Immigration, Expansion, and
Sectional Conflict 1840-1848
Chapter 13
Newcomers and Natives
 Immigration Statistics
 1840-1860 = 4.2 million
 1845-1854 = 3 million
 Largest influx in US history
(pop. proportion)
 Mainly Irish, German
 ¾ Irish or German
 Reasons for Expectations
 Religious freedom
 Mormons, Quakers
 Economic opportunity
 American “Utopia”
 Reality
 Embarkation
 Process difficult
 Expensive
 swindlers
 Farming problems
 Lacked capital
 Different that European
Farming
 Reality
 Lived in cities
 Worked in factories
Patterns
 Irish
 Boarded at Liverpool
 “Coffin” ships
 No $ for farming
 Physically weak
 Clustered in NE, NY, PA, NJ
 2 surges
 1815s – War of 1812
 1845-1850s – Potato Famine
 Bottom of workforce
 Mainly factories
 Domestic servants
 Conflict
 Free blacks
 Whites
 Norwegians
 Wisconsin
 farmers
 Germans
 Cotton trade in New Orleans
 Settled Upper Miss., Ohio River
Valley
 Didn’t support slavery
 Wide range of social
classes/occupations
 Skilled tradesmen
 Easily found jobs
 25% farmers
 Culture
 Common language
 German unity
 Lots of voluntary associations
 Diversity promoted solidarity
 Economically self-sufficient
 Resentment
 Economic success
 clannishness
Unrest in America
 Anti-Catholicism
 Irish immigration revived anti-
catholic sentiments
 Nativism
 Societies
 American Republicans
 United Order of Americans
 Order of Star Spangled Banner
(know-nothings)
 Fed on fear and discontent
 Scared of “popery”
 Threats to protestant jobs
 Irish were hard-drinking and halfcivilized
 Labor Protest
 George Henry Evans
 National Reform Association
 “Vote yourself a farm”
 neo-Jeffersonian
 Answer to “wage-slavery”
 Appealed only to artisans
 Labor Unions
 Irish supported them
 Commonwealth v. Hunt
(1842)
 Mass. Supreme courts
 Trade unions not illegal
 Tensions
 Ethnic and religious issues
Immigrant Politics
 Immigrants starting to become
politically active
 Supported Democrats
 Feared for jobs
 More sympathetic to working
class
 Values of Whigs threatened
immigrants
 Importance of National issues
The West and Beyond
 The Far West
 American Settlement of Texas
 Adams-Onis Treaty 1819
to 1835
 Oregon still vague
 1820- US settlements in
 Western Trade
 Trading centers on west coast
 1790s-1820s – exchange of goods
 1820s- Hudson Bay Company
 Beaver Trade- Colorado, Utah
 Santa Fe Trail
 Trade with Mexico from St. Louis
 Panic of 1837- needed silver
 Growing tensions
 Land/religion
Eastern Texas
 Welcoming
 Mexico encouraged settlement
 Protection against Indians
 Mission had failed
 Empresarios- Stephen Austin
 Reversal
 Closed Texas and forbid slavery
 More white farmers than
Mexicans
 Concerns
 Santa Anna
Remember the Alamo
 Texas Revolution




1836
Stephen Austin
Santa Anna invades 1835
1836- San Antonio
 The Alamo
 187 die
 Sam Houston
 “Remember the Alamo”
 Lone Star Republic established 1836
 American Settlement in Cali, New
Mexico, and Oregon
 Increased immigration
 American culture, not native
Mormons
 Movement westward
 Persecution
 Death of Joseph Smith in Missouri
 Brigham Young leads Mormons
to desert
 Little persecution
 Not really inhabited
 By 1846: 12,000 in Utah
 Developed irrigation system
 Annexed to US: 1850
 Mormon War:1857
Politics of
Expansion
 Should US annex Texas?
 1840-42: main issue still
economy
 Whig Ascendency
 William Henry Harrison
1840
 Controlled House and Senate
 Henry Clay’s American System
 Repealed Independent Treasury
 Protective tariffs
 Tyler dashes hopes of Whigs
 Disaster for Whigs
 Vetoed:
 National bank- 1841
 Banking bill
 Postponing of tariff reduction
Expansion
 Maine
 1842
 Daniel Webster
 Webster-Ashburton Treaty
 Texas
 Issue of Slavery
 1843
 Propaganda campaign for annexation
of Texas
 1844
 President Tyler, John C. Calhoun
send treaty to congress for
annexation
o Defeated in Senate
o 1845 Congress approves joint
resolution to admit Texas as a
state
Election of 1844
 Nominees
 Democrats
 Martin Van Buren
 Opposed slavery
 Whigs
 Henry Clay
 Proslavery, proannexation
 The “Dark Horse”
 James K. Polk, Tennessee
 “fifty-four forty or fight!”
 Appealed to westerners and
southerners
 Results
 Polk wins electoral
 VERY close popular vote
 Quickly confirms expansionism with
inaugural address
Manifest Destiny
 John O’ Sullivan
 Invoked God, divine mission
 Superiority of white culture
 Called on Americans to resist foreign
powers limiting out destiny
 Pushed by:





Nationalism
Population increase
Rapid economic development
Technological advances
Reform ideals
 Solutions




To agricultural issues
Preserve identity, values
Anti-factories
Jefferson’s worries void
 Polk and Oregon
 US claimed based on:
 Discovery of Columbia River
 Lewis and Clark expedition
 Fur trade established by Astor
 Oregon Fever
 Threats
 British
 Claim- Sir Francis Drake 1579
 “All or nothing”
 49th parallel
 Negotiations
 Come discontent
 Ratification
 1846, Senate
 Pushed by war in Mexico
Oregon Trail
 Overland Trails
-4 month journey
-Donner party, 1846
-1841 wagon trains begin
-Difficult travel
-Increased cooperation
-1843 over 1,000
Mexican- American War
 Origins
 Failure of Mexico to pay $2 million
in debt
 Animosity
 Mexican fears of US domination
 1845
 Senate ratifies Annexation
 Polk’s actions
 Supports Texans claims to Rio Grande
River
 Moved Troops to Corpus Christi, under
Zachary Taylor
 Wants California
 War
 Negotiations
 John Slidell
 Government too weak
 Santa Anna troops attack
 Polk declares war
 Opposition
 John C. Calhoun, Whigs
 War of 1812, “patriots”
 Expectations
 Mexico would win
 Army 4X larger than US army
 US didn’t expect Mexicans to fight
Mexican-American War
 Leaders
 Zachary “old rough and ready”
Taylor
 Buena Vista victory, 1847
 Col. Stephen Kearny
 New Mexico, California
 Gen. Winfield Scott
 Took over for Taylor
 Vera Cruz, Mexico City victories, 1847
 John D. Sloat
 New Mexico, California
 John C. Fremont
 California rebellion
 Bear-flag Republic, 1846
 Success
 Mexico City 1847
 Led by Scott
 Heroes:
 Robert E. Lee
 Ulysses S. Grant
 Advantages
 Santa Anna’s mistakes
 Superior artillery, military
organization
 Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo
 1848
 Mexico paid $15 million
 Ratified 1848, senate
 Opposition: Whigs, Democrats
Problems on the horizon
 Sectional conflict
 Polk restored Independent Treasury
 Jacksonian policies
 Tariff of 1846
 Slashes duties
 Vetoes Rivers and Harbors Bill 1846
 Slavery debate
 Wilmot Proviso
 1847
 No slavery in new territories
 Defeated in senate (passed house
2X)
 Proviso’s Problems
 Brings up discussion of slavery
again
 Free-Labor party emerges
 Calhoun questions
constitutionality of prohibiting
slavery in new territories
 Northerners defend by quoting
Land Ordinance of 1787 and
Missouri Compromise
Manifest Destiny to the South
 Ostend Manifesto
 Polk offered to buy Cuba from
Spain for $100 million dollars
 Spain refused
 1852- secret treaty to buy Spain
 Too much anger in US,
Northerners think “pro-slavery”
 Walker Expedition
 William Walker led group into Baja
California in 1853
 unsuccessful
 Tried to take Nicaragua 1855
 Recognized by US
 Clayton-Bulwer Treaty 1850
 Ambition to build canal in Central
America
 Treaty b/w Great Britain and U.S.
 Neither nation would take exclusive
control of canal and route in Central
America
 Gadsden Purchase
 1853
 Southwest
 Arizona, New Mexico border
 Land for railroad
 $10 million dollars
Election of 1848
 Problems for the Whigs:
 Polk’s Policies successful
 Independent treasury
 Low tarrifs
 Problem’s for Democrats
 Wilmot Proviso
 Nominees
 Democrats
 Lewis Cass
 “Squatter Sovereignty”
 Whigs
 Zachary Taylor
 War hero with no platform
 Southern slaveholder
 Major Issue
 Slavery
 Barnburners- NY
 “Conscience” Whigs
 Free Soil Party
 Free trade, free labor, free
speech, free men
 Nominate Martin Van Buren
 Outcome
 Taylor victorious
 Free Soil party has strong
grass-roots showing
 Sends message to Democrats and
Whigs
Gold Rush
 1848
 John Marshall discovers Gold in Sierra
Nevada mts.
 9 days before Treaty of GuadalupeHidalgo
 Technological Developments
 Hydraulic mining operations
 Consequences
 Population of California
 1848: 15,000
 1852: 250,000
 Culture clash
 Diverse mix of cultures, people
 Chinese discrimination
 Slavery
 Should California allow it?
 Violence
 Committees of vigilance
 Crowding, disease, fire, rowdiness
Gold Rush 1849