1301 Topic Ten: Manifest Destiny
A. Movement to the Far West
1. Texas Revolution
a. Americans move to Tejas in the 1820’s and 1830’s
b. Mexican government use agents like Stephen F. Austin to bring in settlers
c. Americans have issues with Mexican government
- Catholicism is the official religion
- slavery is outlawed
- Americans must pay tariffs
d. However, govt. control over the northern provinces was weak
e. Revolution starts in Tejas in 1835
- supported by both Americans and Tejanos
- were alarmed by the coup of Santa Ana
- part of a wider trend of Mexican states rebelling against Santa Ana
- independence declared March 1836
- Alamo and Goliad
- Battle of San Jacinto April 1836
f. Republic of Texas created, Sam Houston elected first president
g. wanted to be part of the US but refused
2. Mormon Migration
a. Joseph Smith founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
b. at first successful, but then adopt polygamy
c. Joseph Smith killed by a mob
d. Brigham Young leads around 14k Mormons to Utah
e. establish a community near the Great Salt Lake
3. Trade established with Mexican settlements
a. Santa Fe Trail
b. California
4. Americans also moving to Oregon
a. Oregon Trail
b. by 1845 about 5000 Americans in Oregon
B. The Election of 1840
1. The Whig Party was established in 1834 as a reaction to “King Andrew”
a. signaled a return to the 2 party system
b. members united against Andrew Jackson but consisted of the “Cotton
Whigs” and the “Conscience Whigs”
2. The Whig candidate William Henry Harrison wins the election over Van Buren
a. “log cabin and hard cider” campaign
b. VP was John Tyler, “Tippecanoe and Tyler too”
c. Harrison catches a cold during the inauguration, dies 4 wks later
3. John Tyler becomes the “accidental” president
a. first time for a sitting president to die in office
b. Tyler shocks everyone by taking the presidency instead of calling for
elections
c. also returns to the Democratic Party
- vetoes new Bank Bill
- vetoes Tariff Bill
- upsets Whigs who control Congress
- 1842 Webster-Ashburton Treaty with Britain
d. wants to annex Texas, use the issue for a presidential bid
- backfires on him
- not nominated by either party
C. Manifest Destiny
1. Election of 1844
a. James Polk, the Democratic candidate, wins the election
- promised to only serve one term
- called for annexation of both Texas and Oregon, “54-40 or Fight”
- identified himself with Manifest Destiny
- Tyler signs the Texas Annexation bill before leaving office
2. Manifest Destiny
a. name given to the expansionist mood of the country
- religion
- democracy
- population growth
b. most Americans thought that it was the destiny of the US to control the
continent
3. Oregon
a. Americans wanted all of Oregon, Polk agreed publically
b. privately Polk negotiated with the British for a border at the 49th parallel
c. Oregon Treaty accepted June 1846, war with Mexico already started
4. Mexican-American War
a. border dispute between U.S. and Mexico
b. war starts April 1846
c. Americans in CA also rebel against Mexican rule, Bear Flag Republic, June
1846
d. Vera Cruz campaign, March 1847
- General Scott marches army to Mexico City, captured September 1847
- Santa Ana flees Mexico
e. Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo signed February 1848
- U.S. gains New Mexico and California (not all of Mexico as Polk intended)
- Border established at the Rio Grande (it is not the Rio Grande River)
- U.S. will protect the rights of Mexicans in the Mexican Cession
f. Results of the Mexican War
- Manifest Destiny over, no national goal to unify country
- Sectionalism will prevail in the 1850’s
- Mexico destabilized, both economically and politically
- Civil War generals gain combat experience
g. Why didn’t we take all of Mexico?
- not really feasible
- non-Anglo population
- real goal was the CA harbors of San Francisco and San Diego
- annexation would be blocked by the North