Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was...

24
Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy

Transcript of Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was...

Page 1: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

Chapter 17Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy

Page 2: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

Accession of “Tyler Too”• William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President. He was a member of the Whig political party.• Daniel Webster, secretary of state, and Henry Clay, Senator, hoped to control the aging president but Harrison died after only 4 weeks in office.• Tyler was a Whig but was often accused of being a Democrat. He did believe in States’ Rights and was included on the ticket to attract Southerners.• The Whig party was pro-bank, pro-tariff, and pro-internal improvements but Tyler was against all of those things.• President Tyler was at odds with the rest of his Whig party.• The Whig controlled Congress tried to pass two laws that would create a national bank but Tyler vetoed them both.• The Whigs kicked Tyler out of the party, the House of Representatives moved to impeach him, and his entire Cabinet resigned.• Tyler did sign the Tariff of 1842 because he realized the United States needed additional revenue.

Page 3: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

War of Words with Britain• Hatred of the British had grown by 1842 due to lingering resentments from the wars, disappearance of the pro-British Federalist party, and anti-American writings in British articles and magazines.• British authors were angry because the United States did not extend copyright laws to foreign authors until 1891.• In 1837 a short-lived insurrection erupted in Canada. Hundreds of American provided weapons and others volunteered for armed service.• British troops attacked the American ship the Caroline on the Niagara River as it was delivering supplies to the insurgents. A Canadian who had bragged about his role in the attack was arrested in New York in 1840 and put on trial but was found innocent.• In 1841, British officials granted asylum to 130 Virginian slaves who had captured the American ship the Creole.• England had outlawed slavery in 1833 which made the South nervous that the Caribbean would become a safe-haven for slaves much like California.

Page 4: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

The Land of Liberty, 1847This British cartoon reflected the contemptuous view of American culture, politics, and diplomacy that was common in early-nineteenth-century Britain.

Page 5: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

Manipulating the Maine Map• In the early 1840s the Aroostook War was fought over disagreements between American and British lumberjacks over boundary lines in Maine.• In 1842 a compromise was worked out between Lord Ashburton and Secretary Webster.• The compromise gave the Americans 7,000 square miles of the disputed territory and the British the valuable Halifax-Quebec route.• The US-Canadian border was adjusted even further west. This led to the valuable Mesabi iron ore deposits being located in Minnesota.

Page 6: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

Maine Boundary Settlement, 1842

Page 7: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

Lone Star of Texas• Since 1836, Texas was in a dangerous situation with Mexico refusing to recognize its independence it was forced to keep up an expensive military campaign.• Mexican officials loudly stated that if the US annexed Texas as a state, war would follow.• Texas began negotiating with Britain and France to secure protection. Britain liked the idea of controlling Texas and stopping American expansion. They hoped to control Texas and its vast cotton fields, divide the US, and outlaw slavery in the area. All of these made Americans extremely nervous.• Texas became a leading issue in the Presidential campaign of 1844. The pro-expansion Democrats under James K. Polk would win.• President Tyler wanted his administration to get the credit for bringing Texas into the Union and they did in early 1845.• Texas would become the 28th state.• Mexicans were angry even though Texas had gained its independence 9 years earlier.

Page 8: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

Oregon Fever• Britain and the US both laid claim to the massive Oregon territory.• American missionaries living in the Willamette Valley helped the US to lay a strong claim to the area.• In the early 1840s, many restless pioneers caught “Oregon Fever” and set out on the 2,000 mile journey now known as the Oregon trail.• The Oregon Trail journey usually lasted about 5 months. The settlers traveled in covered wagons. Some historians believe that for every mile of the journey, 17 people died.• By 1846 about 5,000 Americans had settled south of the Columbia River.• The British wanted the Oregon/Canadian boundary to be at the Columbia River. The Americans wanted the boundary to be the 49 th Parallel.• This issue was largely overshadowed by the annexation of Texas in the presidential election of 1844.

Page 9: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

St. Louis in 1846, by Henry LewisThousands of pioneers like these pulling away from St. Louis said farewell to civilization as they left the Mississippi River and headed across the untracked plains to Oregon in the 1840s.

Page 10: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

Pundt and Koenig’s General Store, Omaha City, Nebraska, 1858Settlers bound for Colorado and California stopped here for provisions before venturing farther west across the open plains.

Page 11: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

Manifest Destiny• James K. Polk was the “dark horse” of the 1844 election.• Polk had been Speaker of the House and governor of Tennessee for two terms. Was supported by his good friend, Andrew Jackson.• Manifest Destiny: the belief of many Americans that God had destined the American people for the land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to spread democracy.• Manifest Destiny allowed Americans to join their desire for more land with their democratic ideals.• The land-hungry Democratic party focused on the annexation of Texas and the Oregon Territory to gain popularity.

Page 12: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

Manifest Destiny: A CaricatureThe spirit of Manifest Destiny swept the nation in the 1840s, and threatened to sweep it to extremes. This cartoon from 1848 lampoons proslavery Democratic presidential candidate Lewis Cass as a veritable war machine, bent on the conquest of territory ranging from New Mexico to Cuba and even Peru.

Page 13: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its WayThis romantic tribute to the spirit of Manifest Destiny was commissioned by Congress in 1860 and may still be seen in the Capitol.

Page 14: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

James K. Polk• Polk had 4 point plan going into his presidency.• Goal 1: Lower tariffs. Walker Tariff of 1846 was an excellent revenue producer, largely due to boom times and heavy imports.• Goal 2: Restore the independent treasury• Goal 3: Acquire the territory of California• Goal 4: Settle the Oregon dispute• The US and Great Britain were able to settle the Oregon dispute without a fight. The boundary line was finally agreed, the 49th parallel. Britain was willing to compromise due to the fact that most of the disputed area had been depleted of its valuable furs.• Polk was hoping to purchase California from Mexico.• Mexico had severed all diplomatic ties with the US when Texas had been annexed.• The tension between US and Mexico was worsened when a dispute began over Texas’ southern boundary.• Mexico still saw Texas as their territory in a temporary stage of revolt.• Rumors that Great Britain was wanting to seize California made Polk nervous. He sent an envoy to Mexico City to offer $25 million for California but they were turned away.

Page 15: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

The Oregon Controversy, 1846

Page 16: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

Fort Vancouver, Oregon Country, ca. 1846Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia River near its confluence with the Willamette River, was the economic hub of the Oregon Country during the early years of settlement. Founded as a Hudson’s Bay Company fur-trading outpost, the fort was handed over to the Americans when Britain ceded the Oregon Country to the United States in 1846.

Page 17: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

War with Mexico Begins!• On January 13, 1846 Polk ordered American troops to the disputed area between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande River. He was hoping to spark a fight which would allow him to declare war on Mexico.• Mexican troops attacked General Taylor’s troops on April 25, 1846.• Congress overwhelming voted for war. Polk made it seem like he had no other choice. He said American blood had been shed on American soil. It had actually been shed in Texas where the Mexicans had a valid claim to the land.• Congressmen Abraham Lincoln pushed for Spot Resolutions which questioned Polk’s justification for war. Lincoln wanted to know the exact “spot” where American’s had been killed.

Page 18: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

War with Mexico• Polk hoped to fight a limited war and end it quickly once California had been captured.• General Kearny led a successful campaign against the Mexicans near Santa Fe.• Captain John C. Fremont helped to overthrow Mexican rule in California in 1846 and formed the short-lived California Bear Flag Republic.• General Zachary Taylor invaded Mexico and won a decisive battle of Buena Vista in 1847.• General Winfield Scott fought a successful campaign and had arrived at Mexico City by September 1847.• General Scott and Nicholas Trist from the state department arranged for an armistice with Mexican dictator Santa Anna at a cost of $10,000. Santa Anna took the money and used it to strengthen his army.

Page 19: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

War with Mexico• Polk recalled Trist back to Washington DC but he refused to return. Instead, he sent back the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848.• The treaty gave the US Texas, California, and everything in between. The US agreed to pay $15 million for the land.• The Senate eventually ratified the treaty even though most were unsatisfied with the terms.• Some Whigs felt like the war wasn’t justified and some expansionist Southerners wanted to claim all of Mexico.• Others were angry that the US was going to pay for land they acquired through a war.• Polk agreed to pay in order to have the war end quickly and gain the territory.

Page 20: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

The Landowner and His Foreman, by Julio Michard, 1839This California ranchero’s way of life was soon to be extinguished when California became part of the United States in 1848 and thousands of American gold-seekers rushed into the state the following year.

Page 21: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

Major Campaigns of the Mexican War

Page 22: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

War News from Mexico, by Richard Caton WoodvilleThe newfangled telegraph kept the nation closely informed of events in far-off Mexico.

Page 23: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

Profit and Loss in Mexico• The US-Mexican war was small but had enormous consequences. The US would increase its size by 1/3 which was larger than the Louisiana Purchase.• Many Civil War heroes participate in this war: Robert E. Lee, Ulysses Grant, Winfield Scott, etc.• Mexico became extremely bitter over the war and the rest of Latin American grew suspicious of the US• The US-Mexican war highlighted the issue of slavery. Would this new territory be slave or free?• Wilmot Proviso: proposed by Congressman David Wilmot, it tried to prohibit slavery in any territory acquired through the war with Mexico.• It never became law but it highlighted the growing tensions between slave and free states

Page 24: Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy. Accession of “Tyler Too” William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1840 with John Tyler as Vice President.

Storming the Fortress of Chapultepec, Mexico, 1847The American success at Chapultepec contributed heavily to the final victory over Mexico. One American commander lined up several Irish American deserters on a gallows facing the castle and melodramatically dropped the trapdoors beneath them just as the United States flag was raised over the captured battlement. According to legend, the flag was raised by First Lieutenant George Pickett, later immortalized as the leader of “Pickett’s charge” in the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg, 1863.