EXPANSION AND SLAVERY
• Tyler’s Troubles
– Tyler clashed continuously with Clay, who
considered himself the real leader of Whig
party
– Clay’s comprehensive program, which
included a new Bank of the United States,
conflicted with Tyler’s view of states’ rights
– when Tyler vetoed a bill to create a new
Bank, the entire cabinet, except for
Webster, resigned
– Clay wanted to distribute the proceeds of
land sales to the states to justify raising the
tariff
– southerners insisted on stopping
distribution if the tariff exceeded 20 percent
– when the Whigs attempted to push a high
tariff through Congress without repealing
the Distribution Act, Tyler vetoed the bill
– finally, after repeal of the Distribution Act,
Tyler signed a bill providing for a higher
tariff
• The Webster-Ashburton Treaty
– the boundary between Maine and New
Brunswick had remained unsettled since
1783
– in order to avoid a serious conflict over the
disputed area, Secretary of State Webster
and Lord Ashburton negotiated a
settlement
– although the United States gave up some
of its rightful claims in that area, the British
made concessions elsewhere along the
U.S.-Canadian border
• The Texas Question
– the Transcontinental Treaty of 1819
excluded Texas from the United States
– Americans nevertheless soon began to
settle in the area, which had become part
of an independent Mexico; American
settlers soon outnumbered Mexicans in
Texas
– both Adams and Jackson tried to buy
Texas, but Mexico refused to sell
– disagreements arose between the
American settlers and the Mexican
government over religion, language, and
– this led the Mexican government to prohibit
further immigration of Americans; in
response, Texans began to seek
independence
– A series of skirmishes escalated into
rebellion; Texas declared its independence
in 1836, and Sam Houston was elected its
first president
– although opinion in Texas favored
annexation by the United States, Jackson
and Van Buren wanted neither war with
Mexico nor to stir up sectional tensions by
admitting Texas as a state
– Texas developed friendly relations with
Britain, which alarmed southerners, who
worried that Texas might abolish slavery
– in an effort to insure the annexation of
Texas, Tyler appointed Calhoun secretary
of state
– Calhoun’s association with the extreme
southern viewpoint and with slavery
alienated many northerners who otherwise
would have favored the annexation of
Texas, and the Senate rejected Calhoun’s
treaty
• Manifest Destiny
– by the 1840s, Americans had come to
believe that it was their destiny to explore,
settle, and exploit the entire continent and
to unify it into one nation
• Life on the Trail
– later generations romanticized westward
expansion; in reality, the movement
entailed hardship, danger, and death
– in the 1840s, the trip west covered a longer
distance than in earlier days
– moreover, the comforts of “civilization”
were more extensive than in earlier times,
and therefore harder to surrender
– the move west disrupted family life and
gender roles; much of the hardship fell on
women
• California and Oregon
– many settlers traveled to California, then
unmistakably part of Mexico, and to
Oregon, which both the United States and
Britain claimed
– the expense of the trip meant that few who
went west were genuinely poor
– the allure of Pacific coast harbors, which
some regarded as the keys to the Asian
trade, also drew people westward
– in the 1840s, Americans regarded Oregon
as a particularly desirable destination
• The Election of 1844
– Whigs nominated Clay
– Van Buren wanted to keep Texas out of the
campaign, but southern Democrats rallied
behind Calhoun’s policy of annexing Texas
as a slave state
– Van Buren lost control of the Democratic
convention, which nominated James K.
Polk of Tennessee
– a Jacksonian Democrat who opposed both
high tariffs and a national bank, Polk
favored expansionism
– the antislavery Liberty party split the Whig
vote in New York and handed the election
to Polk
– in spite of Polk’s narrow victory, many
regarded it as a mandate for expansion
– Tyler called for a joint resolution of
Congress to annex Texas, and it passed
just before Tyler left the White House
• Polk as President
– Polk was uncommonly successful in
carrying out his policies
– he persuaded Congress to lower the tariff
of 1842 and to restore the Independent
Treasury
– he also succeeded in opposing federal
internal improvements
– Polk acquired Oregon in a treaty with
Britain, which ended the joint occupation of
the territory and established the 49th
parallel as the boundary between Canada
and the United States from the Rockies to
• War with Mexico
– when the United States annexed Texas,
Mexico broke off diplomatic relations
– Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to
defend the disputed border region between
the Nueces River and the Rio Grande
– Polk also sent John Slidell on a secret
mission to Mexico to try to obtain the
disputed area by negotiation
– Mexicans rejected Polk’s offer to buy the
territory in question as well as part of New
Mexico and California
– Mexico also reasserted its claim to all of
Texas
– a Mexican attack on American troops north
of the Rio Grande provided Polk with the
pretext to declare war
– although smaller, the American force was
better led and supplied
• To the Halls of Montezuma
– Polk demonstrated real ability as a military
planner, but domestic opposition to the war
(particularly in the North) and the fact that
his leading generals were Whigs hampered
his conduct of the war
– Taylor quickly occupied northern Mexico,
and settlers led by John C. Frémont
established an independent Republic of
California
– American troops under Winfield Scott
landed near Veracruz and amid the hardest
fighting of war, Scott’s forces advanced into
• The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
– Polk sent Nicholas P. Trist to serve as
peace commissioner
– Trist proceeded to negotiate the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo, in which Mexico
agreed to accept the Rio Grande as its
border with Texas and to cede New Mexico
and Upper California to the United States
– in return, the United States agreed to pay
Mexico $15 million and to take on the
claims of American citizens against Mexico
– Polk hoped for a better deal, but he had no
choice but to submit the treaty to the
Senate, for to demand more territory would
have meant the continuation of an
increasingly unpopular war
– for similar reasons, the Senate ratified it
• The Fruits of Victory: Further
Enlargement of the United States
– the Mexican War resulted in enormous
territorial gains for the United States
– in 1848, gold was discovered near San
• Slavery: The Fire Bell in the Night
Rings Again
– territorial expansion raised the unresolved
issue of the status of slavery in the new
territories
– the Constitution did not give the federal
government any control over slavery in the
states, but Congress had complete
authority in the territories
– during the Mexican War, Congressman
David Wilmot proposed an amendment
prohibiting slavery in any territory acquired
from Mexico
– the Wilmot Proviso passed the House but
not the Senate, where southerners held the
balance of power
– Calhoun countered by introducing
resolutions that argued that Congress had
no right to bar slavery from any territory
– two compromises were offered. Polk and
most southerners supported a plan to
extend the Missouri Compromise line to
the Pacific
– Senator Lewis Cass proposed letting local
settlers determine the issue of slavery in
their territory
• The Election of 1848
– Both parties hedged on the issue of slavery
– the Whigs nominated a war hero, Zachary
Taylor, and the Democrats nominated
Lewis Cass
– the Van Buren wing of the Democratic
party, known as “Barnburners,” combined
with the Liberty party to form the
antislavery Free Soil party and nominated
Van Buren
– Taylor won the election by a narrow
margin, but the Free Soil party garnered
about 10 percent of the vote
• The Gold Rush
– between 1849 and 1860, over 200,000
people went to California in search of gold
– the massive immigration reduced
California’s Spanish population to a
minority
– order was difficult to maintain among large
numbers of men seeking fortunes and
isolated from women; ethnic conflict
contributed to the disorder
– Taylor proposed admitting California
directly as a state and letting Californians
decide for themselves about slavery
– Californians drew up a constitution that
outlawed slavery, which outraged
southerners
– the admission of California as a free state
would tip the balance in the Senate in favor
of the North
• The Compromise of 1850
– Clay proposed a compromise that
California would be brought directly into the
Union as a free state, and the rest of the
Southwest would be organized as a
territory without mention of slavery
– Southerners would retain the right to bring
slaves into the Southwest Territory
– Texas would give up its claims to disputed
land along its border with New Mexico; in
exchange, the United States would take
over Texas’ preannexation debts
– the slave trade would be abolished in the
District of Columbia (although not slavery
itself), and Congress would pass a more
effective fugitive slave law
– Clay’s proposals led to one of the greatest
debates in the history of the Senate
– Calhoun demanded that the North yield on
every point and argued for the right of
states to secede peacefully from the Union
– Webster defended Clay’s proposals
– Taylor’s death and Fillmore’s assumption of
the presidency paved the way for
compromise
– Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois pushed each
measure separately through the Senate