TEXAS,
MANIFEST
DESTINY AND
WESTWARD
EXPANSION
Chapters 13 and 17
GONE TO TEXAS
 1821
- 1823
Mexico gains independence
from Spain
 Stephen Austin brings 300
families to Texas to settle
with Mexican permission.

 The
stipulations were:
(1) they must become Mexican citizens
(2) they must become Catholic
(3) no slavery allowed
 These
stipulations were largely
ignored by the new settlers
THE LONE STAR REBELLION
 Texans
(among them Davy Crockett, Jim
Bowie and Sam Houston) resented “foreign”
government
 1830: Mexico freed its slaves & prohibited
them in Texas, much to the anger of citizens
 1835: dictator Santa Anna started to raise an
army to suppress the Texans
 1836: Texas declares its independence.
 After armed conflict and slaughters at the
Alamo (13 day siege) and at Goliad (both
Mexican victories), Texan war cries rallied
citizens, volunteers, and soldiers
THE LONE STAR REBELLION
 After
the Battle at San Jacinto, Mexico
agreed to withdraw its troops from Texas

The Rio Grande as the southwest border of Texas
 Texas
was supported in their war by the US,
but Andrew Jackson was hesitant to
formally recognize Texas as an independent
nation

Jackson did recognize Texas independence on his
last day before he left office, in 1837.
 Texans
wanted to become part of the Union,
but the slavery issue blocked this.
 The end was an unsettled predicament in
which Texans feared the return of Santa
Anna.
LOG CABIN & HARD CIDER OF 1840

1840: Whigs nominate
William H. Harrison
(Old Tippecanoe) due
to his being issueless
and enemyless

John Tyler (Va.): VP
A Democratic editor
also helped Harrison’s cause
when he called Harrison a poor old farmer and
identified him with many poor Westerners (who
drank hard cider and lived in log cabins)
 With slogans of “Tippecanoe and Tyler too!” the
Whigs promoted this “poor man’s president” idea
 The election was a protest against the hard times of
the era (which party has been in office??)

W.H. HARRISON AS PRESIDENT
(BUT NOT FOR LONG)
 Daniel
Webster
(Secretary of State)
 Henry Clay
(in the Senate)
 W.H.H. dies four weeks
after his inauguration
 John Tyler becomes president



The first to succeed to the presidency from the
vice-presidency (“acting” president?)
More of a Democrat than a Whig (didn’t like the
B.U.S.; Clay and Webster don’t like him)
Becomes a president without a party (“His
Accidency”)
In Case of the Removal of the President from
Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to
discharge the Powers and Duties of the said
Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice
President, and the Congress may by Law provide
for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or
Inability, both of the President and Vice President,
declaring what Officer shall then act as President,
and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the
Disability be removed, or a President shall be
elected.
ARTICLE II, SECTION 1, CLAUSE 6
(BACK)
Our manifest destiny [is] to overspread the continent allotted by
Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.
- John L. O'Sullivan
Texas has been absorbed into the Union as the inevitable fulfillment of
the general law which is rolling our population westward....It was
disintegrated from Mexico in the natural course of events, by a process
perfectly legitimate on its own part, blameless on ours....
California will, probably next fall away from Mexico, imbecilic and
distracted...The Anglo-Saxon foot is already on its borders....All this
without agency of our government, without responsibility of our
people--in the natural flow of events, the spontaneous working of
principles....
- Democratic Review, 1845
What a prodigious growth this English race, especially the American
branch of it, is having! How soon will it subdue and occupy all the wild
parts of this continent and of the islands adjacent. No prophecy,
however seemingly extravagant, as to future achievements in this way
[is] likely to equal the reality.
- Rutherford B. Hayes
AMERICANS BELIEVED IN MANIFEST DESTINY =
OUR NATION HAD A GOD-GIVEN RIGHT TO ALL OF
NORTH AMERICA (FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA)
What about the native populations?
What about foreign nations that had
claims in the West?
There were opportunities to be had





Mountain men went west to trap and trade.
Missionaries hoped to convert Native
Americans to Christianity.
Lumberjacks and miners went to capitalize
on timber and minerals.
Farmers moved west to farm vast, rich lands.
Entrepreneurs made their way to California
AMERICAN PROGRESS BY JOHN GAST
NEWS FROM SUTTER’S MILL
1848: gold was
discovered in
northern California.
 President James K.
Polk announced the
gold discovery in his
State of the Union
address on December
5, 1848.
 Americans caught
“gold fever.”
 By 1854 as many as
300,000 people had
migrated to
California.

LET’S HEAD BACK TO TEXAS AND EXAMINE ITS
ANNEXATION IN THE CONTEXT OF MANIFEST DESTINY
Proponents
 Americans
who
believed in Manifest
Destiny wanted to
admit Texas to the
Union.
 Viewed
the Texas
Revolution in the spirit
of the American
Revolution.
 Southerners
supported
annexation because
Texas allowed slavery,
and its admission would
boost the South’s
political power (and
expand farmland)
Opponents
 Americans
were
concerned that the U.S.
would have to bear the
substantial Texas debt.
 Northerners
opposed
annexation because it
would spread slavery
westward and increase
slave states’ voting
power in Congress.
 Congress
was concerned
that the Constitution
said nothing about
admitting an
independent nation.
THE 1844 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Clay (straddled the Texas issue…seemed
for it AND against it) vs. Polk
James
K. Polk, the strongly pro-annexation
(no question) candidate and dark horse, wins
Clay lost the close election largely when he lost
New York thanks to the Liberty Party candidate
(anti-Texas annexation) taking votes from him
Their actions inadvertently won the election
for Polk…which led to Texas getting annexed!
And that is the problem Third Parties
present…they don’t win but they can have
serious implications for the election result
THE ELECTION AND TEXAS



Mexico warns that it would consider the
annexation of Texas as a declaration of war.
Voters in Texas overwhelmingly approved
annexation once Polk was in office
(statehood on December 29, 1845)
The annexation of Texas enraged the
Mexican government.
o
o
Mexico never had recognized the Republic of
Texas and broke off diplomatic ties with the
U.S.
In the twentieth century, it will be said
"¡Pobre México! ¡Tan lejos de Dios y tan
cerca de los Estados Unidos!"
 Polk
(an advocate of manifest destiny)
wanted the nation to acquire the land
between Texas and the Pacific Ocean.
 However,
these
territories
(New Mexico
to
California)
belonged to
Mexico
 Polk sought
an
opportunity
to gain them
 1845:
special envoy John Slidell offered to
cancel the $3 million in claims against
Mexico in exchange for Mexico’s
recognition of the Rio Grande as its
boundary with the U.S. Additionally…
 …He was authorized to pay Mexico up to
$30 million to purchase New Mexico and
California for the U.S.A.
 No Mexican representatives would meet
with him
 Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor
(“Old Rough and Ready”) to take his
troops into the disputed border territory.

The U.S. used the event of a minor skirmish to
declare war on Mexico.
 General
Winfield Scott
(“Old Fuss and Feathers”)
marched his forces into Mexico
City.


U.S. forces soon controlled New
Mexico and California
When their capital fell, the Mexican
government was forced to give in.
 The
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)
forced Mexico to turn over a
huge tract of land known as
the Mexican Cession

The U.S. paid Mexico $15 million.
In England, “Brother
Jonathan” meant a
country bumpkin
 The name described
Americans during the
Revolution.
 In this 1847 British
cartoon, Brother
Jonathan is dreaming
about the Mexican
War (as the devil looks
down).
 What is ironic about
the title, “The Land of
Liberty” and really all
of this cartoon?

The Gadsden
Purchase
completes
our southern
continental
conquest by
1853
($10,000,000)
 A southern
transcontinental
railroad??

WILMOT PROVISO

What is to become of the
Mexican Cession?


Slave or Free?
The Wilmot (Pa.) Proviso
Slavery should never exist in
lands gained from Mexico
 A way to thwart the attempts of
the “slavocracy” to gain
power in Congress
 Tried to get this passed at the
beginning of the conflict
 Never does become law


“Mexico will poison us.”


Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Civil War was ultimately
Santa Anna’s revenge
AND FINALLY, OREGON
 1846:
Polk tells
British that joint
occupation no
longer acceptable
 “54’ 40” or fight!”
 England prepares
for war, proposes
division of the area
 Senate approves
division of Oregon
along 49o north
latitude in 1846
SO, WAS JAMES K. POLK THE MOST SUCCESSFUL
PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES?
 What
did he promise in his campaign of 1844?
 To serve one term
 To lower tariffs (for revenue)
 To support the annexation of
Texas
 To settle the Oregon boundary
dispute with Great Britain
 To reestablish an independent
treasury system
 To acquire territory from
Mexico that eventually became
California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada,
Utah, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming