA & Oregon costly mostly for middle-class & early settlers faced isolation and limited services

• Frontier cities: San Francisco, Denver as gold & silver boom town & SLC grew as supply hub for migrants

Expanding Economy• Industrial Technology: expansion & diversity of

factories after 1840, Elias Howe’s sewing machine & Samuel Morse’s telegraph machine

• Railroads: rapid expansion in 1840s & 1850s – gov. special loans and tax breaks. 1850 government granted 2.6 million acres to build Illinois Central Railroad from Lake Michigan to Gulf of Mexico

• Foreign Trade boomed due to:1. Regular scheduled sailing departures2. New England led whale oil boom for lighting middle class

homes 1830-18603. American clipper ship in 1840s cut the trip from NYC to SF

from 5-6 months to 89 days4. Steamships replaced clippers by mid-1850s w/ more

steerage, and lower cost, regular schedules easier5. Commodore Matthew Perry opened trade with Japan in

1854 Treaty of Kanagawa

• Panic of 1857: end of mid-century economic boom hurting Midwest farmers prices & unemployment in North, but Cotton still boomed in South.