The Way West Period 9 Outline
I
The People of the Southwest
a) Imperial Spanish divides the population of the Southwest into Indians who have kept
their language and culture, mestizos which are mixed ancestry, criollos which are
American born Spanish ancestry, and Spaniards
b) The small Spaniard group and criollos monopolize economy and politics
c) Large Indian population forced to follow mission system which forced them to convert to
Catholicism, live in a fixed area, and work as agricultural laborers
d) Spanish missions were meant to “civilize” the Indians and were forced to work under the
tight supervision of the friars and sometimes the Presidios (Military garrisons or forts)
e) Largest Indian population of around 300,000 was in California when the friars arrived
1) Spaniards fascinated by the intricate system for irrigating wild grasses and their lush
fields of wheat, maize, beans, tobacco, and melons
f) The most prominent farming Indians east of California were the Pueblo peoples of
Arizona and New Mexico, who worshipped in their underground sanctuaries called kivas.
g) The main enemies of the Pueblo peoples were the nomadic tribes who survived by
hunting and raiding and controlled most of the Southwest until the 1850s.
h) The Comanches were the most feared of the nomadic tribes in the Southwest. They were
incredibly skilled horseman and successful traders along the Santa Fe Trail beginning in
the early 1820s.
i) The three major white settlements along the northern border of Mexico—Texas, New
Mexico, and Alta California—were never connected by an effective system of
communications or transportation.
j) As a means of protecting themselves from the Comanches, the Mexican government
invited Americans to Texas to serve as a buffer against the aggressive Indians. This
essentially set up the American takeover of Northern Mexico.
II The Americanization of Texas
a) Mexicans faced the same problems governing Texas that the Spanish had – sparse
population and economic struggle
b) Mexican Texas shared border with US along Sabine River and Red River
c) Attempts to promote immigration into Texas from Mexico failed, so the Mexican
government encouraged Americans to settle in Texas by offering land grants in return for
promises to accept Mexican citizenship, conversion to Catholicism, and obey authorities
in Mexico City
d) Empresarios: agents who received a land grant from Spanish or Mexican government in
return for organizing settlements. Grew wealthy by leasing out land, selling parcels to
settlers, and organizing large scale farms for cotton
e) First empresario = Stephen F. Austin- founded the first American colony in Texas
encompassing 18,000 sq. mi.
f) Texas offered the chance to acquire good land ridiculously cheap
g) 1830- 25,000+ white settlers and 1000 slaves in the region
h) Many settlers ignored Mexican laws including the Emancipation Proclamation of 1829
(forbade slavery in Mexico)
i) 1830- first Mexican tax, stopped importation of slaves in Mexico, closed international
border to additional immigration
j) Americans moving into Texas refused to abide by the laws set up by the Mexican
government because they believed that the Spanish were like black people and did not
need to be paid attention to
k) Americans moving into Mexican territory were Protestant and refused to accept
Catholicism as their religion
l) General Santa Anna elected in 1833 as Mexican President, immediately overturned the
constitution of 1824, following his election tensions began to rise between Mexican
troops and Mexican rebels starting in the fall of 1835
m) At first the Anglo- Tejano leadership wanted to overthrow Santa Anna and restore the
constitution of 1824
n) Santa Anna raised a large army and forced the rebels to declare independence on March
2, 1836… 4 days later the Mexican Army killed the 187 defenders of the Alamo
o) Sam Houston’s victory in April 1836 at the battle of San Jacinto established
independence for Texas
p) In May of 1836 Santa Anna signed a Treaty recognizing Texas as a free independent
republic However the southern Boundary of the new republic remained in dispute
between Americans and Mexicans
III A Mexican View of the Texans in 1828
a) The Americans had taken possession of most of Eastern Texas because no one had
stopped them, leaving only the Mexican settlements of Bejar, Nacogdoches, La Bahía del
Espiritu Santo, and Guadalupe Victoria.
b) José María Sánchez believed that the government of Texas should be taking measures to
make sure that it isn’t stolen my foreigners.
c) Appeals had been made to the Supreme Government of the Federation because of Texas
becoming a prize to the Americans but no actions had been made to prevent it.
d) The village of Austin at the time consisted of 200 people, only 10 were Mexican, the rest
American or European.
e) There were two stores in Austin, one sold whiskey, rum, sugar, and coffee; the other,
rice, flour, lard, and cheap cloth.
f) Sánchez views the Americans as being “lazy people of vicious character” because they
did not cultivate their own land; instead they had their slaves do it.
g) Surrounding Austin, there were almost 2,000 people, due to an empresario given by the
Mexican government allowing people to settle and get a land grant.
h) Sánchez believed that this was a false sense of security and they would soon lose Texas.
IV The Push into California and the Southwest
a) The Mexican government relied on economic development
1) their main focus was opening up the landholdings of the Catholic Church to
private ownership and releasing the mission Indians from slavery
b) The NA who remained on Mexican land became a source of cheap labor for the
“rancheros” (rancheros carved up the mission lands into big cattle ranches)
c) 1830s became known as the “ranchero era” in CA
d) American traders who responded to the economic opportunities of the CA economy
benefited the most
e) American merchants and CA rancheros ran the economy. Both had joined separatist
movements against Mexican rule
f) NE merchants traded hides and tallow which came from the cattle resources of the
rancheros. This trade processed into shoes and candles. NE ships sailed around
Cape Horn to get to CA ports and unloaded trading goods
g) Mostly Midwestern farm families occupied the inner valleys of CA from the OR
Trail (1830s-1840s). About 1,000 Americans had arrived in CA by 1846
h) American merchants established the Santa Fe Trail (Independence, MO to Santa Fe,
NM - 900 miles long) for trading purposes, when Mexico loosened the restrictions
on the trading policies previously from Spain
i) New Mexicans paid for their American imports with gold, silver, and fur - profitable
market
j) Brent’s Old Fort - located on the AR River, was where the Santa Fe Trail turned to
the SW and Taos, NM and allowed the Brent brothers from MO to control a thriving
trade with Indians, trappers, caravans on the Santa Fe Trail, and the large
landowners and merchants of NM
k) This trade pulled NM into the cultural and economic pattern of the US and
undermined what little sovereign power Mexico held in the region
l) The leaders of New Mexico increasingly looked to the United States to protect their
local autonomy. They decided to cooperate with the American Army when the
Mexican War got underway.
m) Utah was home to many tribes such as the Bannocks, Utes, Navajos, and the Hopis.
Utah’s isolation made it appealing to the leaders of the Mormons, the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
n) Harassed out of New York, Ohio, and Missouri, the Mormons thought that they had
found a permanent home by the late 1830s in Nauvoo, Illinois, but the murder of Joseph
Smith and his brother in 1844 convinced the Mormons that they had to leave the settled
East.
V Politics, Expansion and War
1) James K. Polk took office in 1844 and held the idea of expanding the U.S. by
acquiring California and New Mexico.
2) Polk ordered troops in Mexican Territory at the mouth of the Rio Grande and started
war between the U.S. and Mexico, which resulted in the Mexican Cession of 1848,
adding half a million square miles of land to the U.S.
3) Polk’s administration also finalized the acquisition of Texas and compromised with
Britain to receive the Oregon Territory.
b) Manifest Destiny
1) Manifest Destiny was first used in 1845 by an editor and politician and soon became
part of the Nation’s vocabulary.
2) White, Anglo-Saxon Americans believed they were a superior race and had the right
to expand westward and called it Manifest Destiny.
3) Under Manifest Destiny, whites considered Mexicans and Natives to be inferior and
unfit for civilization.
4) The Democratic Party was closely associated with Manifest Destiny and as
Jeffersonians. They stressed the need for more land acquired through westward
expansion.
5) Democrats said that the way out of depression after the Panic of 1837 was to revive
exports and farmland was needed for this.
VI The Mexican War
a) President was willing to compromise on Oregon in order to avoid a war with both Britain
and Mexico
b) In 1846, Britain agreed to a boundary at the 49th parallel only if they were allowed to
retain Vancouver Island in Puget Square. Once the Senate approved the offer, Polk could
now concentrated on the Mexican War
c) Polk refused to budge on the American claim that the Rio Grande was the border between
Texas and Mexico. Mexico insisted that the Nueces River was the border as it had been
when Texas was a part of Mexico. The Rio Grande boundary would more than double the
size of Texas
d) Polk sent 3,500 soldiers under General Zachary Taylor to the Nueces River. In an effort
to acquire California, Polk told Thomas Larkin to inform the Californios and Americans
that the US would support them if they revolted against Mexican rule. Polk also sent John
Slidell to Mexico City offering $30 million to purchase California and secure the Rio
Grande boundary.
e) After the Mexican government refused to see Slidell, Polk set out to war with Mexico
which would result in America’s acquisition of California. General Taylor then built a
fort on the northern bank across from Matamoros in Mexico. On April 24th, Mexicans
attacked.
f) Congress declared war on May 13, 1846
g) January 1847- Taos Revolt- largest uprising
h) September 1847- General Winfield Scott (US) captured Mexico City
i) February 2, 1848- Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo signed- Mexico surrendered Texas north
of Rio Grande, Alta California and New Mexico; US paid $15 million, gained $3 million
in claims of American citizens against Mexico, granted US citizenship to Mexicans
resident in new territories
j) US lost 13,000 lives- Mexico lost 50,000 lives- Ruined Mexican-American relationship
Mexican War Video
VII Manifest Destiny and American Foreign Policy
a) Manifest Destiny has given the US a sense of mission from the birth of the nation to the
US led NATO airstrikes in Yugoslavia.
b) The idea of Manifest Destiny gave American a divinely ordained mission to absorb all
the people of North America into one republic
c) Manifest Destiny helped Inspire the surge of people to the west, and justify the Mexican
War. But it also raised the question, was the US guilty of leading an imperial conquest
that threatened liberty rather than promoting it?
d) After the 1840’s Manifest Destiny lost its appeal. Then in the late 19th century
expansionists used Manifest Destiny to justify America’s acquisition of an overseas
empire following the Spanish-American war. This use of Manifest Destiny didn’t fit the
original definition of the term.
e) Manifest Destiny led to a debate over whether the nation should acquire dependent
positions abroad. It was also used to justify US intervention in WWI. The need to uphold
human rights served as an excuse for US military intervention abroad with presidents
Clinton and H. W. Bush.
f) Critics argue that Manifest Destiny does not justify an aggressive foreign policy. Whether
or not this is a valid critique it is clear as the 20th century begins the US develops an
interventionist foreign policy.