Trends in Antebellum America: 1810-1860
1. New intellectual and religious movements.
2. Social reforms.
3. Beginnings of the Industrial Revolution in America.
4. Re-emergence of a second party system and more
political democratization.
5. Increase in federal power: Marshall Ct. decisions.
6. Increase in American nationalism.
7. Further westward expansion.
“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 federated 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
The U.S. in 1820
Texas: From Colony to Country
 Stephen Austin’s deal with Mexico
January 1822: Austin take the “Old 300” to Texas
Generous land opportunities encourage American settlers:
20,000 by 1830
 By 1835, 30,000 Americans are in Texas
Causes of the Texas Revolt
Cultural Conflict
Catholic v. Protestant
No Due Process in Mexican law
No Right to petition
 Nature of Americans in Texas
Frontiersmen
Outlaws
Resistant to authority
Causes of the Texas Revolt
 Conflict over Slavery
 Illegal Immigration
 Mexico decides to use force
Causes of the Texas Revolt
Mexico had 36 changes in
the presidency, 1829-1855
 Santa Anna himself directly
ruled eleven times
 1835 military coup against
his own government led to
revolt in Texas

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
Texas Declaration of Independence
Key Figures in Texas Independence, 1836
Sam Houston
(1793-1863)
Stephen Austin
(1793-1836)
The Republic of Texas
Remember the Alamo!
Davey Crockett’s Last Stand
The Battle of the Alamo
General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna Recaptures the Alamo
Overland Immigration to the West
 Between 1840 and
1860, more than
250,000 people
made the trek
westward.
The Oregon Trail – Albert Bierstadt, 1869
Trails Westward
The Doomed Donner Party
April, 1846 – April, 1847
The Doomed Donner Party
CANNIBALISM ! !
Margaret
Breen
James Reed & Wife
Patrick
Breen
John
Breen
 Of the 83 members of the Donner
Party, only 45 survived to get to
California!
The Election of 1844
 Major Issue: Expansionism
Annexation of Texas
Annexation of Oregon
Expansion of Slavery (Texas)
 Whig Party
Nominates Henry Clay: Initially anti-expansion
 Democratic Party: “All of Texas and Oregon”
Nominates James K. Polk
– First “dark horse”
– Rejected Van Buren
The Election of 1844
The Oregon Country: 54˚ 40’ or Fight!
 By the mid-1840s,
“Oregon Fever” was
spurred on by the
promise of free land.
 The joint British-U. S.
occupation ended in
1846.
June 15, 1846 Treaty
divided Oregon at 49˚
The Oregon Country: 54˚ 40’ or Fight!
“To state the truth at once in its neglected simplicity, we are
free to say that were the respective cases and arguments
of the two parties, as to all points of history and law,
REVERSED – had England all ours and we nothing but
hers - our claim to Oregon would still be best and
strongest. And that claim is by the right of our manifest
destiny to overspread and possess the whole of the
continent which Providence has given us for the
development of the great experiment of liberty and
federated self-government entrusted to us… The God of
Nature has marked it for our own.”
 John L. O’Sullivan, 1845

American Interest in Mexico

The “Usual”
It was there
Mexico wasn’t using it
Mexicans are Catholics
Mexicans are…
“What has miserable, inefficient Mexico – with her superstition, her
burlesque upon freedom, her actual tyranny by the few over the
many – what has she to do with the great mission of peopling the
new world with a noble race? Be it ours to achieve that mission!”
– Walt Whitman, 1846
Manifest Destiny and Mexico
The Democratic Review, 1845
 California will, probably, next fall away
from...Mexico.... Imbecile and distracted, Mexico never
can exert any real governmental authority over such
a country.... The Anglo-Saxon foot is already on its
borders. Already the advance guard of the irresistible
army of Anglo-Saxon emigration has begun to pour
down upon it armed with the plow and the rifle, and
markings its trail with schools and colleges, courts
and representative halls, mills and meeting houses.
Manifest Destiny and Mexico
The Democratic Review,1845
 A population will soon be in actual occupation of
California, over which it will be idle for Mexico to
dream of dominion... All this without agency of our
government, without responsibility of our people- -in
natural flow of events, the spontaneous working of
principles, and the adaptation of the tendencies and
wants of the human race to the elemental
circumstances in the midst of which they find
themselves placed."
Polk’s Dilemma
 Ran on Expansionist Platform
 President Tyler gets joint resolution on Texas
annexation – no credit for Polk (Jan.- March, 1845)
 The Oregon Question: Looks like compromise
 Must claim some expansionist success….
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.
 US would purchase the New Mexico
area for $5,000,000.
John Slidell
US would buy California for
$25,000,000.
U.S. Declares War on Mexico
Slidell rebuffed in Mexico
 Polk orders Gen. Zachary Taylor to South Bank of Nueces
River (Jan. 13, 1846) – “await events”
 Nothing happens
 Polk orders Taylor to North bank of Rio Grande
 Polk begins writing war message to Congress
 Taylor’s men attacked on April 24, word reaches Polk May 7
 Polk asks Congress for war; Congress declares war on May 13,
1846

Polk’s War Message to Congress
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.
A Volunteer Army
 Army Recruitment
Poster
The Mexican War (1846-1848)
General Zachary Taylor at Palo Alto
“Old Rough and Ready”
The Bombardment of Vera Cruz
General Scott Enters Mexico City
“Old Fuss and Feathers”
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, 1848
Nicholas Trist,
American Negotiator
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, 1848
The Treaty was basically 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 “All Mexico” Movement
Now we ask, whether any man can coolly contemplate the
idea of recalling our troops from the [Mexican] territory we
at present occupy...and...resign this beautiful country to the
custody of the ignorant cowards and profligate ruffians who
have ruled it for the last twenty-five years? Why humanity
cries out against it. Civilization and Christianity protest
against this reflux of the tide of barbarism and anarchy.
 New York Evening Post, 1848

The “All Mexico” Movement

Have not results in Mexico taught the invincibility of
American arms?...The North Americans will spread out far
beyond their present bounds. They will encroach again and
again upon their neighbors. New territories will be planted,
declare their independence, and be annexed. We have New
Mexico and California! We will have Old Mexico and Cuba!
The isthmus cannot arrest--nor even the Saint Lawrence!!
Time has all of this in her womb. A hundred states will grow
up where now exists but thirty.
 DeBow's Commercial Review, 1848
The “All Mexico” Movement
We have never dreamt of incorporating into our Union any
but the Caucasian race—the free white race. To incorporate
Mexico, would be the very first instance of the kind, of
incorporating an Indian race; for more than half of the
Mexicans are Indians, and the other is composed chiefly of
mixed tribes. I protest against such a union as that! Ours, sir,
is the Government of a white race.... We are anxious to force
free government on all; and I see that it has been urged …
that it is the mission of this country to spread civil and
religious liberty over all the world, and especially over this
continent. It is a great mistake.
 John C. Calhoun, 1848

Results of the Mexican War?
1. The 17-month war cost $100,000,000 and 13,000+
American lives (mostly of disease).
2. New territories were brought into the Union which forced the
explosive issue of SLAVERY to the center of national
politics.
* Brought in 1 million sq. mi. of land
3. These new territories would potentially upset the balance of
power between North and South.
4. Created two popular Whig generals who ran for President.
5. Manifest Destiny was mostly realized.
The Mexican Cession
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.
Congr. David Wilmot
(D-PA)
Free Soil Party
Free Soil!
Free Speech!
Free Labor!
Free Men!
 “Barnburners” – discontented northern Democrats.
 Anti-slave members of the Liberty and Whig Parties.
 Opposition to the extension of slavery in the new
territories! WHY?
The 1848 Presidential Election Results
√
Taylor’s Biography
GOLD! At Sutter’s Mill, 1848
John A. Sutter
California Gold Rush, 1849
49er’s
Two Views of San Francisco, Early 1850s
 By 1860, almost 300,000
people had traveled the
Oregon & California
Trails to the Pacific
coast.
Territorial Growth to 1853
Maine Boundary Settlement, 1842
Westward the Course of Empire
Emmanuel Leutze, 1860
Expansionist Young America in the 1850s
America’s Attempted Raids – “filibusters” - into Latin
America