“The USA will conquer  Mexico, but it will be as
the man swallows arsenic…Mexico will poison us.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson 1846
• Chronicle the USA’s
expansion through
the west under
Polk’s Presidency
• Evaluate the causes
of the MexicanAmerican War
• Analyze the effects
of Westward
expansion on the
United States by
1848
a. 1844 Democratic
National Conv is split…
“I’ll give
you one
term…”
– Unpopular frontrunner was
Van Buren
– Polk = Dark Horse
– Someone helps advise Polk
on how to get the
nomination
• http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=H9SvJMZs5Rs
– Polk after being picked…
1. Annex
Texas (it is
still its own
country)
2. Reach
Settlement
on Oregon
Territory
w/GB
3. “Obtain”
California
4. Economic
stuff
Let’s
Do it!
Ehhhh.
I’m not
sure.
• America was in favor of…
–Expansion!! Manifest Destiny!!
1. Annex
Texas (it is
still its own
country)
2. Reach
Settlement
on Oregon
Territory
w/GB
3. “Obtain”
California
4. Economic
stuff
1. Tyler & Congress annex Texas…Feb 1845
• Polk picks the easier fight…Mexico
• Missouri Senator Thomas Benton
asked why the USA won’t go after
Canada as resolutely as Mexico…
– “…because Great Britain is powerful,
and Mexico is weak.”
a. Dispute w/GB
b. “54-40 or Fight!”
means 
– Some in USA
wanted war if it
didn’t get 54° 40'
latitude line
c. Does Polk
“fight?”
– No…makes a
deal for 49th
Parallel in 1846
a. USA
wants…
– Port of
San
Fran!
b. Mexico
still
bitter
about…
1.
2.
• General Zachary
Taylor and 4K
troops ordered to
go up to Rio
Grande…why?
– What can we
claim now?
– When have we
done something
like this before?
• April 25, 1846, Mexican troops cross the
Rio Grande and fire on General Taylor’s
army.
• May 13, 1846, the USA declares war on
Mexico. (who declares war?)
Upon the pretext that Texas, a nation as independent as [Mexico],
thought proper to unite its destinies with our own [Mexico] has affected
to believe that we have severed her rightful territory, and in official
proclamations and manifestoes has repeatedly threatened to make war
upon us for the purpose of reconquering Texas. In the meantime we
have tried every effort at reconciliation. The cup of forbearance had
been exhausted even before the recent information from the frontier of
the [Rio Grande]. But now, after reiterated menaces, Mexico has
passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory
and shed American blood upon the American soil. She has proclaimed
that hostilities have commenced, and that the two nations are now at
war.
As war exists, and, notwithstanding all our efforts to avoid it, exists by
the act of Mexico herself, we are called upon by every consideration of
duty and patriotism to vindicate with decision the honor, the rights, and
the interests of our country.
- James K. Polk 1846 Address to Congress
…And whereas this House is desirous to obtain
a full knowledge of all the facts which go to
establish whether the particular spot on which
the blood of our citizens was so shed was or
was not at that time our own soil:
Therefore,
Resolved By the House of Representatives, that
the President of the United States be
respectfully requested to inform this House -1st. Whether the spot on which the blood of our
citizens was shed, as in his messages declared,
was or was not within the territory of Spain, at
least after the treaty of 1819, until the Mexican
revolution.
2d. Whether that spot is or is not within the
territory which was wrested from Spain by the
revolutionary Government of Mexico….
- Abraham Lincoln Speech before the House of
Representatives…December 22, 1847
• February 1848
• You are
Polk…what are
your demands
(terms) when you
sit at the
bargaining table?
• “The United
States will
conquer
Mexico, but it
will be as the
man
swallows
arsenic…
Mexico will
poison us.”
– Ralph Waldo
Emerson
• Introduced 3
times by
Congressman
David Wilmot
(Dem) of PA...
• What did it
say?
• Passed the
House every
time but not
the Senate…
why?
• Title = Why people move
• What are some reasons people leave certain
places in the USA and go to others? What pushes
and pulls people to certain places? Where do you
want to move to? Why?
• Push Factor
– Reasons to leave the
place you currently live in
• Pull Factor
– Reasons that make you
want to migrate to a new
location
• What were the reasons
back then? They
haven’t changed much!!
1. Missionary
2. Thief
3. Chinese Immigrant
4. South American Immigrant
5. Free Black
6. Slave
7. Doctor
8. Fur Traders
9. Frontiersman
10. Single Man
11. Family Man
12. Denim Salesman
13. Loggers
14. Farmer
15. “Indian Hunters”
16. Saloon owner
17. Single woman
18. Launderer
19. Vigilante
20. Australian Immigrant
• Less populated
– Difficult “Oregon Trail”
• Indians wiped out by disease
• Frontiersmen “blend in”
• Gold Discovered in
1848… who comes
next?
• Population swings
• Indians slaughtered
and enslaved
• Early Birds cashed in
• Gold Rush Songs…
– Oh Sussanna
– Oh my Darling, Clementine