Chapter 17APUSH
Manifest Destiny and Its
Legacy
“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 federative 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."
 A myth of the West as a land of romance and adventure
emerged.
“American Progress” by
John Gast, 1872
Expansion in Texas
• Gone to Texas
- Why?
- Land(Real estate deal- original 300)
- Mexicans asked for settlers (Tejanos)
- Needed to become Catholic
• Known as "The Father of Texas,"
Stephen F. Austin established the first
Anglo-American colony in the Tejas
province of Mexico and saw it grow
into an independent republic.
• His father, Moses Austin, received
approval to settle 300 American
families on 200,000 acres; he died
before he could accomplish this, but his
son, Stephen, did it for him.
Stephen F. Austin
(1793-1836)
Key Figures in Texas Independence, 1836
Sam Houston
(1793-1863)
Stephen Austin
(1793-1836)
Sam Houston
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took control of the Texas forces
after the fall of the Alamo and
Goliad, and conducted the retreat
of the army to the site of the Battle
of San Jacinto
April 21, 1836, defeated Santa
Anna and secured Texas longsought independence.
elected the first President of the
Republic of Texas
After statehood in 1845, Houston
was elected Senator from Texas to
the Congress of the United States.
Still later, in 1859, Houston was
elected to serve as Governor of the
State of Texas
Davy Crockett
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"You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas."
--David Crockett to former constituents, 1835
With his death at the Alamo, a
willing sacrifice to Texas’
freedom, Crockett became a
mythic figure
Crockett is the quintessential
frontiersman, the inspiration for
the American image of the
“hunter-hero,” a symbol of the
“Age of Common Man,” a martyr
for the cause of America's
Manifest Destiny and a celebrity
of popular culture
The Republic of Texas
Remember the Alamo!
Battle of the Alamo
Jim Bowie
at the Alamo
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Davey Crockett’s Last Stand
The Battle of the Alamo
General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna Recaptures the Alamo
Meanwhile…..
-Despite the win, the 13-day holdout stalled the Mexican Army's progress
and allowed Sam Houston to gather troops and supplies for his later
success at the Battle of San Jacinto.
-The Texan revolutionaries went on to win the war for their independence.
WHIGS  William Henry Harrison
WHIGS  John Tyler, VP
“His Accidency”
Harrison's death left Tyler,
the federal government, and
the American nation briefly
confused on the process of
succession. It was not until
1967, that Tyler's action of
assuming full powers of the
presidency was legally
codified in the Twenty-fifth
Amendment.
“His Accidency”
• Tyler and his cabinet- He quickly found
himself at odds with his former political
supporters. Harrison had been
expected to adhere closely to Whig
Party policies and work closely with
Whig leaders, particularly Henry Clay.
• Tyler shocked Congressional Whigs by vetoing virtually the
entire Whig agenda, twice vetoing Clay's legislation for a
national banking act following the Panic of 1837 and leaving
the government deadlocked.
• Tyler was officially expelled from the Whig Party in 1841, a
few months after taking office, and became known as "the
man without a party." The entire cabinet he had inherited
from Harrison resigned in September, aside from Daniel
Webster, Secretary of State
“His Accidency”
The Webster-Ashburton Treaty, signed August
9, 1842, settled the dispute over the location
of the Maine-New Brunswick border between
the United States and Canada, then a colony
of Britain.
• It also established the details of the border
between Lake Superior and the Lake of the
Woods, originally defined in the Treaty of
Paris (1783)
• reaffirmed the location of the border (at the
49th parallel) in the westward frontier up to
the Rocky Mountains ( originally defined in the
Treaty of 1818)
• called for a final end to the slave trade on
the high seas, to be enforced by both
signatories
• agreed on terms for shared use of the Great
Lakes.
Maine Boundary Settlement, 1842
“His Accidency”
• Annexation of Texas
• Tyler advocated annexation of Texas to the
Union.
•
Whigs opposed this expansion because it
would upset the balance between North
and South and risked war with Mexico.
• However the Whigs lost the 1844 election
to James K. Polk, who favored annexation.
• When the Senate blocked a treaty (which
needed a 2/3 vote), Tyler pushed Congress
to annex Texas through an adopted joint
resolution.
• On March 3, Tyler sent instructions to his
representative in Texas, Andrew Jackson
Donelson, to announce the annexation.
The next day, he left office
Dems --> James Knox Polk
Whigs  Henry Clay
Liberty Party  James Birney
The Oregon Controversy
• British claims through fur trade, occupation,
and treaties with the U.S.
• American claims through exploration and
settlers in the Willamette River Valley
• Joint occupation agreed to in Treaty of 1818
• By 1846, nearly 5,000 Americans had
caught “Oregon Fever” and moved into the
region south of the Columbia River
“Texas Coming In”
Texas (the beast):
I fear I cannot carry you into the
Presidential Chair.
Polk: Dear Texas, I knew you cannot—I wish I had rode some
other horse but it is too late to repent.
1844 Election Results
Goals of Polk’s Administration
1. Lower the tariff.
2. Resolve the Oregon boundary
dispute.
3. Restore the independent treasury.
4. Acquire California.
Goals of Polk’s Administration
• 1. Lower the tariff
– Walker Tariff of 1846 lowers the rate
from 32% to 25%- excellent revenue
producer because of increase imports
and a revived economy after the Panic
of 1837
• 3. Restore the independent
treasury- done in 1846 despite
opposition from pro-Bank Whigs
Goals of Polk’s Administration
• 2. Resolve the Oregon boundary
dispute
– Proposes compromise line of 49th
Parallel and gets shot down
– The British began to feel the Columbia
River was not the “St. Lawrence” of the
West, and proposed the 49th Parallel
line themselves in early 1846. The
Senate approved the offer.
MEXICAN - AMERICAN WAR: Causes
 Election of 1844
 James K. Polk
 Annexation of Texas, 1845
 $3 million in claims for
damages against the
Mexican government by
U.S. citizens
 Texas boundary dispute
Nueces River
Rio Grande River
 Rumor that the British
were trying to buy
California
The Slidell Mission:
Nov., 1845
 Mexican recognition of the Rio
Grande River as the TX-US border.
 US would forgive American citizens’
claims against the Mexican govt.
 Slidell authorized to offer a maximum
of $25 million for California, and what
is now Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New
Mexico
John Slidell
The Beginning of the Mexican War
Polk orders Zachary Taylor’s forces to march
from the Nueces to the Rio Grande in
January 1846.
 When no fighting occurred, Polk informs his
cabinet on May 9 that he will ask Congress to
declare war based on unpaid claims and
Slidell’s rejection
 That night, word arrives that two weeks
before this, Mexican troops had attacked
Taylor’s men, killing or wounding 16.
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War Fever in America
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Were Americans responsible for starting the
war? At best, we provoked a Mexican response.
Abraham Lincoln, a Whig Congressman from
Illinois, introduced the “Spot Resolutions”
demanding to know where on American soil that
American blood had been spilled
Even the anti-slavery Whigs were forced to join
in the war fever sweeping America
The Battles of the Mexican War
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Americans let Santa Anna back into Mexico
believing he would sell out his country; instead
he leads a desperate defense of Mexican soil
Captain John C. Fremont leads the Bear Flag
Revolt, and overthrows Mexican rule in northern
California
Zachary Taylor fights across the Rio Grande and
at Buena Vista repels Santa Anna’s force of
20,000 with only 5,000 men. “Hero of Buena
Vista”
The Battles of the Mexican War
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General Winfield Scott lands at Vera Cruz in
early 1847 and fights all the way to Mexico City
in one of the most successful campaigns in
American history
The Mexican-American War
Results of the War:
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848
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Territory to U.S.
Texas boundary
U.S. paid Mexico $15 Million
plus claims of U.S. citizens
against Mexico (~$3.5M)
The Mexican Cession
Results of the Mexican War
1. Cost $100,000,000 and 13,000+ American lives (mostly of
disease).
2. U.S. added over 1 million square miles of land
 Present-day TX, NM, AZ, CA, NV, UT, +)
3. The new territories brought into the Union forced the explosive issue of SLAVERY to the center of national
politics.
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These new territories would upset the balance of power
between North and South.
4. Created two popular Whig generals who ran for President.
5. “Manifest Destiny” ?
Wilmot Proviso, 1846
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.
Rep. David Wilmot
(D-PA)
Proposed shortly
after war broke out
in 1846
Territorial Expansion by the Mid-Nineteenth Century