CHAPTER 14
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Manifest Destiny
1820–1860
MINING TOOLS
SETTING THE SCENE
Focus
The drive to expand the boundaries of the United States became a goal
for many Americans in the 1830s. American journalist John L. O’Sullivan
declared: “It is . . . our manifest destiny to overspread the whole continent.”
Eventually the United States government would acquire land in presentday Oregon, Texas, California, Utah, and the remainder of the Southwest.
Concepts to Understand
★ How the beliefs and ideas of Americans led to westward expansion
★ Why individuals and families migrated to the West and shaped
s
Journal Note e
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442
political events in Oregon, Texas, and California
Read to Discover . . .
★
★
★
★
the reasons Americans moved westward.
why Texans declared independence from Mexico.
what caused war between Mexico and the United States.
how the Gold Rush
of 1848 changed the
history of California.
1821 Stephen Austin founds colony
in Texas
1821–1830
1821 Mexico wins independence
from Spain
1825 Egyptian troops invade
Greece
UNIT 5 The Nation Expands: 1820 –1860
HISTORY
Chapter Overview
Visit the American History: The Early Years to
1877 Web site at ey.glencoe.com and click
on Chapter 14—Chapter Overviews to preview
chapter information.
1836 Battle of the Alamo fought
1836 Texas wins independence
1831–1840
History
AND
ART
Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains
by Albert Bierstadt, 1868
Albert Bierstadt was an artist from the Hudson River
School. Bierstadt specialized in painting grand pictures
of awesome mountain scenery.
MINIATURE BOOKS OF THE 1830S
1846 Mexican War begins
1848 California Gold Rush begins
1848 Mexican War ends
1853 United States makes Gadsden
Purchase
1841–1850
1842 Treaty of Nanking ends Opium
War in China
1851–1860
1853 United States begins trade with
Japan
CHAPTER 14 Manifest Destiny: 1820–1860
443
SECTION 1
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The Oregon Country
GUIDE TO READING
Read to Learn . . .
Main Idea
★ what nations had conflicting claims to
the Oregon Country.
★ how traders and trappers paved the
way for western expansion.
Beginning in the early 1800s, Americans started settling the nation’s vast
western territory.
Reading Strategy
Organizing Information As you read about
the Oregon Country, use a diagram like the
one shown here to describe the conflict
between Great Britain and the United States
over the Oregon territory and to explain how
they resolved it.
★
★
★
★
★
rendezvous
pass
emigrate
prairie schooner
annex
Solution
PRAIRIE HUNTER
T
he grizzly bear stood so close Hugh
Glass could smell it. With a steady finger,
the fur trapper fired his musket. As the bullet struck the animal, the bear hurled itself
into Glass. Another trapper described
what happened next:
“
attention of other people—people who
wanted to claim more than the region’s
fur-bearing animals. They came to capture
the land itself.
Geography
. . . [T]he bear caught him
and hauled him to the
ground, tearing and lacerating [cutting up] his body
[at a] fearful rate.
★ Settlers Move West
”
Glass not only survived, he continued
to hunt grizzly bear and other animals in
the Oregon Country. The adventures of
fur trappers like Glass soon caught the
444
Conflict
Terms to Know
UNIT 5 The Nation Expands: 1820 –1860
The Oregon Country included the
present-day states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Wyoming,
Montana, and Canada. The Rocky
Mountains bounded the region on the
east, while the Pacific Ocean hemmed it
on the west.
Within the Oregon Country climates
and vegetation varied. Lands west of the
coastal mountains, called the Cascades,
enjoyed mild temperatures and abundant
rainfall. On the east side of the mountains, however, the landscape changed
dramatically. The Cascades prevented the
rain-bearing clouds that rolled off the
Pacific from heading inland. As a result, a
dry plateau sprawled eastward from the
Cascades to the Rockies.
For the non-Native Americans who
first set foot in the Oregon Country, its
wealth lay in fur-bearing animals. For
centuries, fashionable Europeans and
North Americans wore hats made of
beaver pelts. To meet the demand, fur
trappers exhausted the supply of beaver
in one stream after another. By the early
1800s, a few adventurous trappers
plunged across the Mississippi River in
search of new forests to hunt.
Trappers often traveled trails blazed
by the Native Americans. Groups that
lived in the Oregon Country included
the Cayuses, Yakimas, Chinooks, Nez
Perce, and Blackfeet. Most had deep
ancestral roots in the region, even as
Europeans and Americans refused to
recognize Native American rights to the
land. Instead, they labeled the lands a
“wilderness” and freely staked their
claims.
★ Conflicting Claims
Four nations—Russia, Spain, Great
Britain, and the United States—tried to
take control of the Oregon Country. Of
these nations, Great Britain and the United
States pursued their claims most actively.
The British based their claims in Oregon Country on the explorations of Sir
Francis Drake and George Vancouver.
Drake visited the coast of Oregon in 1579.
A member of Vancouver’s crew navigated
a river part of the way through Oregon in
1792. Fort Vancouver, the only permanent
British outpost in Oregon, took its name
from this expedition.
The United States based its claim on the
voyages of Robert Gray. In 1792 this New
England sea captain gave the Columbia
River its name. In 1805 the Lewis and
Clark expedition reached the mouth of
this river and strengthened the United
States’s claims to the area. By 1807 American fur traders had set up scattered trading posts along Lewis and Clark’s route.
They had to compete with British traders
who pushed into Oregon from Canada.
American fur trader John Jacob Astor
sent a shipload of supplies and workers
around the tip of South America in 1811.
The workers built a trading post near the
mouth of the Columbia River. Here they
set up Astoria, the first American settlement on the Pacific coast. Although Astoria lasted only a short time, it gave
Americans another claim to Oregon.
Agreement With Great Britain
In 1818 Great Britain and the United
States agreed to share the Oregon Country
for 10 years. Under the agreement, British
and American citizens would enjoy equal
rights. With few settlers in the region, Spain
and Russia gave up their claims in 1825.
★ The Mountain Men
Both British and American fur-trading
companies rushed to secure their claims
to the Oregon Country. In 1822 one American company advertised for “ENTERPRISING YOUNG MEN” to sign up for
work. More than 100 people—Scots, Germans, Spaniards, New Englanders,
Southerners, and African Americans—
responded to the ad. Some hired on as
camp keepers, people who cooked and
guarded the camp. Others took jobs as
trappers. From their ranks came a roughand-tumble group of explorers known as
the mountain men.
CHAPTER 14 Manifest Destiny: 1820–1860
445
are chock full of brag and fight,” chuckled
mountain man Joe Meek.
Because mountain streams froze
between October and March, trappers
gathered in winter camps of up to 60 men.
During the day they hunted. In the
evening, they huddled around fires in
buffalo-hide lodges “spinning long yarns
[tales] until midnight. . . .”
Blazing a Path for Others
History
AND
ART
THE WHITE TRAPPER by Frederic Remington
Mountain men depended on trapping and the
fur trade in order to survive. Where did trappers meet to sell their furs and buy supplies?
Life of a Mountain Man
The mountain man lived a tough, lonely life. Aside from the clothes on his back,
he traveled with little more than a “possibles sack.” Inside this small leather
pouch, a mountain man carried all he
might possibly need—an awl for stitching
leather, a mold for making lead musket
balls, and a surgeon’s lance for digging
out bullets.
During the spring trapping season, a
mountain man might haul 6 to 8 heavy
iron traps on his back. To set the traps, he
waded into bone-chilling streams. When
game was in short supply, he went to bed
hungry. One band of trappers ate nothing
but roots for 10 days. Mountain men
learned many of their trapping skills and
survival methods from Native Americans,
especially from the Native American
women they married.
In the summer, trappers’ spirits soared
as they headed to a meeting place called
the rendezvous (RAHN•dih•VOO). They
met traders from Missouri who bought
their furs and charged high sums of
money for supplies. But most trappers
shrugged off the high prices. They just
wanted to have a good time. “These men
446
UNIT 5 The Nation Expands: 1820 –1860
The epic journeys of the mountain men
opened the door for settlement of the West.
An African American mountain man,
James Beckwourth, discovered a pass, or
opening, through the Sierra Nevada mountains into California. Jim Bridger first
strode across the Great Divide—the name
given to the Rocky Mountains. Jedediah
Smith brought back colorful accounts of
the geysers and boiling springs of what is
now Yellowstone National Park. Manuel
Lisa, a Spanish American trapper, led a trip
up the Missouri River in 1807. He founded
Fort Manuel, the first outpost on the upper
Missouri River.
“To explore unknown regions was . . .
[their] chief delight,” wrote a clerk in
one fur-trading company. By exploring
unknown regions, the mountain men
surveyed paths for the pioneers who
would soon follow.
End of an Era
The mountain men recognized changes
were coming when covered wagons
began showing up in their camps. In 1836
two missionary couples—Marcus and
Narcissa Whitman and Henry and Eliza
Spalding—arrived at the annual rendezvous. Narcissa and Eliza became the
first non-Native American women to
cross the Rocky Mountains.
The two couples came to set up missions among the Cayuses. The Whitmans
chose to build their settlement at a site
where the Snake and Columbia Rivers
meet. In letters to friends and family, the
Whitmans encouraged others to emigrate,
or move, to Oregon.
Troubles with Native Americans,
though, cost the Whitmans their lives. In
1847 measles spread to Cayuse children at
the mission. The epidemic claimed the lives
of both non-Native American and Cayuse
children. The Cayuses blamed the intruders
for the disease. They attacked and killed the
Whitmans and 12 others. News of the Whitmans’ deaths, however, did not stop settlers
from pouring into the region.
As settlers arrived, a change in fashion
ended a way of life for the mountain men.
In the late 1830s and 1840s, people
stopped wearing beaver hats. Within a
few years the mountain men found themselves out of work. Some turned to farming in the rich valleys of the Pacific
Northwest. Others became guides for
wagon trains. The route they knew best—
the Oregon Trail—soon became a major
highway across the continent. The Oregon
Trail extended from Independence, Missouri, to the Columbia River in Oregon.
★ Oregon Fever
families then formed a wagon train. Each
wagon train elected a leader to make decisions on the trail.
Most wagon trains left Independence in
May. By then, enough spring grass covered
the plains to feed the oxen. The emigrants
had five months to cross the Rockies. If
they arrived later, they might freeze to
death in blinding blizzards.
Once on the trail, the wagons rolled each
day at dawn. As the oxen crawled along at
2 miles an hour, the leader cried out,
“Catch up! Catch up!” Near dusk the men
began scouting for water and grass. When
they found both, they drew the wagons
into a circle. While the livestock grazed
and the men stood guard, the women fried
bacon and baked biscuits over fires fueled
with buffalo chips (dried manure).
When the wagons hit deep rivers or
steep mountains, families had to lighten
their loads. So they dumped barrels,
ploughs, clothing, trunks, spades, and
anything else that slowed them down.
Other emigrants helped themselves to
the discards. One man “camped beside
an old stove and baked some bread.”
Others picked up books, read them, and
Emigrants only trickled into Oregon
until reports made their way back east and
stories grew into tall tales. One rumor
claimed that pigs “roamed about precooked . . . [for] anyone who might be
hungry.” Other rumors described turnips
5 feet in diameter and wheat 6 feet tall.
Stories like these sparked an outbreak of
“Oregon fever.” Between 1840 and 1860,
more than 60,000 people traveled the Oregon Trail. Even today, the ruts carved by
their wagons scar parts of the Great Plains.
Traveling the Oregon Trail
The journey west began at jumping-off
places like Independence, Missouri. Here
families stocked their lightweight covered
wagons, known as prairie schooners, and
hitched them to teams of oxen. Several
Picturing
H istory
PRAIRIE SCHOONERS Traveling west was long
and difficult. Families in wagon trains relied on
each other to survive the journey. Why did
wagon trains leave Independence, Missouri,
in May?
CHAPTER 14 Manifest Destiny: 1820–1860
447
Trails West
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Movement By the late 1840s, large amounts of new territory came under American control.
Soon after, thousands of Americans moved to settle this land. What major mountain
range did travelers to the Pacific Coast have to cross?
tossed them back on the ground, into the
“prairie library.”
The travelers helped one another by
using the “roadside telegraph,” messages
left on boards, rocks, tree trunks, and
even animal skulls beside the trail. Many
emigrants owed their lives to these warnings about dead-end shortcuts or poison
water holes.
Hardships and Heartaches
Hundreds of travelers never reached
Oregon. Some turned back or settled on the
plains. Many died of diseases such as
cholera and smallpox. Still others drowned
in swollen rivers or died in accidents.
Graves and the carcasses of dead animals
lined the trail. Wrote one weary traveler:
448
UNIT 5 The Nation Expands: 1820 –1860
“
It is a hardship without
glory, to be sick without a
home, to die and be buried
like a dog on the Plains.
Native Americans
”
For the most part, Native Americans
traded with the travelers and tried to lessen
their misery. Native Americans provided
travelers with horses, clothing, and fresh
food. Some Native Americans fed hungry
wagon trains or guided them over difficult
stretches along the trail. Settlers had been
led to believe that Native American groups
posed a threat to those crossing the plains.
In reality, there were few incidents of violence between wagon trains and Native
Americans. But eventually relations
soured. Conflicts developed in the 1850s.
Until then diseases such as cholera proved
far more dangerous to settlers.
Governing Oregon
Despite peaceful relations with the
British, American settlers wanted to annex,
or add, Oregon to the United States. Many
other Americans felt the same way. In
Congress Tennessee representative Davy
Crockett compared joint occupancy—shared
ownership—to the time he shared a tree
branch with a panther. “The place war [was]
big enough for us both,” said Crockett, “but
we couldn’t agree to stay there together.”
★ Fifty-Four Forty
or Fight!
JAMES K. POLK
James K. Polk agreed with Americans
who wanted to annex Oregon. As a presidential candidate in 1844, Polk declared
that all of Oregon should belong to the
United States. This was dramatized by the
campaign slogan “Fifty-four forty or fight!”
This meant he demanded that the United
States expand its territory to the parallel
54°40’, the southern boundary of Alaska.
Polk won the election by a slim margin
and began negotiations with Great Britain.
In 1848 the two nations decided to extend
the boundary between Canada and the
United States to the forty-ninth parallel.
This line already formed much of the United States-Canadian border.
Oregon became a territory in 1848 and a
state in 1859. The transfer of territory
occurred without bloodshed. The acquisition of Texas, though, would not be as
peaceful.
★ SECTION 1 ASSESSMENT ★
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Checking for Understanding
1. Define rendezvous, pass, emigrate, prairie
schooner, annex.
2. How did Great Britain and the United States
come to share Oregon jointly?
3. What hardships did emigrants face on the
Oregon Trail?
Critical Thinking
4. Determining Cause and Effect Re-create the
chart shown here to explain why mountain
men journeyed west and to describe what
effect these mountain men had on later
migration.
Cause
Effect
INTERDISCIPLINARY ACTIVITY
5. Geography Create an enlarged version of
the map on page 448. Then add illustrations that show in pictures the story of
the Oregon Trail.
CHAPTER 14 Manifest Destiny: 1820–1860
449
BUILDING SKILLS
Study and Writing Skills
Analyzing a Primary Source
Practicing the Skill
Read the document and answer the
questions that follow.
SPIRIT OF THE FRONTIER BY JOHN GAST, 1872
How do historians figure out what happened in the past? They do some detective
work. They comb through bits of evidence
from the past to reconstruct events. These
bits of historical evidence—both written
and illustrated—are called primary sources.
“Tuesday, May 17th We had a dreadful
storm of rain and hail last night and
very sharp lightning. It killed two oxen
for one man. We have just encamped on
a large flat prairie, when the storm commenced in all its fury. . . . I never saw
such a storm. The wind was so high I
thought it would tear the wagons to
pieces. Nothing but the stoutest covers
could stand it. The rain beat into the
wagons so that everything was wet. As
we could have no tents pitched, all had
to crowd into the wagons and sleep in
wet beds with their wet clothes on,
without supper. The wind blew hard all
night and this morning presents a dreary prospect surrounded by water, and
our saddles have been soaking in it all
night and are almost spoiled! . . .”
—Amelia Stewart Knight
1. Who wrote this document?
2. What event does the author describe?
Learning the Skill
Primary sources are records of events by
the people who witnessed them. They include
letters, diaries, photographs and pictures,
news articles, legal documents, and so on.
A primary source reflects only one perspective on the past. For this reason, a historian must examine as many perspectives as
possible before drawing any conclusions
about the past.
The primary source on this page comes
from the diary of a woman who traveled the
Oregon Trail in 1853.
450
3. What happened to the people and
their equipment?
4. From this account, explain why
weather was so important to pioneers
moving west.
Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive
Workbook, Level 1 provides instruction and practice in key social
studies skills.
APPLYING THE SKILL
5. Find a primary source from your past—
a photo, a report card, an old newspaper clipping, your first baseball card,
and so on. Bring this source to class
and explain what it shows about the
time from which the item comes.
SECTION 2
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Texas Independence
GUIDE TO READING
Read to Learn . . .
Main Idea
Large numbers of Americans settled
in the Mexican territory of Texas.
They eventually fought for and won
independence from Mexico.
Reading Strategy
Terms to Know
Sequencing Information As you read about
the establishment of Texas, create a time line
like the one shown here, and use it to list key
events in Texans’ drive for independence. Use
the dates provided as a guide.
March 1836
1830
1835
★ how conflict developed between
Mexico and settlers in Texas.
★ how Texas won its independence
from Mexico.
★ Tejanos
★ empresario
★ reform
May 1836
April 1836
M
ADVERTISEMENT FOR
TEXAS SETTLERS
exican cannons boomed outside
the Alamo’s walls. Colonel William Travis
put his face in his hands and tried to
think. His co-commander, Jim Bowie, lay
sick with pneumonia. His small force
would not hold out for long. Travis picked
up a quill pen and wrote a plea for help.
Soon people all over the United States
learned about the desperate situation at
the Alamo. The road to the Alamo started
in the 1820s with the arrival of the first
United States settlers in a Spanish-owned
colony called Texas.
“
★ Colonizing Texas
To the people of Texas & all
Americans in the world. . . .
I call on you in the name
of liberty, of patriotism &
everything dear to the
American character, to come
to our aid. . . .
”
In 1820 Texas included a handful of
Americans and about 3,000 Tejanos.
Tejanos are people of Mexican heritage who
consider Texas their home. Most of the
region belonged to Native Americans—
CHAPTER 14 Manifest Destiny: 1820–1860
451
Moses Austin died before he could
organize his colony. His son, Stephen F.
Austin, carried out his plans. In 1821 he
established the first settlements along the
Brazos and Colorado Rivers. About this
same time, Mexico won its independence
from Spain. Mexico soon issued new land
grants to Austin and extended the boundaries of his colony.
American Colonists in Texas
STEPHEN F. AUSTIN
Comanche, Apache, and others—who
fiercely resisted colonial settlement. Spanish officials believed they might lose control
of Texas unless they lured more settlers into
the territory.
The First Texas Empresarios
In the early 1800s, the Spaniards decided to offer large tracts of land to empresarios—people who agreed to recruit
settlers. News of the offer caught the
attention of Missouri businessman Moses
Austin. In 1821 Austin convinced the
Spanish government to give him a huge
tract of land along the Brazos River. In
exchange, Austin promised to bring 300
families to his colony.
The Mexican government granted each
settler in Texas large tracts of land. In
exchange, the colonists promised to
become citizens of Mexico, obey Mexico’s
laws, and accept the Roman Catholic
faith.
Austin chose the first group of settlers
carefully. He frowned on lying, using foul
language, or drinking alcohol. He wanted
only “civilized and industrious” settlers
for his new colony. Austin issued land
titles to almost 300 families. These handpicked pioneers later became known as
the Old Three Hundred.
Although other empresarios founded
other colonies, Austin’s settlement proved
the most successful. By 1831, about 5,665
people lived in his colony.
Growing Conflicts
The Mexican government used the
empresario system to ensure loyalty.
Meanwhile thousands of United States
settlers moved into Texas without Mexico’s permission. Unlike Austin‘s colonists,
they never promised to uphold Mexican
Footnotes to History
Father of Texas
Stephen F. Austin earned the name “Father of Texas” because
of his leadership in populating the Mexican Territory of Texas. By doing this,
Austin fulfilled his father’s dying request to colonize Texas. After Texas won its
independence, Austin lost the presidential election to Sam Houston. Houston
appointed him secretary of state.
452
UNIT 5 The Nation Expands: 1820 –1860
laws or accept the Roman Catholic faith.
Instead, they wanted to keep their own
culture, or ways of living.
Even the Old Three Hundred had scattered clashes with the government.
Colonists on the Brazos were using slaves
to grow cotton in 1829 when the Mexican
government prohibited slavery. The cotton growers protested so vigorously that
the government decided to permit slavery
in Texas, at least temporarily. Slaveholders balked at the idea that the government
might deprive them of their human
“property.”
Settlers from the United States also
had quarrels with the form of government in Mexico. They wanted to have the
same voice in government that they had
enjoyed in the United States. Mexican
officials, however, insisted on tight political control.
Mexican Fears
By 1830 more than five times as many
Anglos, or United States settlers, lived in
Texas as Tejanos. Manuel Mier y Teran, a
Mexican general assigned to Texas,
warned:
“
The North Americans
have conquered whatever
territory adjoins them. In
less than a half century, they
have become masters of
extensive colonies which
formerly belonged to Spain
and France and of . . .
territories from which have
disappeared the former
owners, the Indian tribes.
talked of splitting Texas off from the Mexican state to which it belonged.
In 1833 Stephen F. Austin traveled to
Mexico City with a petition. The petition
listed reforms, or improvements, demanded by both Anglos and Tejanos. The
reforms included repeal of the ban against
immigration and creation of a separate
Texas state.
★ The Fight for
Independence
Austin waited for months to present his
petition to General Antonio López de
Santa Anna, the new head of the Mexican
government. When they finally met, Santa
Anna insisted that Texas remain part of
Mexico. Austin wrote a letter urging Texans to go ahead with statehood. When the
letter fell into government hands, Santa
Anna threw Austin in prison.
Austin secured his release eight months
later. By this time, Santa Anna had suspended the Mexican constitution and
assumed the powers of a dictator. Many
Texans believed the time had come to
break away from Mexico.
“Come and Take It”
News of unrest in Texas reached Santa
Anna. In October 1835, he ordered soldiers to seize a cannon at the Texas town
★★★
”
Mexican officials heeded the warning.
In 1830 the Mexican Congress banned further Anglo immigration. It also ordered
construction of five new army posts in
Texas to enforce Mexican laws.
These actions brought furious protests
from Anglo settlers. Many people talked
about defending their rights. A few even
AMERICA’S FLAGS ★★★
Texas Republic, 1839
For its first six years,
this Lone Star flag
symbolized the independent nation of
the Republic of Texas. Texans kept the
Lone Star banner as their official state
flag after joining the Union in 1845.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
CHAPTER 14 Manifest Destiny: 1820–1860
453
Defense of the Alamo
Picturing
H istory
THE BATTLE OF THE ALAMO Outnumbered by
the Mexican army, the Texans fought heroically
to defend the Alamo. Where is the Alamo
located?
of Gonzales. When Mexican troops
arrived, they faced dozens of Texas volunteers. Over the cannon, the Texans had
defiantly hung a flag that read “Come and
Take It.”
After a brief skirmish, the soldiers left
without the cannon. Today many Texans
consider the fight at Gonzales “the Lexington of Texas,” or the first battle in the
Texas war for independence.
Santa Anna did not intend to surrender Texas without a fight. He soon
ordered Mexican troops to occupy the
Texas town of San Antonio. In early
December hundreds of Texas volunteers
attacked the city. After five days they
drove out the Mexicans. The Texas Revolution had begun.
454
UNIT 5 The Nation Expands: 1820 –1860
On March 2, 1836, Texans met at Washington-on-the-Brazos. At this meeting,
they announced the creation of the
Republic of Texas. They placed Sam
Houston, a former governor of Tennessee,
in command of the army.
Meanwhile, in San Antonio, less than
200 Texas soldiers took cover in and
defended an empty mission called the
Alamo. The defenders, both Anglos and
Tejanos, included William Travis, Jim
Bowie, and Davy Crockett.
For 12 days Santa Anna’s forces shelled
the mission. Defenders inside the Alamo
held out against overwhelming odds.
Finally, on March 6, Santa Anna ordered
an all-out attack. The first wave of Mexican soldiers faced the long rifles of Davy
Crockett and his Tennessee sharpshooters.
These riflemen picked off soldiers 200
yards (183 m) away. For every Mexican
soldier that fell, however, another moved
forward.
Mexican troops swarmed over the
walls of the Alamo. The defenders fought
on in furious hand-to-hand combat. A
bullet killed Travis. Bowie died fighting
from his sickbed. Mexican soldiers captured and executed Crockett. By 9 A.M.,
all the Alamo defenders had died. Only a
handful of women, children, and slaves
survived.
The Goliad Massacre
The fight at the Alamo angered and
inspired Texans. To learn firsthand about
the Alamo, Sam Houston met with Susanna Dickinson, one of the survivors, in
Gonzales. After hearing Dickinson’s
account of the final battle, Houston
vowed to prevent other Alamos. He sent
word to James Fannin, the commander in
Goliad, to abandon the fort there.
Fannin waited several days before obeying the order. When he finally led troops
from the town, they ran into a Mexican
He also stayed informed of the movements of the Mexican army with the help
of two spies—Deaf Smith and Smith’s
African American son-in-law Hendrick
Arnold.
In April 1836, Sam Houston decided to
strike. He moved his troops onto the
prairie just west of the San Jacinto River.
On April 21, the Mexican soldiers settled
down for an afternoon siesta, or nap. At
that moment, Houston ordered the attack.
Texas volunteers raced into battle, screaming “Remember the Alamo” and “Remember Goliad.”
army on the Texas prairie. After a short
fight, Fannin surrendered his force. A week
later, the Mexicans began to execute the
prisoners. Many escaped, including Fannin, but some 350 others fell before Mexican
firing squads.
The Battle of San Jacinto
News of events at the Alamo and Goliad spread like wildfire among Texans.
About 1,400 volunteers rushed to join
Sam Houston, who did not strike immediately. He took time to build an army.
Texas War for Independence,
1835–1836
100° W
98° W
Red R
.
34° N
94° W
96° W
Unorganized Territory
UNIT
ED
B ra
ed
im
cla
ry co
da exi
un M
Bo by
32° N
zo s
R iv
er
Co
San Antonio
ad
Washington-onthe-Brazos
Brazoria
AN
183 NA
6
Goliad,
March 20, 1836
SAN
TA
y
dar
EA
URR 6
183
an
Gr
Rio
ed
Texan forces
Texan victory
Austin’s colony
Territory disputed
between Texas
and Mexico
San Patricio,
Feb. 27, 1836
i
cla
m
Mexican victory
Refugio,
March 14,
1836
Bou n
de
by
Texas
50
0
MEXICO
Gulf of Mexico
Mexican forces
.
R
es
Nuec
La.
HOUSTON San Jacinto,
April 21, 1836
1836
Sa
nA
Gonzales,
nto
nio Oct. 2, 1835
Béxar,
Dec. 10, 1835
28° N
lor
Alamo, o Riv
March 6, 1836 er
30° N
S
TE
Republic of Texas
Ark.
ST
A
0
50
100 miles
100 kilometers
SAM HOUSTON
Location In 1836 General Santa Anna led
Mexico’s main forces across the Rio
Grande and into Texas. At which places
did Texans win victories?
CHAPTER 14 Manifest Destiny: 1820–1860
455
JUAN SEGUIN
Biography ★★★★
Juan Seguin, A Texas Hero
Juan Seguin grew up on his family’s
ranch along the San Antonio River. He disliked the arrogant Santa Anna. Like many
Tejanos, Seguin believed Santa Anna would
use the army to crush all opposition.
Seguin became one of the first volunteers to join the Texas Revolution. He
commanded a company of Tejanos in San
Antonio. He and eight members of his
company fought at the Alamo. Seguin
risked his life to slip through Mexican
lines to find reinforcements. When he
returned on March 6, he saw the Alamo
in flames.
At the Battle of San Jacinto, Houston
was not sure the Tejanos should participate. He feared Anglos might mistake
them for the enemy. Seguin and his followers refused such protection, declaring
that they had joined the army and wanted
to face the enemy. Houston admired the
courage of Seguin and the Tejanos and
changed his mind.
The battle of San Jacinto lasted only 18
minutes. It became the most intense battle
of the Texas Revolution. More than 600
Mexican soldiers died. Hundreds more
were wounded or captured. Mexican soldiers shot two horses from under Houston before a musket ball finally shattered
his ankle. When the battle ended, only
nine Texans had died.
Santa Anna had disappeared during
the fighting. The next day Texas soldiers
found him hiding in tall grass and took
him prisoner.
★★★
The Republic of Texas
The war had ended. On May 14 Texans
forced Santa Anna to sign a peace treaty.
He also signed a secret treaty promising
to support Texas independence. In September 1836, Texans elected Sam Houston president of the new independent
nation—the Republic of Texas.
★ SECTION 2 ASSESSMENT ★
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Checking for Understanding
1. Define Tejanos, empresario, reform.
2. How did the Mexican government attempt
to control United States settlers in Texas?
between settlers and the Mexican government that led to the Texas Revolution.
Cause
Effect
Texas Revolution
Critical Thinking
3. Making Predictions How do you think people in the United States responded to news
of Texas’s independence?
4. Determining Causes Re-create the diagram
shown here, and list the causes of the tensions
456
UNIT 5 The Nation Expands: 1820 –1860
INTERDISCIPLINARY ACTIVITY
5. The Arts Imagine you are Stephen F.
Austin. Draw an advertisement that
would attract American colonists to Texas.
SECTION 3
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ ★★★★★★★
War With Mexico
GUIDE TO READING
Main Idea
The United States won new western
lands in a war with Mexico.
Reading Strategy
Organizing Information As you read about
the war with Mexico, use a diagram like
the one shown here to list the causes of
the conflict.
Read to Learn . . .
★ how the Mexican War
began and why some
Americans opposed
the war.
★ how the United States
obtained New Mexico
and California.
Terms to Know
★ Bear Flag Republic
★ cede
Causes of
Mexican War
OIL LAMP, 1840S
T
he United States officially recognized
the Republic of Texas as an independent
nation in 1837. However, Congress did
not immediately annex it. Because many
people in the northern United States
opposed entry of another slave state into
the Union, Texas continued to exist as an
independent country.
Peace between Texas and Mexico
remained uneasy from the start. Mexico
never recognized Texas’s independence.
The two governments quarreled over borders and territory. Twice in 1842 Mexican
troops seized San Antonio. Texans
responded by marching to Laredo, a border town on the Rio Grande, and then into
Mexico. Tensions increased when Texas
passed a resolution claiming land all the
way to present-day California. A showdown seemed inevitable.
★ From Sea to Shining Sea
People in the United States who
favored expansion watched events in
Texas intently. Texas already had signed
several agreements with Great Britain. If
Texas went to war with Mexico, it might
form an alliance with the British. With
British help, Texas could expand its reach
all the way to the Pacific.
CHAPTER 14 Manifest Destiny: 1820–1860
457
By the mid-1840s, a group of Americans
wanted to see the United States claim that
honor for itself. They believed the nation
had a “manifest destiny.” Manifest means
clear or obvious. Destiny means something that is sure to happen. Some Americans thought the nation was obviously
meant to expand and spread across the
continent. They gave little thought to the
Native Americans and Mexicans who
would lose their lands in the process.
Annexation of Texas
After gaining independence from Mexico, Texans immediately voted to seek
admission to the United States. Most Southerners strongly supported extending the
cotton-growing area by annexing Texas.
Northern abolitionists, however, opposed
adding another slave state to the Union.
Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin
Van Buren had refused to recommend
annexation. The issue soon arose again.
As the 1844 election approached, territorial expansion took center stage. The
Democrats nominated James K. Polk of
Tennessee as their presidential candidate.
As you read earlier in the chapter, Polk
campaigned with the slogan “Fifty-four
forty or fight!” and made manifest destiny
the main issue in the campaign.
Polk won in a close election. Outgoing
President John Tyler considered Polk’s
victory a mandate for the annexation of
Texas. In February 1845, at Tyler’s urging
both houses of Congress passed a joint
resolution to annex Texas. In December
1845, Texas became the twenty-eighth
state to enter the Union; however, some
problems still had to be resolved. The
boundary between Texas and Mexico
remained undetermined, and the Mexican
government threatened war.
President Polk responded by sending
agent John Slidell to resolve differences.
Polk instructed Slidell to convince Mexico
to accept the Rio Grande as the southern
border of Texas. He also told Slidell to
458
UNIT 5 The Nation Expands: 1820 –1860
offer Mexico $25 million for California
and $5 million for New Mexico.
Mexican officials exploded in outrage.
They considered such a low sum of
money an insult and refused to even
speak with Slidell.
★ The Brink of War
President Polk wanted to move against
Mexico. He knew most Americans backed
expansion but was not sure they would
back it to the point of war.
Polk decided to press the question by
sending troops into Texas. Soldiers under
the command of General Zachary Taylor
crossed the Nueces (nu•AY•suhs) River
and set up posts just north of the Rio
Grande. Although Texas claimed this as
its southern boundary, Mexico considered it Mexican territory. Colonel Ethan
Allen Hitchcock, one of Taylor’s aides,
observed:
“
We have not one particle of
right to be here. . . . It looks
as if the government sent a
small force on purpose to
bring on a war, so as to have
a pretext for taking California and as much of this
country as it chooses.
”
In April 1846, Mexican soldiers
attacked a United States cavalry patrol
and killed 11 Americans. Taylor quickly
notified Polk. On May 9 President Polk
announced that “Mexico has . . . shed
American blood on American soil.” He
then asked Congress for an official declaration of war. On May 13 both houses of
Congress voted by a large majority to
declare war on Mexico.
Opposition to the War
Fourteen antislavery representatives in
the House voted against the war. Ohio
representative Joshua Giddings called the
The Mexican War, 1846 –1848
120° W
110° W
100° W
Mis
s
ou
Oregon
Territory
Monterey
(July 1846)
FR
ÉM
ON
T
San
Francisco
San Gabriel (Jan. 1847)
KEARNY
MEXICO
200
El Brazito
(Dec. 1846)
Texas
San
Antonio
Matamoros
(May 1846)
L
OO
W
TAYLOR
Tampico
(Nov. 1846)
Mexico City
(Sept. 1847)
400 kilometers
DE
SANTA ANNA
Corpus
Christi
Mazatlán
Buena Vista
(Feb. 1847)
ANTONIO LÓPEZ
S
SANTA
SCOTT ANNA
TT
Gulf of
Mexico
TT
0
400 miles
T
SLOA
UNITED
STATES
CO
200
a n de
Ft.
Leavenworth
SANTA
ANNA
American troops
American victory
Mexican troops
Mexican victory
U.S. naval blockade
Disputed area
0
Gr
Santa Fe
(Aug. 1846)
Monterrey
(Sept. 1846)
PACIFIC
OCEAN
20° N
Rio
AT
SLO
Sacramento
(Feb. 1847)
DON
IPHA
N
San Diego
INS
NTA
MOU
STOCKTON
Arkansas R.
San Pasqual (Dec. 1846)
Valverde
(Dec. 1846)
30° N
KEARNY
KY
ROC
Los
Angeles
Unorganized
Territory
R.
ado
lor
o
C
SC
O
40° N
.
ri R
Bear Flag Revolt
(June 1846)
Veracruz
Cerro Gordo
(April 1847)
Location War between the United States and Mexico
broke out in 1846 near the Rio Grande. The fighting soon
spread over a wide area. Which battle occurred
farthest north?
war “aggressive, unholy, and unjust.” Illinois representative Abraham Lincoln
challenged Polk to name the spot where
Mexicans “shed American blood on
American soil.”
People outside of Congress also criticized “Mr. Polk’s War.” New England
poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote, “[I
am] heartsick with this miserably wicked
Mexican War.” Abolitionists considered
the war a Southern plot to add more slave
states to the Union. They called it a
scheme to steal “bigger pens to cram in
slaves.” Most American newspapers,
though, rallied behind the President.
Major Battles
Even before Congress declared war,
General Taylor’s soldiers fought north of
the Rio Grande at Palo Alto and Resaca de
la Palma. In May of 1846, Taylor and his
army crossed the Rio Grande into Mexico.
By September they captured Monterrey.
In late 1846 Santa Anna rallied his
forces. He personally led an army
CHAPTER 14 Manifest Destiny: 1820–1860
459
The United States, 1853
120° W
110° W
100° W
Ceded by U.S.
1818
Oregon
Territory
1846
90° W
Ceded by
Great Britain
1818
Texas
Annexation
1845
R
Gadsden
Purchase
1853
400 miles
40° N
MEXICO
400 kilometers
Ceded by
Spain 1819
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
United
States
1783
30° N
io
e
nd
Gra
200
200
Ceded by Great Britain
Webster-Ashburton Treaty 1842
Miss ssip
pi Ri
i
ve
r
PACIFIC
OCEAN
0
70° W
50° N
Louisiana
Purchase
1803
Mexican
Cession
1848
0
80° W
CANADA
1810
1812
Annexed by U.S.
Florida
Cession
1819
Gulf of Mexico
Location By 1853 the continental United States had reached its present national
boundaries. How many complete states were later carved from the Oregon Territory?
against Taylor. In February 1847, however, Taylor regained the upper hand after
defeating Santa Anna at the Battle of
Buena Vista.
As armies clashed in Mexico, General
Winfield Scott landed troops on the
Gulf Coast near Veracruz. Scott’s army
won victory after victory as it marched
west. In September 1847, after Mexicans
made a heroic last stand at Chapultepec
(chuh•POOL•tuh• PEHK ), Scott took
over Mexico City.
The Bear Flag Republic
Soon after the war began, General
Stephen Kearny marched his army to
Santa Fe, the capital of present-day New
Mexico. The Mexican governor, along
460
UNIT 5 The Nation Expands: 1820 –1860
with Mexican troops, fled without firing a
shot. From Santa Fe, Kearny led about 300
soldiers to California.
In 1846 some 500 Americans lived in
California. Captain John C. Frémont, an
American army officer and explorer,
urged Americans to revolt against their
Mexican rulers. In the summer of 1846,
rebels hoisted a handmade flag emblazoned with a grizzly bear. With this act,
they announced the creation of the independent Bear Flag Republic.
When General Kearny arrived, the
rebels replaced the Bear Flag with the
Stars and Stripes. Frémont joined United
States forces in fighting the Mexican War.
In January 1847, Mexicans in California
surrendered, and the United States took
possession of the territory.
Making Peace
★ New Citizens
On February 2, 1848, the Mexicans
signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Under its terms, Mexico ceded, or
gave up, all of California and New Mexico. This territory has since become
known as the Mexican Cession. It
included the present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, and New
Mexico. The United States agreed to pay
$15 million for these lands and agreed to
pay the claims of American citizens
against Mexico up to $3.25 million. Mexico agreed to recognize Texas as part of
the United States. The Mexican government also accepted the Rio Grande as the
border between Texas and Mexico.
The acquisition of Mexican land brought
thousands of Mexican citizens into the
United States. The Mexican government
worried about the fate of these people. To
protect their rights, Mexican negotiators
insisted that the Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo include provisions allowing Mexicans to freely relocate to Mexico. For Mexicans who remained on their land, the
treaty promised them “all the rights of citizens of the United States according to the
principles of the Constitution.”
A difficult choice faced Mexicans.
About 2,000 people headed south into
Mexico. A far larger number, however,
chose to stay in the United States. Mexicans who remained in the United States
contributed to a rich culture that blended
Spanish and Native American traditions.
When English-speaking settlers moved to
the Southwest, they brought their own
ideas and culture with them. The settlers,
though, learned much from the Mexican
Americans. Mexican Americans taught
the newcomers how to irrigate the soil
and mine minerals.
Many settlers, however, did not treat
Mexican Americans and Native Americans fairly. These two groups struggled to
protect their cultures and rights against
the newcomers.
★ Gadsden Purchase
Americans, however, wanted still more
territory claimed by Mexico. Railroad
owners envisioned a southern route to the
Pacific that ran over a strip of land just
south of the Gila River. To fulfill this
dream, James Gadsden, the minister to
Mexico, arranged to buy this land for $10
million. The Gadsden Purchase completed the boundary between Mexico and the
United States and the expansion of the
United States across the continent.
★ SECTION 3 ASSESSMENT ★
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Checking for Understanding
1. Define Bear Flag Republic, cede.
2. Who urged Americans living in present-day
California to revolt against Mexican rule?
Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the war with
Mexico.
Terms of Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo
Critical Thinking
3. Analyzing Information Why do you think
the Texas voters approved annexation to the
United States by a great majority?
4. Summarizing Re-create the diagram shown
here, and list the terms of the Treaty of
INTERDISCIPLINARY ACTIVITY
5. The Arts Imagine you were a Mexican
living in the Mexican Cession. Write diary
entries about your feelings on the Treaty
of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
CHAPTER 14 Manifest Destiny: 1820–1860
461
SECTION 4
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Spanning a Continent
GUIDE TO READING
Read to Learn . . .
Main Idea
Americans continued moving westward
across the continent throughout the early
and mid-1800s.
Reading Strategy
Organizing Information As you read about
the continuing settlement of the West, use a
diagram like the one shown here to describe
the discrimination Chinese and Native
American peoples faced in California.
★ why the Mormons settled in what is
now Utah.
★ how California’s population boomed
in 1849.
Terms to Know
★ forty-niner
★ prospector
★ vigilante
Discrimination in California
Chinese
Native American
Example Example
Example Example
GOLD RUSH TRAVEL ADVERTISEMENT
I
n July 1847, Brigham Young stood on a
hill overlooking Utah’s Salt Lake Valley.
According to legend, Young saw a vision
of a great city. He turned to the people
who had followed him into the desert.
“This is the right place!” Young declared
confidently.
★ The Mormons
Young’s view of Salt Lake Valley
marked the end of a 1,300-mile (2,092-km)
journey from Iowa. Young and his followers had walked the entire distance, hauling
462
UNIT 5 The Nation Expands: 1820 –1860
their possessions behind them in twowheeled carts. They came to the desert for
the same reason countless settlers had first
traveled to North America—for religious
freedom.
A New Church
The settlers of Utah belonged to the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. They referred to themselves as
“Saints.” Most people, though, knew
them as Mormons.
The Mormons owed their origins to
Joseph Smith, a farmer in upstate New
York. In the 1820s Smith had a vision
that convinced him to found a new
Christian sect, or religious group.
Smith’s faith and enthusiasm won converts. Several of his beliefs, however,
won even more enemies.
Smith believed that property should be
held in common. He also supported
polygamy, the idea that a man could have
more than one wife. This angered a large
number of people in the 1800s. Mormons
eventually gave up this practice.
Journey Into the Desert
Harassed by neighbors suspicious of
their beliefs, the Mormons moved from
New York to Ohio to Missouri and then
to Illinois. In 1844 a mob attacked and
killed Smith. His successor, Brigham
Young, decided to lead the Mormons to
shelter in the Far West.
In 1847 about 150 Mormons began their
long trek. Eventually more than 15,000
people made the difficult journey, following Young to Utah Territory. Over the next
decade, the Mormons built 1,043 miles
(1,678 km) of canals and irrigated 154,000
acres (62,370 ha) of formerly arid, or dry,
land. In 1850 Congress recognized Young
as the governor of the Utah Territory. By
1860 about 30,000 Mormons lived in Salt
Lake City and more than 90 other towns
in present-day Utah. Utah eventually
entered the Union in 1896 as the forty-fifth
state.
JOSEPH SMITH
Picturing
H istory
MORMONS MOVE WEST Using handcarts, oxen, and wagons, the Mormons
traveled west across the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains to the Utah Territory
in search of religious freedom. Who led the Mormons to Utah?
CHAPTER 14 Manifest Destiny: 1820–1860
463
★ Rushing to California
Forty-Niners by the Shipload
As the Mormons built houses in the
desert, Swiss immigrant John Sutter
ordered a crew of workers to build a
sawmill along the American River in
northern California. On January 24,
1848, a golden glint in the river caught
the eye of John Marshall, the supervisor
of the job. Marshall reached into the
water and pulled out a lump of ore. A
single word slipped through Marshall’s
lips: “Gold.”
Marshall tried to keep his discovery a
secret, but word spread quickly to nearby
towns. The mayor of Monterey, California,
described the reaction of townspeople:
The gold seekers who stampeded into
California became known as the fortyniners for the year, 1849, in which many
of them came. Thousands of forty-niners
sailed to San Francisco from New York,
Boston, and Galveston. Most traveled
around the southern tip of South America.
Some more adventurous—or impatient—
travelers sailed to the Isthmus of Panama.
They climbed on mules and rode through
the steamy jungle to reach the Pacific
coast. At the coast, they caught ships
bound for California.
The people who departed from the
ships in San Francisco came from nearly
every corner of the earth. During the first
half of 1849, 5,000 miners arrived from
Chile alone. Others came from as far away
as China.
“
[T]he farmers have
thrown aside their plows,
the lawyers their briefs,
the doctors their pills, the
priests their prayerbooks,
and all are now digging
for gold.
Traveling Overland
”
By far the greatest number of gold seekers traveled to California on overland
trails. Guided by former mountain men,
many traveled over a southern spur of the
Oregon Trail, called the California Trail.
Still others headed over the Mormon Trail.
In 1849 alone, more than 80,000 people
poured across the continent.
★ Life in the Mining Towns
Picturing
H istory
GOLD MINING Thousands of people went to
California during the Gold Rush searching for
great wealth. What term did people use for
gold seekers in California?
464
UNIT 5 The Nation Expands: 1820 –1860
When the forty-niners reached California, they threw up temporary towns
overnight with names such as Shinbone
Peak and You Bet. Most townspeople lived
in tents. The lucky ones owned cabins, most
of which lacked windows or chimneys.
Some women staked claims, but more
made money by opening boardinghouses
or laundries. One laundress along the
Feather River earned $1,000 a week—more money than some miners.
Mining towns had no police or prisons, so robbers posed a real threat to
business owners and miners, also called
Linking Past and Present
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Jeans
One of the most enduring
made-in-the-USA fashions
came out of the mining camps
of California.
Then
Only for Gold Miners
Levi Strauss listened as miners complained about how fast
their clothes wore out. Strauss
had an idea. He stitched up a
pair of pants made from a tough
easy-to-care-for fabric called
denim. To make sure the pants
were extra tough, Strauss folded
the seams and reinforced the
corners with small copper tacks
called rivets. The pants did not
tear when miners hung their
tools or bags of gold from their
belts or pockets, and the dark
blue color did not show dirt!
Strauss had a fashion hit. In
1873 his company began producing the first Levi’s.
Now
A World Favorite
Today people call Levi’s by a
variety of names—dungarees,
denims, blue jeans, jeans, or by
the name of the designer who
makes them. Regardless of the
name, miner’s pants are the top
sportswear choice of people
around the world. Imagine
standing in a market in the middle of Nairobi, Kenya, or Kathmandu, Nepal. Your blue jeans
TEENAGERS IN JEANS
may be a hotter trading item
than your American dollars.
How many pairs of jeans do you
own?
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
EARLY LEVI PANTS AD
prospectors. Townspeople took law into
their own hands, forming vigilance committees. The committee members, or vigilantes, drove petty thieves out of town
and hanged murderers. Such hasty justice became known as vigilante justice—
law without judge or jury.
★ Dreams of Freedom
In 1849 California delegates drafted a
constitution that prohibited slavery. The
next year California entered the Union as
a free state. Hoping to find riches and
freedom, a number of African Americans
headed west.
By 1852 more than 2,000 African Americans lived in California. Some struck it rich
in the mines. Others succeeded at business
enterprises. Biddy Mason, for example,
worked as a nurse. She then invested her
savings in real estate until she built up a
fortune.
As a group, African Americans in California boasted savings of more than $2.3
million by 1855. The shadow of prejudice,
however, still produced huge inequalities.
The California legislature denied African
Americans the right to vote. Black laws
HISTORY
Student Web Activity
Visit the American History: The Early Years to 1877 Web
site at ey.glencoe.com and click on Chapter 14—Student Web Activities for an activity about the Gold Rush.
CHAPTER 14 Manifest Destiny: 1820–1860
465
barred African Americans from testifying
in court and prohibited integrated schools.
Led by African American journalists
such as San Francisco newspaper owner
Mifflin Gibbs, African Americans forced
the repeal of the black laws. But they did
not win the vote until passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870.
Freedom Lost
For Native Americans, the migration of
thousands of settlers to California proved
disastrous. Prospectors forced Native
Americans to work. Native American
men toiled in the mines while Native
American women worked in households.
Disease and forced labor reduced the
Native American population in California from about 150,000 in 1848 to 35,000
by 1860.
The national government had created
the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1824. The
bureau attempted to reduce Native
American land claims. In the 1850s the
government advocated confining Native
Americans on reservations, or lands set
aside for Native Americans. Despite
Native Americans’ fierce resistance to
this policy, by 1858 the bureau had created eight reservations in California.
The Search for the Gold Mountain
Immigrants from China also felt the
heavy hand of prejudice. Lured by tales of
the American’s Gam San, or “Gold Mountain,” hundreds of Chinese peasants
poured into California from 1849 to 1851.
By 1852 their numbers had swelled into
the thousands.
The rising tide of immigration from
Asia alarmed the miners in the United
States. In 1852 they convinced state lawmakers to tax foreign-born miners who
did not plan to become citizens. Federal
law limited citizenship to whites, so Chinese miners had to pay the tax or quit
mining. Under the law, the government
took a total of $5 million from the pockets
of Chinese prospectors.
Forced out of mining, the Chinese
opened other businesses. Chinese laundries, restaurants, and boardinghouses
became familiar sights in the mining
towns. In San Francisco these shops made
up a city within a city called Chinatown.
The End of the Gold Rush
Although the Gold Rush continued into
the 1850s, latecomers found little gold left
in rivers and streams. After a few years,
large companies took over most of the
mining in California. Many forty-niners
settled down as farmers, shopkeepers, or
city workers in towns like San Francisco.
When the mines ran dry, smaller towns
went bust and people moved on. Many
towns became abandoned ghost towns.
★ SECTION 4 ASSESSMENT ★
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Checking for Understanding
1. Define forty-niner, prospector, vigilante.
2. How did the Gold Rush affect California?
Critical Thinking
3. Making Comparisons How was the
establishment of a settlement in Utah in
the 1840s similar to the founding of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1620s?
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UNIT 5 The Nation Expands: 1820 –1860
4. Examining Issues Re-create the diagram
shown here, and list the reasons why the
Mormons settled in the deserts of Utah.
Reasons
INTERDISCIPLINARY ACTIVITY
5. The Arts Draw or create a scene of a
California mining town.
History
AND
GEOGRAPHY
ECONOMICS
MATH
SCIENCE
THE ARTS
The Giant Sequoia
The first non-Native Americans to see the
soaring giant sequoias of California could
scarcely believe their eyes. The trees seemed
to have no crowns, or tops. Their cinnamoncolored trunks just climbed up, up, and up.
Equally impressive were the trees’ circumferences. Circumference is the measurement
around the tree’s base, or trunk. The trunks of
some trees are more than 100 feet (30 m) in
diameter. In 1858 cattle herder Hale Tharp set
up a temporary home in a giant sequoia hollowed out by a fire.
Many of the giant sequoias living today
are several thousand years old. It is estimated
that the General Sherman Tree, in Sequoia
National Park, is between 2,200 and 2,500
years old. It is the world’s largest tree in volume of wood. The tree is 275 feet (83.8 m) tall
and its base has a circumference of 103 feet
(31.4 m).
One of the oldest and largest of the trees
was cut down before laws were passed to
protect them. Scientists have determined that
this tree had been growing since 1305 B.C.—
when ancient Egypt was at the height of its
power.
Giant sequoias grow only on the western
slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains in
California. These evergreen trees are very
durable. Scientists do not believe any have
ever died from old age, disease, or insect
attack. Their extremely thick bark protects
them from injury by fire. Lightning has
destroyed or damaged the tops of many of
the trees.
Making the Science Connection
1. What are the giant sequoias?
2. Where do they grow?
ACTIVITY
GIANT SEQUOIA TREE
3. The General Sherman Tree is the largest
plant on Earth. Create an illustrated
chart to explain just how large it is to a
younger student. Illustrate the General
Sherman on your chart, labeling its
height and circumference. Then add pictures or illustrations of familiar things
that are about the same height or size
for comparison. For example, you might
picture two school buses, one on top of
the other, to represent the circumference
of the huge sequoia.
467
CHAPTER 14 ★ ASSESSMENT
2. What belief fueled Americans’ desire to push
across the Mississippi?
HISTORY
3. What desire brought Brigham Young and his
followers to Utah’s Salt Lake Valley?
Self-Check Quiz
Visit the American History: The Early Years to
1877 Web site at ey.glencoe.com and click on
Chapter 14—Self-Check Quizzes to prepare for
the chapter test.
The Oregon and California Trails
Use the listed words to complete the following
sentences.
cede
4. Why were many American settlers attracted to
the Oregon Country and California?
History and Geography
Using Key Vocabulary
annex
Individual and Family Life
emigrate
1. In the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico
agreed to _________ California to the United
States.
2. Many settlers used the Oregon Trail to
_________ to the Far West.
Study the routes of the western trails shown on
the map. Then answer the following questions.
1.
Region Which mountains did settlers have
to cross to reach Oregon’s Pacific coast? To
reach California’s Pacific coast?
2.
Movement
How did the use of these trails
help settle the plains as well as the West?
3. President Polk wanted to _________ Texas to
the United States.
The Oregon and California Trails
Reviewing Facts
Oregon Terr.
Portland
Sacramento
Understanding Concepts
San
Francisco
ORNIA Great
LIF
CA
Salt Lake
AIL
TR
Salt
AN
RR
SIE
1. Re-create the diagram shown here, and
explain what role slavery played in both the
Texas Revolution and the War with Mexico.
Utah Territory
Slavery
Mexican-American
War
UNIT 5 The Nation Expands: 1820 –1860
RE
GO N
Minnesota
Territory
TRAIL
Independence
California
New Mexico
Territory
PACIFIC
OCEAN
Texas
0
468
Lake City
A
EVAD
Beliefs and Ideas
Texas Revolution
Unorganized
Territory
O
2. What role did the idea of manifest destiny
play in the presidential election of 1844?
S
AIN
UNT
KY MO
CAS
CAD
ES
RO C
1. Describe the life of mountain men in the Oregon Country.
0
200
200
400 miles
400 kilometers
CHAPTER 14 ★ ASSESSMENT
Critical Thinking
1.
2.
Comparing and Contrasting In what sense
did the mountain men and missionaries of the
early 1800s play a similar role to that of the
European explorers of the 1500s?
Drawing Conclusions
Why do you think
forty-niners risked their lives and savings to
travel to California and search for gold?
Cooperative
Learning
Interdisciplinary Activity:
Geography
With three classmates, find out more about
mountain men at the library. Choose a name for a
mountain man and select a route for him to follow
through the West. Then organize your group into
two pairs. Have one pair write a diary in which
your mountain man describes his experiences.
Have the other pair make a poster-size, illustrated
map of the route your mountain man travels. (For
a twist, make one of the mountain men a woman.)
market, and slavery would die. . . . By annexing
Texas, we shall not only create it where it does
not exist, but breathe new life into it . . . .”
—Reverend William Ellery Channing
1. Who is the author of this letter?
2. What is the general topic of this letter?
3. Does the author support or reject the annexation of Texas?
4. What is the author’s main reason for this
viewpoint?
5. According to this letter, why did the annexation of Texas produce strong conflicts among
Americans in the 1830s and 1840s?
Technology Activity
Using the Internet
On the Internet, locate a map of the western
trails of the early and mid-1800s. Make a printout of what you locate. Then use
the Internet and other resources to
find out details about the trails.
Create an infographic by
including your information in a call-out form
on the map.
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Practicing Skills
Analyzing a Primary Source
The primary source on this page is part of a
letter to Senator Henry Clay in 1837. Read the
document and then answer the questions.
“. . . I proceed now to a consideration of what
is to me the strongest argument against annexing Texas to the United States. This measure
will extend and perpetuate slavery. . . .
By this act, slavery will be perpetuated in the
old states as well as spread over new. It is well
known that the soil of some of the old states has
become exhausted by slave cultivation. . . . They
now adhere to slavery, not on account of the
wealth which it extracts from the soil, but
because it furnishes men and women to be sold
in newly settled and more southern districts. It
is by slave breeding and slave selling that these
states subsist. Take away from them a foreign
Using
History Yo
ur Journa
l
Use
Writing
ABOUT
not
nal to c es in your jourreate a
dia
which a
Native A logue in
m
elder te
lls a gra erican
n
dchild
about th
e
settlers coming of the
’ wagons
.
CHAPTER 14 Manifest Destiny: 1820–1860
469
Cultural Kaleidoscope
Sports and
Recreation
I n the early 1800s, Ameri-
cans began to find new ways
to relax and enjoy themselves. Some popular sports
and games of today first
made their appearance during this time. Of course,
these sports looked much
different then.
Strike?
Americans everywhere took up
bowling, a favorite sport of New
Englanders since colonial days.
Batter Up!
The game of baseball has been an American
favorite for many years. It developed from a
game called “rounders” that New England
colonists played as early as the 1600s.
Baseball as we know it today began with the
Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York, formed in 1845. This
baseball (right) from 1839 is one of the first ever made. It is now
on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
470
Gliding on Ice
and Wheels
Ice skating took
on new life and
grace when
E.W. Bushnell of
Philadelphia
made the first allsteel ice skates
in 1850. His new
skates made the
sport more popular and led to
the creation of
skating clubs
throughout
the country.
For warmer
seasons,
skaters could also
enjoy roller skates.
From Bladderball to Football
Colonists played the first
form of American football
by kicking around an
inflated animal bladder. By the
mid-1800s, the game had
become much like
soccer, with
teams of 30 or
more players
kicking a round
ball across a goal
line. Without knee
pads or shin guards,
players relied on padded pants
for protection against injury.
471