Manifest Destiny
Annexation of Land
Mexican War

Use the image and your knowledge of United States history to answer parts A, B, and C.
John Gast, American Progress, 1872 Courtesy of
Library of Congress
A) Explain the point of view reflected in the image regarding ONE of the following: Migration,
Technology, American Indians
B) Explain how ONE element of the image expresses the point of view you identified in Part A.
C) Explain how the point of view you identified in
Part A helped to shape ONE specific United States government action between 1845 and 1900.

Trends in Antebellum America: 1810-1860
1.
New intellectual and religious movements
(Transcendentalism and the Second Great Awakening)
2.
Social reforms.
3.
Beginnings of the Market Revolution  Industrial
Revolution in America.
4.
Re-emergence of a second party system and more political democratization. (Democrats and Whigs)
5.
Increase in federal power  Marshall Ct. decisions.
6.
Increase in American nationalism.
7.
Further westward expansion.

Aim: Should we consider the era [of Manifest Destiny] one of destiny or greed?
Vocab
Manifest Destiny
Annexation
Forty-Niners
Wilmot Proviso
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo
Van Buren
Harrison  Tyler
Calhoun
Clay
Essential Questions:
(1)What were the causes of westward expansion?
(2)How does manifest destiny reflect Transcendentalist ideals?
(3)How does manifest destiny increase sectional tensions?

“ The destiny of the American people is to subdue the continent—to rush over this vast field to the Pacific
Ocean—to animate the many hundred millions of its people and to cheer them upward—to agitate these
Herculean masses—to establish a new order in human affairs—to set free the enslaved—to regenerate superannuated (old fashioned) nations...to stir up the sleep of a hundred centuries—to teach old nations a new civilization—to confirm the destiny of the human race—to unite the world in one social family—to dissolve the weight of tyranny and exalt charity—to absolve the curse that weighs down humanity, and to shed blessings around the world.
”
–William Gilpin (1846)

• Elected
President in 1844
• Added more territory (by any means) to the US than any other
President
• Died 103 days after his single term ended
Polk ’s Campaign
Promises:
* Annex Texas
* Expand to the west
* Lower tariffs
* Claim Oregon territory from GB
* Establish independent treasury
*Only president to fulfill all of his promises
7

st
In an effort to preserve the balance of power in Congress between slave and free states, the Missouri Compromise was passed in 1820 admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. Furthermore, with the exception of Missouri, this law prohibited slavery in the
Louisiana Territory north of the 36 degrees 30’ latitude line.
In 1854, the Missouri Compromise was repealed by the
Kansas Nebraska Act. Three years later the Missouri
Compromise was declared unconstitutional by the
Supreme Court in the Dred Scott decision, which ruled that Congress did not have the authority to prohibit slavery in the territories.

Mexican-American War

-Ralph Waldo Emerson
(Transcendentalist)

DID THE MEXICAN AMERICAN WAR UNITE OR
DIVIDE THE COUNTRY?

• Think of it as if you ’ re writing a FREE
RESPONSE essay but you ’ re using the documents to support points you would make anyway.
• You must refer to specific parts of the document.
• You must explain HOW those parts support
YOUR argument. “ Don ’ t just include a quote and think that we know why you included it.
”

• Start with OUTSIDE information, what you know, what claim (thesis) you want to prove.
• Figure out what position each document takes.
• Are you going to use the document as further evidence to support your point?
• Are you going to use the document by REFUTING it and pointing to its weakness/bias/inaccuracy?
• What EXACTLY are you using from the document?
Which words? Statistics? Facts?

• O utside information
• D ecide the position
• B ring in quotes
• Q uotes get explained.

UNITE
FACT 1:
DOCUMENT __:
Quote:
Explanation:
FACT 2:
DOCUMENT __:
Quote:
Explanation:
FACT 3:
DOCUMENT __:
Quote:
Explanation:
FACT 1:
DOCUMENT __:
Quote:
Explanation:
FACT 2:
DOCUMENT __:
Quote:
Explanation:
FACT 3:
DOCUMENT __:
Quote:
Explanation:

Aim: Did the Mexican-American War unite or divide the nation?
Vocab
President Polk (1845-1849)
Mexican-American War (1846-1848)
Rose Revolt – civil disobedience, Thoreau
Wilmot Proviso
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo
Gadsden Purchase, 1853–1854
The Gadsden Purchase, or Treaty, was an agreement between the United States and Mexico, finalized in 1854, in which the United States agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for a 29,670 square mile portion of Mexico that later became part of
Arizona and New Mexico. Gadsden’s Purchase provided the land necessary for a southern transcontinental railroad and attempted to resolve conflicts that lingered after the Mexican-American War.
Essential Questions:
(1)What are the arguments for and against the Mexican-American War?
(2)Do you agree with the decision to go to war? Why/why not?

20
When?
•1848
From Where?
•Mexico
G - Mexican Cession
Why?
•Polk offers to buy G from
Mexico & they refuse
•War!
•US wins
•In Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo, US offers $15 million for G
F
G
C
E
B
A
D

• Texas rebellion against Mexican government and
US admitting it as a state – undermined Mexican government.
• US offered 30 million dollars for the land, so US sent troops to Tex/Mex border.
• Mexico didn’t recognize the Texas border. Fought over the territory.
• US military was near the Rio Grande River,
Mexico wanted the soldiers out of there. US felt like a threat to Mexico.

Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, 1848
(Treaty forced on Mexico…)

Mexico gave up claims to Texas above the Rio
Grande River.

Mexico gave the U. S. California and New Mexico.

U. S. gave Mexico $15,000,000 and agreed to pay the claims of American citizens against Mexico (over
$3,500,000).

• The 17 month war cost 100 million dollars and
13,000 lives (mostly due to disease).
• Brought new land into the union (1 million square miles including TX), which brought slavery into the forefront of American national politics.
• Upsets balance of power b/w north and south.
• Created two popular Whig generals who ran for President.
• Manifest Destiny realized.

Henry Clay, U.S. senator from Kentucky, was determined to find a solution. In 1820 he had resolved a fiery debate over the spread of slavery with his Missouri Compromise. Now, thirty years later, the matter surfaced again within the walls of the Capitol. But this time the stakes were higher -- nothing less than keeping the Union together.
There were several points at issue:
•
The United States had recently acquired a vast territory -- the result of its war with Mexico.
Should the territory allow slavery, or should it be declared free? Or maybe the inhabitants should be allowed to choose for themselves?
•
California -- a territory that had grown tremendously with the gold rush of 1849, had recently petitioned Congress to enter the Union as a free state. Should this be allowed? Ever since the Missouri Compromise, the balance between slave states and free states had been maintained; any proposal that threatened this balance would almost certainly not win approval.
•
There was a dispute over land: Texas claimed that its territory extended all the way to Santa
Fe.
•
Finally, there was Washington, D.C. Not only did the nation's capital allow slavery, it was home to the largest slave market in North America.

On January 29, 1850, the 70-year-old Clay presented a compromise.
According to the compromise, Texas would relinquish the land in dispute but, in compensation, be given 10 million dollars -- money it would use to pay off its debt to Mexico.
Also, the territories of New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah would be organized without mention of slavery. (The decision would be made by the territories' inhabitants later, when they applied for statehood.)
Regarding Washington, the slave trade would be abolished in the
District of Columbia, although slavery would still be permitted.
Finally, California would be admitted as a free state. To pacify slavestate politicians, who would have objected to the imbalance created by adding another free state, the Fugitive Slave Act was passed.
Of all the bills that made up the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive
Slave Act was the most controversial.

The Mexican American War/Manifest Destiny
PRO Con
 Easier and more timely to trade with
Russia and China, on the other side of the Pacific.
 The new land we acquired is fertile for farming. Very easy to settle.
 Land is able to support large population of people. Many precious metals there. GOLD.
 Boosted America’s power, bigger country, not as new, puts America on the global map of power (military power, economic power)
 The US almost as big as Europe.
 More land to govern, can bring up more potential problems.
 Millions of dollars were paid for land and many died.
Mexican American War creates political division:
 Democrats believed this sent a message that you can’t kill US citizens on our soil.
 Whigs believed it cost America too much money and America was at a disadvantage after the war
 No benefit from this war.
 Further divisions/disagreements over slavery – the northerners and southerners fought equally in the war.