Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy 1841-1848 Destiny---1840 to 1850 ... •All compromises were...
Transcript of Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy 1841-1848 Destiny---1840 to 1850 ... •All compromises were...
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
notes 4
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