CHAPTER 13: IMMIGRATION,
EXPANSION, & SECTIONAL
CONFLICT
1840-1848
Section 1
Focus Question:
 How did immigration in the 1840’s influence
the balance of power between the Whig &
Democratic parties
Big Picture:
 Texas independence
 Immigration & territorial gain = political change
Expectations & Motivations

Desire for religious freedom & better economic
conditions.
 Unsafe
boat rides, fake tickets, goal to find close knit
groups.

Arrival: NE & South
 Irish—no
$ for farms & worked in urban NE.
 Germans—Spread from N.O. up Miss. River

Cities demanded & welcomed immigrant labor
Germans

1860—Germany contained diverse groups,
religions, & origins.
 Farmers
& professionals.
 Levi Strauss

Language connector
 German-American
Communities: own schools,
companies, doctors…
 Did not go outside their communities.
 Struggled to gain political positions.
Irish





1815-1820—mostly Protestant & small land owners
Mid-1840’s—poor & Catholic
1815-1845—800,000 immigrated to the US
“Great Famine”
Worked in construction, textiles, & servants
Nativists & Policy



Anti-Catholic Protestants =
Nativists
Feared job loss
George Henry Evans—
National Reform Association



Tried to gain land for
newcomers
Unions organized to attract
workers
Commonwealth v Hunt
1842—allowed Unions

Mass.—fired union workers

Democrats




German & Irish support due
to focus on jobs
Tried to push expansion &
banking/tariffs to group
“Forty-Eighters”
Whigs




Turned off immigrant support
Supported Abolitionism (job
competition)
Supported Moral behavior
(temperance & education).
Thought G/I were spreading
bad behavior to public.
Section 2
Focus Question:
 What economic and political forces fed
westward expansion during the 1840’s?
Big Picture:
 “West”—land W. of the Appalachians & Miss.
River.
Land & Trade
LAND



Transcontinental Treaty
or Adams Onis Treaty
(1819)—Parts of
“Oregon” territory split
between US & BR.
1820—Mexico gains
independence & takes
TX & NM
Mexico territory
undisputed.
Land & Trade
TRADE


Merchants sailed around
S. America to trade with
California.
“Californios”


Catholic & Spanish
Trails & trade links:



St. Louis, MO to Santa Fe,
NM
Silver Peso
Beaver pelts
Conflict with Mexico



Stephen Austin owned land in
Texas, passed down from his
father
He led a group of 300
Americans to Texas to start a
small colony
Americans were told they could
stay IF they agreed to become
Mexican citizens and worship
in the Roman Catholic Church
Growing Conflict




Thousands more flooded into Texas
Disregarded Mexican law
 Brought slaves and were Protestants
1830 Mexico banned further U.S. settlement and
tried to enforce its laws
Began to levy heavy taxes on U.S. imports
Declaring Independence


In Mexico there was a
movement for a more
democratic government
1833 General Antonio
Lopez de Santa Anna
took control of
government
 Over
turned constitution
and began a
dictatorship (one person
rule)

1836, under urging
of Austin, Texans
declared
independence from
Mexico
What Did Mexicans Want?
What did the Americans want?
Texans at war


Santa Anna attacked the
Alamo, a mission where
Texans and Mexican Texans
(Tejanos) were gathered
The Texans and Tejanos
held out for 12 days under
heavy cannon fire before
Mexican forces overran it
Results of the Alamo




All the defenders killed in battle or executed
afterwards
Inspired by their bravery, many American volunteers
joined the Texan Army
Later Sam Houston, commander of the Texan Army
led a surprise attack on Santa Anna at San Jacinto
Captured Santa Anna and forced him to recognize
Texan independence
Beginnings of the Mexican-American
War




Polk offered Mexican government cash to settle the
border dispute, purchase California and the rest of
New Mexico
This angered Mexico and they refused
Polk then tried to provoke the Mexicans
 Sent General Zachary Taylor into the disputed land
Mexicans ambushed them and Polk asked Congress
for a declaration of war
Settlement & Trails to the West


By 1840—small groups settled in CA, NM, & OR.
Overland Trails
4
month trip
 Supplies: guns, but shot themselves by accident
 Traveled in groups: starvation, hypothermia…
 “Donner Party”


1840: 11,500 immigrated & only 2,000 made it
“Californios” issues…
Trails Westward
The Doomed Donner
Party
April, 1846 – April,
1847
The Doomed Donner
Party
CANNIBALISM
!!
Margaret
Breen
James Reed & Wife
Patrick
Breen
John
Breen
 Of the 83 members of the
Donner Party, only 45
survived to get to
California!
Section 3
Focus Question
 How did westward expansion threaten war with
Britain & Mexico?
Big Picture:
 Annex Texas?
 CA? NM? OR?
 Economic Recovery
Whigs

1840—William Henry
Harrison
Goal to stimulate
economy
 Revise tariffs for internal
improvements


Dies = John Tyler VP
Secret Democrat
 Vetoes Whig programs
like Compromise 1833 to
lower tariffs
 Raises tariffs to give to
North (sim to Jackson

Whigs

1842—Webster
Ashburton Treaty
 Settled
disputes
between Maine &
Canada
 Tyler thought support
would lead to support
for annexing TX
 Northern conspiracy

Great Britain
“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 federal development of selfgovernment 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."
 A myth
of the West as a land of romance and adventure
emerged.
“American Progress”
by John Gast, 1872
Manifest Destiny

1849 John O’Sullivan
 “Manifest
Destiny” or “Sea to Shining Sea”
 Justification by “God”

Spread “influences”
 Democracy,

Democratic Expansionists “New Party”
 Supported

religion, slavery
by Irish & Anti-slavery advocates
Over expansion = ungovernable empire
Annexing Texas and Oregon
Election of 1844
 Election was between Henry Clay (Whig) and
James K. Polk
 Polk won by promising to annex Texas and Oregon
Tensions with Mexico
 Mexico had never formally recognized
Texan independence
 Treaty Santa Anna signed set boundary
at Rio Grande
 Mexican government claimed boundary
was further north
Annexation
 Before Polk took office President Tyler called for
admission of Texas as state
 As President, Polk negotiated a treaty with Britain
to divide Oregon (Now states of Washington,
Oregon, and parts of Idaho) (49th Parallel)
Section 4
Focus Question:
 How did the outcome of the Mexican-American War
intensify intersectional conflicts?
Big Picture:
 Gaining CA & NM = slavery issues!
The Mexican American War

War with Mexico popular with
most Americans
 Support
was strongest among
Westerners and Southerners
who wanted more land
http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/timeline
_flash.html
Why would Westerners want more land?
Why would Southerners want more land?
How would the belief in “Manifest Destiny” make people
support the war?

Many Northerners argued that Polk had provoked
the war
 How
had Polk “provoked” the war?
Rebellion in California


Polk ordered troop under the command of Stephen
Kearny to invade and capture Santa Fe, New
Mexico
Settlers near San Francisco had begun their own
revolt against Mexico



They raised a grizzly bear
flag and declared
California an independent
republic
John C. Fremont took
control of the “Bear Flag
Rebellion”
Quickly captured major
cities of California
(Monterey and San
Francisco)



He then moved on to join forces
with U.S. troops under the
command of Kearny
Kearny’s troops captured Santa
Fe and San Diego
United with naval units to occupy
all of southern California
Invasion of Mexico


General Zachary Taylor and General Winfield
Scott swept through Mexico with stunning victories
even though they were often outnumbered
How do you think they still won?





Scott’s campaign ended at Chapultepec, a stone
palace above the capital of Mexico City
The Mexican troops fought bravely to defend
Chapultepec, but most were killed
How is this similar to the American experience at the
Alamo?
After Americans won the capital city, Santa Anna fled
The U.S. had won the war
Achieving Manifest Destiny




The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo
Under the treaty, Mexico recognized the
annexation of Texas and gave the U.S. large
amounts of territory
Mexican Cession included present day California,
Nevada, Utah and parts of Wyoming, Colorado,
Arizona, and New Mexico
U.S. also paid $15 million for this land

In the Gadsden Purchase of 1853, U.S. paid
Mexico $10 million for a narrow strip of present
day Arizona and New Mexico
The Mexican Cession
How did Each Person Help bring
Mexican land under u.s. control?

A. General Kearny

B. General Zachary Taylor

C. General Winfield Scott

D. John Fremont

E. President Tyler

F. President Polk

G. Stephen Austin

H. Sam Houston