Chapter
13 Section 3
Objectives
• Explain how Texas became independent from
Mexico.
• Discuss the issues involved in annexing Texas
and Oregon.
• Summarize the main events in the MexicanAmerican War.
• Explain how the United States achieved Manifest
Destiny.
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
Terms and People
• Stephen Austin – an American who established
a small settlement in Mexican-owned Texas;
later, he urged Texans to revolt against the
Mexican government
• dictatorship – one-person rule
• siege – an attack in which one force surrounds
a city or fort
• Sam Houston – commander of the Texas forces
during the Texas War for Independence; later,
president of the Republic of Texas
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
Terms and People (continued)
• annex – add on
• James K. Polk – U.S. president who negotiated
the boundaries of Oregon Country; later, he
provoked the Mexican-American War
• cede – give up
• John C. Frémont – an American who took
command of the Bear Flag Rebellion in California
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
Chapter 13 Section 3: Conflict with Mexico
• I can describe the impact of the Mexican
American War on both countries.
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
Set Questions:
1. Where is Mexico in relation to the United States?
2. What 4 states share a border with this country?
3. How are Mexican-U.S. relations today?
4. What is one major issue between the two countries
today?
5. What was one major issue between the two countries
back then?
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
What were the causes and effects of the
Texas War for Independence and the
Mexican-American War?
Texans revolted against the Mexican
government when it became a dictatorship.
The United States and Mexico went to war
over a border dispute.
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
Texas War for Independence
In 1820, Texas’s Spanish governor gave Moses
Austin a land grant to establish a colony there.
After Moses died, his son, Stephen Austin, led
300 Americans into Texas, shortly before Mexico
won independence from Spain.
Mexico agreed to let Austin keep
his colony if the colonists became
Catholic Mexican citizens.
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
Growing Conflict in Texas
Religion
and Slavery
• The thousands of Americans who settled in
Texas were Protestant, not Catholic.
• The settlers were also slaveholders who
wanted to grow cotton in Texas, but Mexico
had abolished slavery.
A Ban on
Americans
• In 1830, Mexico banned further American
settlement, but Americans kept coming to
Texas.
• Mexico also began to levy heavy taxes on
American imports.
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
In 1833, General Antonio López de Santa Anna
became president of Mexico, and he soon started
a dictatorship.
These events dashed the hopes of:
American settlers who
wanted more
representation in the
Mexican legislature.
Some Tejanos (Texans
of Mexican descent)
who wanted a more
democratic government.
In 1836, Texans declared independence from
Mexico and created the Republic of Texas.
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
The Alamo
Santa Anna’s
troops laid siege
to the Alamo, a
San Antonio
mission where 185
Anglo-Americans
and Tejanos were
gathered.
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
The
defenders of
the Alamo
held out for
12 days, but
they were all
eventually
killed.
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
Capture of Santa Anna
A few months later, Sam
Houston and the Texas
forces attacked San
Jacinto and captured
Santa Anna.
They forced him to sign
a treaty recognizing
Texan independence.
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
Sam Houston, president of the new Republic
of Texas, hoped the United States would
annex Texas.
Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren
would not support annexation, fearing that the
addition of a slave state would split the country.
Almost 10 years after Texas became independent,
it still had not become an American state.
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
The Presidential Election of 1844 and
the Annexation of Texas and Oregon
Election of
1844
• Whig party nominee Henry Clay tried to avoid
the issue of Texas annexation.
• When campaigning for President, the
Democratic party nominee James K. Polk
called for the annexation of both Texas and
Oregon, and he won the election.
Annexation
of Texas
and Oregon
• Shortly before Polk took office, President John
Tyler asked Congress to annex Texas.
• Congress voted in favor of the annexation in
1845, and Texas quickly agreed.
• Polk negotiated with Britain to divide Oregon,
and the land the U.S. received eventually
became Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
Conflict with Mexico
The annexation of Texas increased tensions with Mexico,
because it had never formally recognized Texan
independence.
The United States and Mexico also disagreed on the
location of the southern boundary of Texas.
Polk offered
Mexico money to
settle the dispute
and to purchase
California and
New Mexico.
Conflict with Mexico
Not wanting to
cede more land
to the United
States, Mexico
refused Polk’s
offer.
Chapter
13 Section 3
Polk then tried to provoke Mexico into war by
sending troops into the disputed land.
Mexican troops attacked
Americans.
Congress declared war on Mexico, saying Mexico
had forced its hand.
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
Many northerners were against the war and
thought Polk was trying to extend slavery.
Most Americans, especially southerners
and westerners, supported the MexicanAmerican War.
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
Troops attacked
Mexico on two fronts.
John C. Frémont and
Stephen Kearney moved
west from Fort
Leavenworth to take
control of California.
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
The Bear Flag Revolt
Before they even reached California, settlers near
San Francisco began their own armed revolt.
The settlers raised a
grizzly bear flag and
declared California an
independent republic.
Frémont took command of the Bear Flag
Rebellion.
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
Mexican-American War
U.S. forces were led by Gen. Winfield Scott and Gen.
Zachary Taylor.
Mexican Forces were led by Gen. Santa Anna
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
U.S. General Zachary
Taylor marched south
from the Rio Grande
River and defeated a
large Mexican force at
Buena Vista.
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
U.S. General Winfield
Scott captured Veracruz,
an important Mexican
port, and then forced
the Mexican army into
Mexico City.
Still, Santa Anna
would not surrender.
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
On the other front, the
U.S. Navy blockaded
Mexico’s west coast.
The navy helped secure
California while another
fleet in the Gulf of
Mexico supported the
assault at Veracruz.
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
Scott and his forces
attacked Chapultepec, a
stone palace above
Mexico city.
Like the Texans at the
Alamo, the Mexicans
fought bravely to defend
Chapultepec, but most
of them were killed.
After that defeat, Santa Anna left Mexico City.
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
The Mexican Cession
Mexico recognized the U.S. annexation of
Texas and ceded a vast territory that
included present-day California, Nevada,
and Utah, as well as parts of Wyoming,
Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.
For the Mexican Cession, the U.S. paid $18 million
to Mexico.
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
In the Gadsen Purchase of 1853, the United States
paid Mexico $10 million for a narrow strip of present-day
Arizona and New Mexico.
The
United
States
had
achieved
Manifest
Destiny.
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
Closing Questions:
1. What were the conflicts between the United States
and Mexico discussed in this section?
2. What are the lasting effects of the first conflict?
3. What are the lasting effects of the second conflict?
4. What was the last event of the war? Hint it was a
withdrawal from a city.
5. Which side is more to blame for this conflict? Justify
your response with 3 complete sentences.
Conflict with Mexico
Chapter
13 Section 3
Section Review
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